Senator Harkin Introduces Bill to Make Promise Neighborhoods a Federally-Authorized Program

We mentioned previously that CSSP, PolicyLink and the Harlem's Children Zone were signing on to a letter of support for legislation that would be introduced by Senator Tom Harkin, Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee to make Promise Neighborhoods a federally authorized program. Over 500 organizations across the country signed on to this letter showing the level of both support and need that exists for this program.  Today, Senator Harkin officially introduced the legislation, which includes the Promise Neighborhoods program as part of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). A key provision of the legislation is to ensure the long-term sustainability of this investment in local efforts by authorizing five year, renewable grants to help communities scale up and sustain their services and programs over time.  The bill language can be found here.