The Obama administration has engaged philanthropy and philanthropists to an extent unmatched by prior administrations. This engagement has been evident in programs like the Social Innovation Fund (SIF) and Investing in Innovation (i3) Fund. It is also evident in Promise Neighborhoods, particularly locally where foundations have played a major role by providing matching funds.

While all of this activity has been happening locally, national foundations have also been exploring ways to help. In the fall of 2009, shortly after the national conference hosted by HCZ and PolicyLink in New York, a group of major national, regional, and local foundations assembled to discuss how they could help to support Promise Neighborhoods applicants and the growing movement. One result was to pool some of their resources to support the Promise Neighborhoods Institute at PolicyLink.

With Congress cutting the administration’s proposed $210 million in funding for next year, but most Promise Neighborhoods applicants saying they will proceed anyway, the role of private philanthropy has now become more important than ever. Given this, what lessons have philanthropists learned? While Promise Neighborhoods applicants are breaking down silos, how are philanthropists doing the same thing? And importantly, where do we go from here?

We asked one the nation’s leaders in philanthropy, Ralph Smith, the Executive Vice President at the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a long-time supporter of organizations that work in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty. United Neighborhood Centers of America is among the organizations that it has supported.

Building Neighborhoods: Thank you for joining us, Mr. Smith. As you know, Congress has substantially cut President Obama’s funding request for the Promise and Choice Neighborhoods program next year. Given this, how do we keep the momentum moving forward on place-based work? Continued…