Project to focus on poverty, education

Despite troublesome economic realities, four Charleston government agencies have agreed to commit $50,000 each to a project aimed at transforming a high-poverty area of the community.

The Charleston Promise Neighborhood would include Charleston's East Side and Neck Area and extend into North Charleston, and its goal is to make that area indistinguishable from the rest of the county by breaking the cycle of poverty and improving education. The roughly 3,000 children who live in the zone and attend Sanders-Clyde, James Simons, Mary Ford and Chicora elementary schools would be the primary beneficiaries of its services and programs, which would begin at birth.

It's a concept modeled on the Harlem Children's Zone, a 97-block area in Central Harlem in New York City that offers a continuous pipeline of educational, social, health and recreational services for children.

Within the past month, City Council, County Council, North Charleston City Council and the county School Board each have approved spending $50,000 to support the project, and most seemed willing to do so in the future. Charleston Mayor Joe Riley asked Bill Hewitt, a local businessman and civic leader, to lead the initiative, and Hewitt has agreed.

It was essential for all four governments to be supportive because the concept relies on involvement, consistency and commitment from both private and public stakeholders, Hewitt said.

"I think it's a tribute to the members of the various councils that in difficult economic times, they're willing to take the steps to change what's been happening for the last 25 years, which really has not been very effective," he said.

Hewitt has started the process of registering Charleston Promise Neighborhood as an official nonprofit and recruiting a board to lead it. The four government agencies will have representatives on the board, and five members of the public will join them.

Hewitt said he's looking for people who are willing to make a financial investment in this vision as well as have expertise in a variety of areas. Once the nonprofit and board have been established, Hewitt said the group will hire a search firm to hire an executive director.

Groups across the country soon will be able to apply for one of 20 $500,000 planning grants to create promise neighborhoods. The U.S. Department of Education is expected to release requests for proposals for that money, and the Charleston group will apply. Even if Charleston doesn't secure a grant, organizers say they still are committed to this concept.

Patrick Lester, senior vice president for public policy at the Alliance for Children and Families in Washington, D.C., said communities creating promise neighborhoods may be eligible for funding from other federal agencies that will be looking for the same place-based approach to addressing poverty.

"I think deciding to go forward regardless is the right way to approach this," he said. "There are many funding streams that can and will be tapped as this ramps up from a pilot project to something much bigger, which it is."

Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postandcourier.com.