Promise Neighborhoods Roundup

June 30 was the deadline for groups applying for Promise Neighborhood planning grants, and according to this story in Youth Today, the department of education received 339 separate applications for the 20 grants. The department’s web site posted an interactive map showing where the applications came from. NPR did a story. And the Nonprofit Quarterly had some predictions:

Who is likely to get the Promise Neighborhoods designations? Potential applicants are sorting through their competitive advantages and disadvantages. Those with histories of foundation support and backing have something of a leg up in generating matching dollars, such as the Highline School District in and around Seattle, which boasts a decade of involvement from the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connections project. An impending Los Angeles County application boasts the involvement of a funders consortium including the California Endowment and the Annenberg Foundation. For the Dwight neighborhood of New Haven, Connecticut, long the focus of planning efforts over the years, the presence of Yale as a neighbor constitutes a level of institutional and technical credibility.

Meanwhile, there was plenty of local coverage of specific applicants, including stories, editorials, and letters from Charleston, South Carolina; Rochester, New York; St. Paul, Minnesota; Norwich, Connecticut; Athens, Georgia; Las Vegas; northeast Ohio; and a Native American community in rural Colorado.

Canada in West Virginia

Geoffrey Canada was interviewed by West Virginia Public Broadcasting about the Harlem Children’s Zone and the possibility of replicating his model in West Virginia. You can listen to the audio here.

WBEZ interview

Rob Wildeboer, a criminal-justice reporter for WBEZ radio in Chicago, hosted the panel discussion that followed my speech at Loyola University Law School last week. Before the event, Rob and I sat down in the WBEZ studio for an interview about the Harlem Children’s Zone and Promise Neighborhoods. The interview aired on Friday as part of the local “All Things Considered” broadcast. Here’s the audio.

Brian Lehrer show

This morning I was a guest on the Brian Lehrer show on WNYC in New York, along with Helen Zelon, the author of a new report in City Limits magazine taking a skeptical view of the Obama Administration’s plans to bring the Harlem Children’s Zone model to other cities. (The report isn’t online yet, but it should be posted on the City Limits web site soon.) There is audio, along with comments from listeners, on the WNYC web site, here.

Baltimore audio

The Baltimore Community Radio Coalition has posted audio of my talk last month at the Bolton Street Synagogue, organized by the Greater Homewood Interfaith Alliance. You can listen to the talk and the Q&A, along with the closing benediction, here.

More news from Baltimore

I was a guest today (along with Nicole Johnson, the executive director of Elev8 Baltimore) on “Midday with Dan Rodricks” on WYPR in Baltimore. Audio is now online.

And in the Baltimore Messenger, an article on my talk tonight, and on Ari Witkin, the 22-year-old events coordinator who is helping to make it happen:

President Barack Obama has called for the creation of “Promise Neighborhoods” nationwide, based on the HCZ Project.

The hope is that Tough’s talk and the public discussion that follows will lead to the creaton of a similar program in Baltimore, said Claudia Diamond, who chairs the social action committee at Bolton Street Synagogue. Diamond and Amy Myers, head of social outreach at the Episcopal Cathedral of the Incarnation in Charles Village, organized the talk with Witkin’s help.

Witkin said several nonprofit groups are applying for Promise Neighborhoods grants, including Living Classrooms, the Center for Urban Families, Towson University’s School of Education and the University of Maryland School of Social Work. And, 25 nonprofits in the area that work with children have been invited to Tough’s talk, he said.

A Talk in Baltimore

Next Thursday, I’ll be giving a talk at the Bolton Street Synagogue in Baltimore. The topic: “The Harlem Children’s Zone: Can It Happen in Baltimore?” The event, which is free and open to the public, is being organized by the Greater Homewood Interfaith Alliance. There are more details here, and you can download a flyer here [pdf].

At noon on Thursday, before the talk, I’ll be a guest on Dan Rodrick’s “Midday” show on WYPR, the Baltimore public-radio station.

Australian Radio

Last week, the Australian public-radio network, ABC Radio National, broadcast the radio documentary I did for This American Life about Baby College, the Harlem Children’s Zone’s parenting program. It ran on the network’s morning show, “Life Matters,” and was bookended by a conversation between me and the show’s host, Richard Aedy. There’s a description of the episode here, and audio here.

WNYC report

Beth Fertig at WNYC reports on this week’s conference on replicating the Harlem Children’s Zone model. In an accompanying blog post, she quotes Arne Duncan, the secretary of education, on whether communities applying for Promise Neighborhood grants need to be “shovel-ready” to have a shot at federal support:

These are scarce resources and there’s tremendous interest out there. And I think this work has to continue whether schools and neighborhoods and communities get funded or not. But we want to invest in those places that have the capacity to deliver dramatically better results for children. So this is not just about a good idea, it’s not just about good will or good intentions. We want to put lots of dollars, millions and millions of dollars behind those places that have the capacity, the political will, the courage and the plan to dramatically improve student outcomes.

KWMU Radio

I spent an hour this morning on “St. Louis on Air,” on KWMU Radio, speaking with the host, Don Marsh, and taking calls from listeners about Whatever It Takes. You can stream the audio here. Or download it here.

I’m in St. Louis for the reading tonight at Left Bank Books, at 7 p.m.