Opportunities for impact: Big federal programs and place-based strategies

By Carolynn Mambu, Vice President, Washington Grantmakers

Let a thousand flowers bloom – OR – restrict your focus to a specific community in hopes of having a discernable impact over time?

It’s a question that has been debated among philanthropists for many years. Whether you are on one side of the fence or the other, federal place-based programs offer significant opportunities to have an impact on low-income communities in our region.

At a recent WG meeting, members learned about Promise Neighborhoods and Choice Neighborhoods – two large-scale, federal place-based programs designed to transform distressed urban neighborhoods. Sometimes referred to as the “HOPE VI plus,” the Choice Neighborhoods strategy uses affordable housing as a community anchor to de-concentrate poverty. Promise Neighborhoods, based on the Harlem Children’s Zone model, are anchored by schools. Both programs have a geographic focus and a holistic approach to improving health, safety and well being of community residents.

According to meeting presenter Irene Lee of the Annie E Casey Foundation, place-based strategies are not new and have had mixed success. Successful efforts have worked to build community capacity, had alignment and clarity of purpose among funders (including public agencies), and have engaged community residents in an ongoing dialogue using a bottom up and top down approach. Above all else, Lee advised, “Keep it simple. The more layers of complexity we add, the more they can diminish the return.”

More than two dozen communities in the region submitted formal Letters of Intent indicating they will apply for Promise Neighborhood planning grants, the deadline for which is June 25. As it is a national program, the competition will be fierce and each grant requires a commitment for a hefty match from the local funding community up front.

As our local funding community is relatively small, it will not be able support the match requirements of all the big federal programs coming down the pike – Choice and Promise Neighborhoods are just two of many. Recently I have participated in conversations where funders have raised this concern and they always end in the same place – if our region is to be competitive for these grants, local funders will need to make difficult decisions about where to invest – and where not to invest — and align their efforts.

Leaders have expressed the need to demonstrate to the federal government that local funders are behind efforts to transform their communities. Without that alignment, the Washington region will be less competitive and potentially will be leaving hundreds of thousands of dollars on the table. Is this a case where we can identify the middle ground between letting a thousand flowers bloom and supporting a holistic place-based strategy? It seems to me that it behooves us to try.

In the coming months, WG’s Program and Policy Committee will discuss the organization’s role in helping coordinate this process.  Please keep an eye out for opportunities to participate.  In the meantime, for more information about place-based strategies and Promise and Choice Neighborhoods, please click on the following links:

• Choice Neighborhoods Overview
• Promise Neighborhoods Overview
• Focusing on Results in Promise Neighborhoods
• Why place-based strategies matter