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Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood

Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood (housed at Amherst H. Wilder Foundation) is a transformative education partnership that puts children on the pathway to college and career success. Using a school-based approach, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood supports children at four partner schools in the Frogtown, Rondo, and Summit-University neighborhoods of Saint Paul.   


Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood partners with organizations to deliver families a comprehensive, culturally competent, two-generation strategy. They use education, community engagement, wraparound services and civic engagement tools to pave pathways of opportunities for children.   


Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood's North Star is that the people who live in the promise neighborhood are thriving - no exceptions - and have a fair chance to participate, prosper and reach their full potential. 


Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood imagines a community that promises opportunity to all children and families. 

Prototypes

Local community organization grantees work with families to create innovative program designs called “prototypes”, which address racial disparities in human services and outcomes facing the families in their community.

The People’s Fellowship Project

Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood piloted The People’s Fellowship in partnership with Ramsey County, Network for the Development of Children of African Descent, Model Cities, Lutheran Social Services and Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation. Families participated in concurrent culturally-based parent and child literacy programs, financial education and counseling. Families also had an opportunity to participate in community participatory action research and optional workshops offered by Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood and its affiliated partners.

Ramsey County caseworkers worked with parents to develop a “self-determinizing plan” where they select from a menu of services in housing, wealth building/income, early childhood, and education aligned with their ambitions rather than an employment plan or other required county plans. While maintaining family autonomy, this pilot offered a more coordinated, multi-partner set of wraparound services. It seeks to introduce the 2-Gen framework and support service integration across county service divisions.

The People’s Fellowship brings together a mix of opportunities: 

Core programs: The Sankofa and Parent Power programs run concurrently over nine weeks, engaging children and parents at the same time. 

Wrap-around services: Wrap-around services meet the social, physical, cognitive, and economic needs of students and families. To help stabilize families, the focus is on household stability, education, wealth-building, and income boosters so they can focus on academic success, self-determination, and more.

Skills building workshops: Exploring themes related to child and family success and complementary activities to support long-term child and family stability.

Wage subsidy: Fellowship activities will provide an income boost of approximately $5,000 per parent participant. Participants can earn up to $3,000, which can be used to purchase an asset upon program completion. Children also receive up to $600 in a college savings account.

News and resources

Policy and practice barriers study: A Direct Service Perspective | Minnesota Department of Human Services

Department of Human Services staff interviewed those working in the 2-Gen partner sites in service coordination roles such as employment counselor, navigator and coach in 2018. The goal was to identify common challenges when families are served by multiple organizations, stress points within social services programs and other administrative hurdles creating barriers for families working toward stability. Northside Achievement Zone, Saint Paul Promise Neighborhood and Olmsted County Human Services, Economic Assistance and Employment Supports Division staff grounded questions about systemic barriers by asking interviewees to select families served by their agencies, providing perspective on systemic barriers and unmet needs for each family.

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