University of Evansville’s Evansville Promise Neighborhood receives $30-million grant

A $30-million federal grant has been awarded to the University of Evansville through the United States Department of Education. The grant funding will allow for the school to establish its Evansville’s Promise Neighborhood. In 2023 only three Neighborhoods of this type were funded by the federal government.

The aim of this project and its funding is to create a framework to assist youth and children who are growing up in Promise Neighborhoods, which provide them with access to robust community and family support systems, as well as outstanding schools. The resources provided by the Promise Neighborhoods help prepare the students to achieve excellence in their academic career, successfully transition to college, and find a fulfilling and successful career.

The grant application was submitted by the University of Evansville back in 2022 to the Department of Education. The school requested $30 million, which it plans to spend over the next five years. Twenty-three other organizations that partnered with the Evansville Promise Neighborhood project worked to raise money to match the grant, and more than succeeded, raising a total of $32,497,295.55, which means that the project has raised over $63 million so far. This monetary amount will be invested in providing various wraparound care services to the Promise Neighborhood, including six schools: Glenwood Leadership Academy, Lodge Community School, Bosse High School, Lincoln School, Delaware Elementary School, and Evan Elementary School. Major partners for the Promise Neighborhood are E-REP, EVSC, UE, and more.

In an article on the University of Evansville website, the school’s president Christopher M. Pietruszkewicz talked about the importance of investing in the community, saying, "The significance of this investment by our University for numerous families who require assistance is critical and extraordinarily impactful for the well-being of our entire Evansville community. UE has been the leader of this initiative from day one, and we eagerly anticipate the positive outcomes it will bring. This is what being a Changemaker campus is all about and it emphasizes the strong partnership we have with our community."

The mayor of Evansville, Lloyd Winnecke, also spoke on the Promise Neighborhood project, saying, "This Evansville's Promise Neighborhood investment is unmatched and will be critical to ensuring our community has the resources they need. This is a major success for our city and will be beneficial in the months and years ahead."

Evansville Vanderburgh School Corporation Superintendent Dr. David Smith also weighed in, saying, "We are excited and grateful for the opportunity to leverage this funding for the betterment of our students and the families we serve. It is, once again, another shining example of the collaborative efforts of our Evansville community."

Evansville Promise Zone Director Silas Matchem talked about how much of a boon this grant, and the match, will be for the project: "This grant we received is a result of this community coming together and collaborating for the common good of Evansville. This really solidifies all the work we have been doing since the culmination of the Promise Zone designation. I can't emphasize enough how big of an impact this will truly have for not only the neighborhoods it serves but for our Promise Zone and the City of Evansville as a whole."

Tara Barney, CEO of the Evansville Regional Economic Partnership talked about the continuing legacy of investing in the community, saying, "Over the past 2-3 years the Evansville Region has committed to enhancing quality of place for both current and future residents through strategic public/private investments. We know that the people care about high quality education, access to healthcare, improved infrastructure, and access to community resources, all of which are key components of what this approach will enable our communities to prioritize. This award is further testament to the high level of collaboration and strategic visioning that regional leaders have had, and as the regional economic development organization, we are thrilled to see the lasting impact and opportunity that is fostered through and from this opportunity."

The City of Evansville was granted a federal 10-year Promise Zone designation back in 2016. The purpose of the designation is to support the most promising, but at-risk, neighborhoods within the city’s urban core. Census tracts and schools were selected to be part of the Promise Neighborhood after a close review of neighborhood and school data based on information indicating need within the Promise Zone area. Diehl Consulting led this effort, which is a local firm with community respect as evaluation experts. Diehl Consulting partnered closely with EVSC to analyze the data. The University of Evansville’s Center for Innovation and Change also conducted neighborhood vision and design thinking sessions with families and students from EVSC to help inform the decision making process. Dr. Timothy A. Dickel of the T.A. Dickel Group, LLC worked to facilitate the process of budget development while Amy Boleck (a University of Evansville alumna) of Boleck Grant Writing and Consulting Services spearheaded the grant process. The University of Evansville, being the lead applicant, housed the staff in charge of leading the Promise Neighborhood through the school’s Center for Innovation and Change. 

Since then, the city of Evansville has applied four different times for Promise Neighborhood, including as recently as 2021, which was the first year the University of Evansville was the lead partner. Evansville’s designation as a Promise Zone was a necessary step toward receiving the Promise Neighborhood grant.

More information about the University of Evansville can be found at the school’s website.