A Promise for Better Futures

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A Promise for Better Futures

Albany Promise to announce major initiative for children attending the poorest schools

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By Scott Waldman

Published 11:25 p.m., Sunday, May 6, 2012

Page 1 of 1

ALBANY — The odds are stacked against them the day they are born.

The children who live in Albany's poorest neighborhoods are less likely to meet basic academic standards in English and math, less likely to finish high school and college, and less likely to pass their Regents exams.

They are more likely to become pregnant teenagers, more likely to miss school for unexcused absences, incarceration or suspension, and more likely to feel suicidal, according a report by a new educational consortium.

On Monday, the partnership, which is made up of 60 different stakeholders, will announce a major new effort to turn around the educational outcomes for the poorest children in Albany. Years in the making, it will target children in Arbor Hill, West Hill and the South End. The Albany Promise, as the group is calling itself, will draw on existing resources and a bundling of private donations, as well as state and federal grants, to help poor children receive the same opportunities in and out of school as their middle- and upper-class counterparts do.

Partners include the Albany school district, the city, the State University of New York, The College of Saint Rose, and many area nonprofits and businesses.

"We are going to work together to make sure every child, every step of the way, experiences success and nobody is left out," SUNY Chancellor Nancy Zimpher said.

She said Promise recognizes that this is a monumental task, one too vast to be accomplished by any one entity.

The Albany effort is partially modeled on Project Strive, a cradle-to-career effort Zimpher helped create that has expanded to sites around the country, and the Harlem Children's Zone, a New York City initiative that provides education as well as social and health services for children from birth until they enter the workforce. SUNY will create similar initiatives in other cities across the state.

The neighborhoods targeted by the new effort are the places in Albany where plywood covers many windows, where businesses have fled and where children are in need of a brighter future. They are not just at the epicenter of the city's poverty; they are also home to 9,000 children under age 18, including 2,500 under age 5, according to the new report produced by the consortium.

And the challenges faced by children in the city's poorest neighborhoods are profound. A quarter of Albany's children under 5 live in poverty, but in the neighborhoods targeted by the new effort, that number climbs to 60 percent, the report states.

The program is open to all children and families in the affected neighborhoods, regardless of where they attend school. Goals will be to prepare children for kindergarten, competency in core subjects, transition to high school, graduation from high school and entry into college or the workforce.

The goal is to create a pipeline of support for kids, mostly through uniting existing agencies, said Linda Jackson-Chalmers, assistant superintendent for community relations for Albany schools.

"It's a concept in order to support students in a successful life and career, it takes a whole village," she said.

Albany Promise will cost $500,000 to $750,000 annually and will eventually be housed at the Trinity Institute headquarters. The consortium has already raised $200,000 from private and corporate donors, including SEFCU and Turner Construction.

The first step will be to unite the city's diverse array of existing afterschool programs by bringing in leaders to decide on a narrow focus and common set of goals. Transportation will also be expanded to broaden participation by children in existing programs. There will also be more outreach to those who will be affected by the effort, said Barbara Smith, city councilwoman and a co-founder of the Albany Family Education Alliance.

Inspired by the Harlem Children's Zone, Smith and other concerned citizens and parents created a Baby Institute, where expectant mothers are prepared for the birth of their first child, and an after-school program focused on literacy.

"It's clear that fixing education and improving outcomes is not a simple proposition," she said. "It's very complex. We need different kinds of expertise focused on different aspects."

Smith said one of the priorities of the new effort will be getting input and participation from those who live in the affected neighborhoods. She said the Promise effort wants to create summer learning activities and access to extracurriculars that wealthier children experience throughout their school years.

Monday's announcement will include leaders in education, community, business, government and philanthropy and will be held from 9 to 11 a.m. at Giffen Memorial Elementary School. A second launch event will be held from 6 to 8 p.m. at Albany High School.