Promise Neighborhoods

The Promise and Politics of Community Capacity Building as Urban School Reform

Bibliographic Data

ID10857033
AuthorsSonya Douglass Horsford (0000-0003-3302-4116, George Mason University, Fairfax, VA, USA), Catherine Sampson (0000-0002-6927-104X, University of Nevada, Las Vegas), Carrie Sampson
Year2014
Volume49
Issue8
Pages955-991
Publication date2014-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Education (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0042-0859 • E-ISSN: 1552-8340
PublisherSAGE Publications (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1177/0042085914557645
OpenAlexW2079539218
LanguageEN
Citations received26
References cited27

The purpose of this inquiry is to consider how the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods (PNs) program can improve persistently low-achieving urban schools by making their “neighborhoods whole again” through community capacity building for education reform. As the “first federal initiative to put education at the center of comprehensive efforts to fight poverty in urban and rural areas,” we frame our inquiry according to PNs’ intent to build capacity in high-needs communities in ways that provide high-quality educational and systematic support for children and families. We begin with an overview of PN, followed by a discussion of community capacity for urban school reform. Next, using descriptive case study methods, we present the case of the Las Vegas Promise Neighborhood Initiative to illustrate the ways in which a low-capacity community in the American West engaged in community capacity building activities to improve selected urban schools, albeit unsuccessful in its ability to secure federal grant funds. We then deliver our analysis of this local initiative according to Chaskin’s framework for building community capacity and consider lessons learned and implications for similarly positioned low-capacity communities interested in community-based school reform

Capacity building · Economic growth · Las vegas · Political science · Poverty · Public relations · Sociology · Community Health and Development · Public Administration · School Choice and Performance · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies