| Dec19 |
Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Project Awarded Grant Funding
12/19/2011 4:16:20 PM by Stephanie Hamm |
BUFFALO, N.Y., Dec. 19 - The Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Project today received word that it is one of five in the country to be awarded a grant of $6 million to begin implementing the new program in the Bailey-Kensington area. Catholic Charities is a partner and will be a service provider in the new program that aims to address significant challenges faced by students and families in high-poverty communities.
Catholic Charities’ officials joined in the announcement today when it was made by Mark Czarnecki, M&T Bank president, Buffalo Schools Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon and City of Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown at Westminster Community Charter School.
The federal funds were the first Promise Neighborhood grants awarded by the Department of Education and they represent a five-year grant. M&T Bank and the John R. Oishei Foundation were instrumental is helping to fund the planning stage, and M&T Bank has committed to match one-year of the federal grant at $1.5 million and raise another $9 million in private funds.
Read more information about the funding announcement here.
As a service provider for the program, Catholic Charities will assist children and families in the three targeted schools, Bennett High School, Highgate Heights Elementary School and Westminster Community Charter School.
The programs will “put school improvement at the center of local efforts to revitalize underserved neighborhoods,” according to the Department of Education release. In addition, the program will provide resources to plan and implement a continuum of services from early learning to college and career. Plans include a range of services from improving a neighborhood’s health, safety, and stability to expanding access to learning technology and Internet connectivity, and boosting family engagement in student learning.
Other partners include the United Way of Buffalo & Erie County, Bethel Head Start, the Buffalo Urban League, the Buffalo Public Schools, the Community Health Center of Buffalo and Read to Succeed Buffalo.
More than 200 organizations from 45 states, as well as American Samoa and Puerto Rico, applied for 2011 Promise Neighborhoods planning and implementation grants. A total of 15 planning grants were also awarded.
Catholic Charities is the most comprehensive direct human service provider serving all eight counties of Western New York, with 70 programs and 61 locations. Founded in 1923, Catholic Charities also provides, without regard to religious affiliation, comprehensive counseling services for children and families, anti-domestic violence programming and emergency services, among other social and mental health services.
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From left, Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown, Buffalo Schools Interim Superintendent Amber Dixon and Mark Czarnecki, president of M&T Bank and chairman of Buffalo Promise Neighborhood Board of Directors announce that the Buffalo Promise Neighborhood will awarded $6 million in grant funding.
Catholic Charities' officials and other partners attend the announcement.
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