Federal Register:  https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2017-07-21/html/2017-15359.htm
DoEd url:  https://innovation.ed.gov/what-we-do/parental-options/promise-neighborho...

Letter of Intent "strongly encouraged" due August 21, 2017
Application deadline September 5, 2017

The Promise Neighborhoods program is newly authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 (ESEA), as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The purpose of the Promise Neighborhoods program is to significantly improve the academic and developmental outcomes of children living in the most distressed communities of the United States, including ensuring school readiness, high school graduation, and access to a community-based continuum of high-quality services. The program serves neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income individuals; multiple signs of distress, which may include high rates of poverty, childhood obesity, academic failure, and juvenile delinquency, adjudication, or incarceration; and schools implementing comprehensive support and improvement activities or targeted support and improvement activities under section 1111(d) of the ESEA. All strategies in the continuum of solutions must be accessible to children with disabilities and English learners.

This year's Promise Neighborhoods competition is different from previous years' competitions in several ways. The Promise Neighborhoods program, under the ESEA as amended by ESSA, requires applicants to propose the use of not less than 50 percent of grant funds in year one, and not less than 25 percent in year two, to support planning activities for the development and implementation of pipeline services. Because applicants must now propose to use grant funds for limited planning activities, the Department will no longer award separate Promise Neighborhoods planning and implementation grants. The priorities and some program requirements for this year's competition have also changed from previous competitions. In this year's competition, we introduce new data and performance management requirements while continuing to prioritize evidence-based (see section 8101(21) of the ESEA) activities and programs. Previously funded Promise Neighborhoods grantees have struggled to conduct meaningful data collection and evaluation activities, which include collecting the full range of data necessary to effectively employ comprehensive case and longitudinal data management systems. Such data systems are critical to effectively coordinate a range of services for high-need students and their families within a Promise Neighborhood. In response to this challenge, we now require applicants to address specific data collection and performance management requirements.