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Promise Neighborhoods leaders ask Legislature for $17.5 million to prevent funding cliff
Summary
Promise Neighborhoods representatives told the subcommittee recent state one-time funding helped produce early gains in kindergarten readiness, reduced chronic absenteeism and other outcomes; they asked the Legislature for $17.5 million one-time to sustain four state-supported sites and seed expansion.
Officials from California Promise Neighborhoods urged the subcommittee to shore up funding after a two-year state investment produced measurable local results but faces a looming fiscal cliff.
Edgar Chavez, executive director of Hayward Promise Neighborhoods, summarized the network’s accomplishments and asked the Legislature for a $17.5 million one-time allocation. Chavez said the $13.5 million initial investment in four state-supported Promise Neighborhoods served more than 73,000 children and 57,000 adults in two years and cited declines in chronic absenteeism (up to 30 percentage points in some places) and a 5 percentage-point increase in high-school graduation in Chula Vista.
Jennifer Troia of CDSS confirmed the departments funded evaluation and technical-assistance contracts; an evaluation contractor (Research Triangle Institute) will deliver a final evaluation this summer. Troia said the neighborhoods valued the flexibility of one-time funds but that lack of sustained funding hindered long-term planning.
Assemblymember Mia Bonta, who led Promise work previously in Oakland, said place-based, multi-generational strategies produce better educational and life outcomes and warned that infrastructure would be difficult to rebuild if funding lapses. The panel estimated that scaling the approach to reach 1 million children statewide would cost roughly $188 million ongoing.
Committee members asked the LAO and administration to quantify a minimum funding level to sustain current neighborhoods while the final evaluation is completed this summer. The subcommittee indicated it would consider options in the budget process to avoid dismantling recently built local capacity.
