On Tuesday, July 24, at 11:59 pm, Central Contractor Registration (CCR) stopped accepting data, including requests for new registrations. The System for Awards Management (SAM) will not begin accepting data until July 30, 2012. This shutdown will have no bearing on the capacity of any entity that was properly registered in CCR on Tuesday, July 24, 2012 from electronically filing its grant application under the Promise Neighborhoods Program by 4:30:00 pm on Friday, July 27, 2012. However, an applicant that was not properly registered in CCR as of Tuesday, July 24, 2012 would not be able to file electronically by the competition due date. In light of these circumstances, we are waiving the requirement for electronic submission in this competition for those applicants, and only those applicants, that are not registered in CCR on the date on which their applications are due. This waiver will be applied in the following manner:

1. All applicants must meet the submission deadline as described in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA). No late applications will be accepted unless the conditions specified in the NIA apply.

2. Applicants currently registered in CCR must file electronically, unless they have received a waiver of the electronic filing requirement for other reasons.

3. Allow applicants that contact the department saying that they are/were unable to file electronically because of the CCR shutdown an opportunity to file by hand-delivery, mail or email.

1. For applicants who wish to email the application. The application must be in PDF format and include all files necessary for a complete application. They must submit the narrative and all required supporting documents. The application must be complete by the original submission deadline. Files should be named as follows: CDFA#_applicantname_file#of#.pdf. The e-mail to which the application is being sent needs to be sent to the following email address: promiseneighborhoods@ed.gov.

2. For applicants who wish to send the application by mail, FED EX or USPS, they should follow the submission instructions as described in the program’s NIA.

4. The Department will confirm that an applicant seeking to take advantage of this waiver is not registered in CCR. Any applicant who notified the Department of its need for a waiver, but is in fact registered in CCR, will, unless they have received a waiver for an electronic waiver requested for another, have to file electronically through grants.gov.

Deadline for Planning and Implementation Notices of Intent to Apply: Closed

Planning Notice of Intents Received: 414

Implementation Notice of Intents Received: 139

Below is a summation of survey data collected from the Planning and Implementation Notices of Intent to Apply.

Intent to Apply Survey Data (MS Word 40KB)

Notice of Intent Survey Charts (PowerPoint 473KB)

To view the FY 2012 Planning and Implementation Pre-Application webinars, please visit the resources page or CLICK HERE.

The Promise Neighborhoods Team has learned that the transition of the Central Contractor Registration (CCR) to the System for Award Management (SAM), that was scheduled to begin on May 24, has been postponed until late July. We still encourage all applicants for the Planning and Implementation competitions to have their registrations processed or updated with the CCR as soon as possible. To register or update the CCR, applicants should be sure to log onto www.grants.gov. On the far left toolbar, select “Get Registered”. As a reminder, the Grants.gov registration process takes 3-14 business days to complete. You must register with Grants.gov to submit an application. Please be sure to REGISTER EARLY!

1. As noted in the corrected Notices Inviting Applications (NIA) for Planning PDF (172KB) and Implementation PDF (177KB) competitions, published on May 11, 2012, in the Federal Register, all FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Planning and Implementation applications must be received on or before 4:30:00 pm Washington, D.C., time on July 27, 2012. Section IV of both Notices Inviting Applications published on April 20, 2012, reflected Deadlines for Transmittal of Applications on June 19, 2012.

2. The most recent application package now reflects a 50 page limit for implementation applications instead of a 40 page limit. The recommended page limit for planning applications is 40 pages, while the recommended page limit for implementation is 50 pages. Please refer to the Instructions for the Project Narrative in FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Planning MS Word (1.51MB) and Implementation MS Word (1.52MB) Application Packages for further details.

The Department is pleased to announce the FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Planning Competition. The Department encourages applicants to review the documents on this page and other Promise Neighborhoods pages to learn more about the planning competition.

FY2012 Notice Inviting Applications (NIA)

Important Dates!

Application Available: April 20, 2012

Date of Planning Pre-Application Webinar: June 12, 2012

The Promise Neighborhoods team will host two webinars for entities interested in submitting a FY 2012 planning application. The webinars will provide an opportunity for interested applicants to submit questions during the live presentation. Prior to these webinars, entities planning to participate should review the At-a-Glance MS Word (80.5KB), Application Package MS Word (1.51MB), Notice Inviting Applications PDF (177KB) and the FY2012 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) MS Word (476KB) for the FY2012 Planning Competition. The next Planning Competition Pre-Application Webinar will be held June 12, 2012. Representatives from your organization may listen to the May 15 webinar or participate in the June 12, 2012, webinar. Please register for the FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Planning Pre-Application Webinar (see below link).

Planning Pre-Application Webinar Registration-Date: June 12, 2012/Time: 1:00PM (EDT)

Deadline to Submit Applications: July 27, 2012

Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted and must be date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. Except as otherwise noted in the Notice Inviting Applications (NIA), we will not accept your application if it is received--that is, date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system--after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. We do not consider an application that does not comply with the deadline requirements. When your application is retrieved from Grants.gov, you will be notified if we are rejecting your application because it was date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 25, 2012

FY2012 Notice Inviting Applications (NIA)

Important Dates!

Application available: April 20, 2012

Date of Implementation Pre-Application Webinars: June 14, 2012

The Promise Neighborhoods team will host two webinars for entities interested in submitting a FY 2012 implementation application. The webinars will provide an opportunity for interested applicants to submit questions during the live presentation. Prior to these webinars, entities planning to participate should review the At-a-Glance MS Word (80.5KB), Application Package MS Word (1.51MB), Notice Inviting Applications PDF (177KB) and the FY2012 Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) MS Word (476KB) for the FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Implementation Competition. The next Implementation Competition Pre-Application Webinar will be held June 14, 2012. Representatives from your organization may listen to the May 17 webinar or participate in the June 14, 2012 webinar. Please register for the FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Implementation Pre-Application Webinar (see below link).

