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This is how the Masaya tribe, even the warriors, greet one another and I think it is so fitting
for what we are undertaking. And they talk about something that's very precious and so this is how the
greet each other on an occasion like this, 'Good morning, how are the children?' Not
how are you, how are the children. Isn't that neat, good morning how are the children? And
what we hope for is that the answer will be as they strive to say to one another, the
children are well. That's what we want for our Promise Neighborhood, to always be able
to say the children are well. Imagine a place where every adult routinely
accepts responsibility for the every child… Imagine a place where the living motto is
“In all things, children first”… Imagine a place where the whole community
is focused on great schools, safety, health and well-being for all children and families…
Imagine a place where aspiration, not desperation, is a way of life…
Such a place is the Central Little Rock Promise Neighborhood. We can now dispense with imagining
and join the work of the Promise Partners, other service groups, and grassroots neighborhood
residents to make real the CLRPN. Why and how is this possible?
Promise Neighborhoods are modeled on the principles of the 20-year effort of the Harlem Children’s
Zone, which successfully links people and services to do “whatever it takes” to
ensure children have happy, healthy, productive childhoods. The HCZ success was the inspiration
for funding competitive planning grants to communities across the country.
A coalition of Promise Partners (Arkansas Children’s Hospital, UALR, Little Rock School
District, New Futures for Youths, City of Little Rock, and Arkansas Library System)
made successful application for a planning grant to create a roadmap promising what we
pledge to do for children to ensure success from cradle to career. Little Rock is one
of only 21 communities selected nationwide. The HCZ model is results-based and place-based.
The Promise Neighborhoods follow this model. While it is indisputable that many neighborhoods
meet the Promise Neighborhood criteria, reality dictated undertaking the difficult choice
of setting place-based boundaries. The CLRPN is bordered north-south between
I-630 and Fourche Creek Bottoms and east-west between Boyle Park and Martin Luther King
Drive. School-based services and programs will be focused on Bale Elementary, Franklin
Elementary, Stephen Elementary, Forest Heights Middle School, and Hall High School. These schools serve the
majority of students living in the CLRPN. The planning grant allows the Promise Partners,
other partners and community members a full year, till the end of September 2011, to work
with the whole community to layout what we will do, not imagine, to create a Promise
Neighborhood right here in Little Rock. The next step requires our community to demonstrate
a firm commitment to moving from the plan to implementation. To that end, the CLRPN
must submit application for the implementation grant in early September 2011.
With credit to the work of Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone: “This
is an opportunity to direct our actions to changing the odds for our children rather
than hoping they can beat the odds.” This effort is an opportunity for the whole
community to lay claim to our neighborhoods and an opportunity for every adult to keep
the promise to every child, every hour, every day that we will do whatever it takes to ensure
success for every child.