The full Senate Appropriations Committee today (July 29) ratified the earlier Senate subcommittee decision to fund Promise Neighborhoods at $20 million.
With the House acting earlier to fund the program at $60 million, the final figure for the coming FY 2011 fiscal year now appears likely to end up in the $20-60 million range. Final action on the legislation is not expected to occur until after the election.
The funding is primarily for implementation grants next year and will not affect the planning grants that local planning groups submitted applications for in June.
It is early, but it may be possible to find alternate national, state and local funding sources for local projects. We will begin working with others to help identify these sources.
In the meantime, our thanks go out to our many local friends who helped us with calls to Senate offices. We also thank our many other friends for their support and efforts, including Harlem Children’s Zone, PolicyLink, and the Center for the Study of Social Policy.