Policy Pick: Legislators Set To Tackle Promise Neighborhoods Bill

When members of the state Senate's Appropriations Committee return from summer recess in August, one of their tasks will be to consider a bill that could improve the lives of young children in 40 communities throughout California.

Introduced by Assemblymember Felipe Fuentes (D-Pacoima), AB 1072 would create the California Promise Neighborhoods Initiative. If passed, the initiative would maximize collaborative efforts to improve the health, safety, education and economic development within a selected community.

The CPNI would designate 40 communities throughout the state as Promise Neighborhoods, where available resources would be used to support children's development from cradle to career. To be selected as a Promise Neighborhood, a community must contain one or more high schools and feeder schools, with graduation rates below 70 percent; have unemployment rates higher than the state as a whole and have more than 25 percent of families with annual incomes below $15,000.

The bill would prioritize certain programs, grants and funding for these Promise Neighborhoods. More recently, the bill was amended to give cities, counties, schools and school districts located in a Promise Neighborhood priority consideration for certain programs, grants and funding.

Modeled on President Obama's Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, the CPNI would facilitate integration of existing programs and departments. If the bill is approved, the potential alignment of resources at the state level could parallel the federal Promise Neighborhood Initiative and lead to groundbreaking opportunities for community transformation. Although the federal PNI does not require state participation, Fuentes notes that experts in the field agree that a state role would greatly enhance local community planning and systems alignment.

"My bill would create up to 40 Promise Neighborhoods in some of California's most distressed communities, enabling each locale to apply for federal, state and private grants that invest in our most valuable asset-our children," Fuentes said. "At a time when communities are struggling with severe cuts to education and other vital services, the Promise Neighborhoods program would strengthen neighborhoods by revitalizing services for children ages newborn through college."

The proposed legislation notes that three of the communities selected by the federal PNI for planning grants - Hayward, Pacoima and Pico-Aliso - would also be among the state's Promise Neighborhoods.

First 5 LA has embarked on its own "place-based" funding strategy, called Best Start, in which the Commission selected 14 communities within the county of Los Angeles to receive targeted, community-specific resources. Pacoima was selected a Best Start community.

For more information about AB 1072 or other legislation supported by First 5 LA, please contact Ruel Nolledo at rnolledo@first5la.org.

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