Paul Tough: Whatever It Takes

In today’s Austin Chronicle, an update on efforts to bring a Promise Neighborhood to that city (where I’ll be speaking in April):

Two proposals are being drafted in Travis County, both focusing on East Austin. One, backed by the Sooch Foundation and the Webber Family Foundation, brings together representatives of the city of Austin and AISD, as well as local nonprofits such as dropout prevention experts Communities in Schools, youth services provider LifeWorks, and affordable housing advocates Foundation Communities. Their focus is on the St. John/Coronado Hills neighborhood planning area between I-35, Highway 290, and Highway 183, potentially using AISD’s Reagan High “vertical team” – from elementary through high school – as the project backbone. Education nonprofit Southwest Key Programs is working on its own proposal for the Govalle and Johnston Terrace neighborhoods. This would build on its existing East Austin Children’s Promise program and use resources like Southwest Key’s East Austin Family Center and its charter school, the East Austin College Prep Academy.

More thoughts on a replication project in Austin, from an editorial in today’s Austin American-Statesman:

Harlem is coming to Austin. No, not the Globetrotters but an anti-poverty program called the Harlem Children’s Zone. The program has had success in turning poor, at-risk schoolchildren into thriving students and college graduates. You might be thinking this is another welfare program that aims to make kids feel good about their circumstances. You would be wrong.