Strengthening Central, family by family
Situated in Cleveland’s Fifth Ward, the Central neighborhood is home to some of the nation’s oldest public housing properties, established in the wake of the New Deal. This childhood home of Jesse Owens, Carl and Louis Stokes and Langston Hughes has one of the highest concentrations of poverty in the city as a result of decades of redlining and other racist policy. Since 2010, the Sisters of Charity Foundation of Cleveland has worked alongside Central neighborhood residents and partners to launch and grow the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood with the goal of helping every child achieve success in learning, work and life. Simultaneously, we’ve partnered with residents and organizations in Central to address the social determinants of health, ultimately to improve health outcomes.
Concentrated poverty calls for a concentrated response -- one that matches the spirit and dedication of Central residents who have been instrumental in Promise’s successes to date; the neighborhood’s physical, social and institutional assets; and the foundation’s core competencies in engaging and empowering residents, enrolling and coordinating partners, and improving health and education systems and supports. Potential lies in supporting the whole family to break the cycle of poverty.
Our goal is to create positive outcomes for the Central Neighborhood residents through investment in the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood initiative, which is inclusive of the Family Partners Program and Building Health Communities.
About Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood
Initiated in 2009, the Cleveland Central Promise Neighborhood brings together many partners, including philanthropy, residents, community service providers and schools. The community-based Promise Neighborhood Advisory Board provides strategic direction with substantive input and guidance for the entire project.
Promise, a collective impact initiative, works to improve outcomes for children, families and community in four ways:
- Engage and uplift resident voice
- Align organizations
- Support healthy youth social and character development
- Employ a whole-family approach
An advisory council meets bimonthly and provides input, guidance and oversight to this initiative.
At its center is a “cradle-to-career pipeline” with partner organizations committed to shared metrics and results-based accountability. As the backbone of this collaboration, Promise’s role is to help align strategic resources; coordinate communication with all residents, organizations and others who have a stake in the neighborhood; measure success through shared data; and engage residents to lead the overall change.
Visit the Cleveland Central Promise website for more information