Moving Beyond Education/Career to Build a Collective Neighborhood Support-System

Promise Neighborhoods is a cradle-to-career initiative dedicated to building supports in local neighborhoods for families and their children that can help ensure educational and career success for all neighborhood youth. One of the program’s goals is to make sure high school graduates obtain a postsecondary degree, certificate, or credential. In support of this, Promise Neighborhood grantees are required to track and report on the following two key Government Performance and Results Act (GPRA) indicators related to postsecondary and career success.

Increasing the number of students who achieve postsecondary and career success requires neighborhood partnership beyond the educational and professional system. It requires families and neighborhood residents to be engaged as part of the effort. Collective impact can provide the framework and tools Promise Neighborhood grantees need to build the neighborhood support system necessary for postsecondary and career success.

This brief will discuss how collective impact can be used by Promise Neighborhood grantees to help ensure greater postsecondary and career success for the youth in their Promise Neighborhoods.

**This report was commissioned by the Urban Institute and redistributed here with permission.