ABOUT PROMISE NEIGHBORHOODS

Promise Heights MapPromise Neighborhoods is a U.S. Department of Education initiative focused on breaking the cycle of inter-generational poverty by significantly improving the educational and developmental outcomes and overall life prospects of children and youth in our most distressed communities. The core idea behind the initiative is that providing both effective schools and strong systems of support to children, youth and their families in poverty and thus meeting their health, social services, and educational needs will offer them the best hope for a better life.

Inspired by Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone, Promise Neighborhoods take a place-based, data-driven approach to ensuring the long-term success of children, families, and neighborhoods.

In 2012, Promise Heights became a U.S. Department of Education Promise Neighborhood grantee—only one of 50 nationwide—to create a pipeline of integrated and comprehensive services which support children to succeed, thrive, be inspired to stay in school, and aspire to college and career.

In 2018, Promise Heights was further recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and received a $30 million five-year implementation award.

 

Upton/Druid Heights stretches one mile along Pennsylvania Avenue from its intersection at Martin Luther King Boulevard to the northern boundary at North Avenue and eastward to Eutaw Place.

Alongside community residents and partners, we have spent the last decade planning, creating, and implementing a place-based strategy to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and families in the West Baltimore neighborhoods of Upton/Druid Heights (U/DH.)

Ready to be a Changemaker?