Implementation Pre-Application Webinar Registration-Date: June 14, 2012/Time: 1:00PM (EDT)

Deadline to Submit Applications: July 27, 2012

Your application must be fully uploaded and submitted and must be date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system no later than 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. Except as otherwise noted in this section, we will not accept your application if it is received--that is, date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system--after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date. We do not consider an application that does not comply with the deadline requirements. When your application is retrieved from Grants.gov, you will be notified if we are rejecting your application because it was date and time stamped by the Grants.gov system after 4:30:00 p.m., Washington, DC time, on the application deadline date.

Deadline for Intergovernmental Review: September 25, 2012

Call for Peer Reviewers for FY 2012 Promise Neighborhoods Competition

The Department encourages individuals from various backgrounds and professions with content expertise to apply to be a peer reviewer for the FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Planning and Implementation Competitions. If you are interested in serving as a peer reviewer for the FY2012 Promise Neighborhoods Planning and/ or Implementation Competitions, please see the FY2012 Call for Peer Reviewers, which describes the necessary qualifications. If you meet the necessary qualifications please complete the Peer Reviewer Application. All applications must be complete no later than July 27, 2012.

Detailed list of the 2011 High-Scoring Promise Neighborhoods Applicants

The list of applicants that scored 80 points or higher in the 2011 competition is organized by grant type (i.e., Implementation and Planning) and includes information about the applicants’ city/region, state, peer reviewer score, and Absolute Priority (i.e., Rural and Tribal communities), as well as a link to the project abstracts on data.ed.gov. The Department anticipates that peer reviewer scores and comments will be sent by mail to all Promise Neighborhoods applicants during the week of January 30, 2012. MS Excel (41KB)

Reviewers' comments and scores for all of the 2011 Promise Neighborhoods grantees, as well as peer reviewer names, project narratives and other application documents are available on the Awards page.

THE DEPARTMENT IS PROUD TO ANNOUNCE THE 2011 PROMISE NEIGHBORHOODS GRANTEES

The press release announcing the 2011 Promise Neighborhoods grants is located at http://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/obama-administration-announces-2011-promise-neighborhoods-grant-winners.

The following are documents related to the Secretary's announcement:

• Detailed list of the 2011 Promise Neighborhoods Grantees
  The list of grantees is organized by grant type (i.e., Implementation and Planning), applicant type (nonprofit, Institution of Higher Education, or Indian Tribe), and Absolute Priority (i.e., Rural and Tribal communities), as well as includes a link to the project abstracts. MS Excel (21KB)
  
• Summary and analysis of the 2011 Promise Neighborhoods Grantees This document includes summary information on the type of grant, priorities addressed, and geographic focus of the 2011 grantees, as well as brief case studies of selected sites. Power Point (1.59MB)
  A summary Word document containing the same information is also provided. MS Word (37 KB)
• FAQs related to the Secretary's announcement
  This document addresses questions related to the announcement of the Promise Neighborhoods Grantees. MS Word (55 KB)

FY2011 Promise Neighborhoods applicant data is posted on http://www.data.ed.gov/grants/oii/2011/promise-neighborhoods.

FY2011 Promise Neighborhoods Application Summary. (October 4, 2011)

Program Office: Office of Innovation and Improvement (OII)
CFDA Number: 84.215P (Planning) and 84.215N (Implementation)
Program Type: Discretionary/Competitive Grants

Program Description: Promise Neighborhoods, established under the legislative authority of the Fund for the Improvement of Education Program (FIE), provides funding to support eligible entities, including (1) nonprofit organizations, which may include faith-based nonprofit organizations, (2) institutions of higher education, and (3) Indian tribes.

The vision of the program is that all children and youth growing up in Promise Neighborhoods have access to great schools and strong systems of family and community support that will prepare them to attain an excellent education and successfully transition to college and a career. The purpose of Promise Neighborhoods is to significantly improve the educational and developmental outcomes of children and youth in our most distressed communities, and to transform those communities by—

1. Identifying and increasing the capacity of eligible entities that are focused on achieving results for children and youth throughout an entire neighborhood;

2. Building a complete continuum of cradle-to-career solutions of both educational programs and family and community supports, with great schools at the center;

3. Integrating programs and breaking down agency “silos” so that solutions are implemented effectively and efficiently across agencies;

4. Developing the local infrastructure of systems and resources needed to sustain and scale up proven, effective solutions across the broader region beyond the initial neighborhood; and

5. Learning about the overall impact of the Promise Neighborhoods program and about the relationship between particular strategies in Promise Neighborhoods and student outcomes, including through a rigorous evaluation of the program.

In 2010, the Promise Neighborhoods program awarded one-year grants to support the development of a plan to implement a Promise Neighborhood in 21 communities across the country that included the core features described above. At the conclusion of the planning grant period, grantees should have a feasible plan to implement a continuum of solutions that will significantly improve results for children in the community being served.

In 2011, the Department awarded a second round of planning grants and a first round of implementation grants. The five implementation grants and 15 planning grants will reach an additional 16 communities throughout the United States in order to help revitalize disadvantaged neighborhoods. Promise Neighborhoods is now in 18 states and the District of Columbia.

In subsequent years, contingent on the availability of funds, the Department intends to conduct competitions for new implementation and planning grants. While all eligible entities will be able to apply for implementation grants, eligible entities that have effectively carried out the planning activities described in the Notice Inviting Applications, whether independently or with a Promise Neighborhoods planning grant, are likely to be well positioned with the plan, commitments, data, and demonstrated organizational leadership and capacity necessary to develop a quality application for an implementation grant.