Obama Proposes $10-Million to Expand Harlem Children’s Zone Approach

President Obama’s proposed 2010 budget includes $10-million to help nonprofit groups develop plans to expand a poverty-fighting approach that was pioneered by the Harlem Children’s Zone, a charity in New York.

The “Promise Neighborhoods” program, housed in the Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement, would provide one-year planning grants to nonprofit groups to explore ways to set up programs that provide comprehensive services to poor children from birth through college.

“The core idea behind the initiative is that providing both effective schools and strong systems of support to children and youth in poverty, and thus meeting their health, social services, and education needs will offer them the best hope for a better life,” the Education Department said in its budget explanation.

Groups that develop promising plans and partnerships would be eligible for grants to carry out their ideas in 2011, the department said.

President Obama pledged on the campaign trail to create “promise neighborhoods” in 20 cities modeled after the Harlem project, which provides a comprehensive set of educational, medical, and social services to residents in a 100-block area of Harlem.

He said the government would provide half the money, and private sources the rest.