‘Our kids are trapped.’ Lexington schools leading the way for ‘Promise Neighborhoods’

Along with its two new Promise Academy schools to improve academic achievement, Fayette County Schools has launched an initiative to create ‘Promise Neighborhoods’ in high poverty areas of downtown and north Lexington.

The Promise Neighborhood Initiative, — based on the question, “Does where students live matter?” — is an effort by Fayette Superintendent Manny Caulk to bring government, business, civic and non-profit organizations together to find a multi-generational approach to support children and families living in Lexington’s most impoverished neighborhoods.

“Every child deserves a neighborhood of promise,” Adrian Wallace, a consultant hired by the school district to lead the project said at Monday’s school board meeting. “Our kids are trapped.”

“Our babies are only inside the schools for seven hours,” said Wallace . “The other 17 hours are crucial.”

School and community leaders are hoping to transform student lives in the 17 hours they are not in school.

Wallace said that this exact work has not been carried out in Lexington before. Government policies and systemic issues have disproportionately impacted the neighborhoods and that’s why the concentrated poverty exists, he said.

Public and private groups will come together, said Wallace: “Promise neighborhoods are about transforming neighborhoods of concentrated poverty into neighborhoods of opportunity.”

The idea, school district equity officer Darryl Thompson said Monday, is that “we will revitalize our schools by revitalizing our neighborhoods.”

It’s an approach taken nationally by other communities that are interested in improving cradle-to-career results for children.

Wallace said the project is currently at a stage where officials are identifying gaps in services and finding out which assets exist in Lexington through various groups -- including some who already might have millions of dollars in grant money. In January, they are conducting door-to-door canvassing and focus groups within the neighborhoods to talk to residents.

“What are their gifts? What can they do to help us transform these communities,” said Wallace.

William Wells Brown Neighborhood Association President Robert Hodge grew up on Thomas Street in one of the neighborhoods that would be impacted by the initiative. He said after attending the University of Kentucky, he returned to the neighborhood as one of the “largest African American investors in Lexington.”

“You can not just sit back and think parents are going to come to you,” said Hodge, who said he was not yet aware of the Promise Neighborhood initiative. “You have to come to them. You have to be friends first. They will not open up until they get trust. That doesn’t come with one visit. Trust comes with always seeing you.”

“They’ve got to get people from the neighborhood involved to be part of the conversation ... on the ground floor... empower them,” he said.

Hodge said there appears to be good intentions in the Promise Neighborhood initiative, but he noted that the residents who need help may not have eaten “in two days.”

“They don’t know how they are going to pay rent. They don’t know if the electric is going to be on when they get through talking to you,” Hodge said.

The problems are outside the school building, he said.

Thompson said the expected outcome of the initiative is to help families in high poverty neighborhoods “have a better life so they can produce better students.”

On Monday, district officials presented data that showed some of the problems affecting high poverty neighborhoods.

Fayette County’s kindergarten readiness data from fall 2019 shows that 48. 6 percent of white students were below average in their cognitive and academic development. That compared with 75.8 percent of black students who were below average when they started kindergarten, 80.7 percent of students who had limited proficiency in the English language, 78. 7 percent of kids on free and reduced lunch and 77.9 percent students with disabilities.

In Fayette County, 6.9 percent, or 3,500, of youth between 16 and 24 are considered “disconnected” meaning they are not in school and not working.

School board chair Stephanie Spires, for several years a foster parent, said there is nothing in Lexington to help that age group, especially if they are foster children.

The group working on neighborhood transformation is focusing on education, economic security, health and family and community.

As part of the Promise Academy model, William Wells Brown Elementary and Harrison Elementary schools are giving students intensive instruction, enrichment activities, and longer days and academic years.

The two are among seven elementary schools in the district designated in 2018 by the Kentucky Department of Education as low performing schools that needed Comprehensive Support and Improvement or CSI schools. All but William Wells Brown were no longer classified as CSI schools by the fall of 2019, but there are plans to develop Promise Neighborhoods in the areas around the two Promise Academy schools and the former CSI schools Arlington, Mary Todd, Millcreek, Yates and Coventry Oak.

City government officials, Commerce Lexington, YMCA, Urban League, LBAR, the United Way, the University of Kentucky, Transylvania University, Bluegrass Community and Technical College, Lexington Public Library, Lexington Housing Authority, Community Action Council, Lexington-Fayette County Health Department, Habitat for Humanity, Consolidated Baptist Church, and neighborhood association representatives, are all working on the Promise Neighborhood Initiative.

“We know it’s tough work,” said Thompson. “It’s going to take a lot of sleepless nights.”

“You are giving people an opportunity to stand on their own two feet and survive against the struggles of this world,” he said.

“The work on New Promise Neighborhoods is just getting started,” said Tyler Scott, Chief of Staff for Mayor Linda Gorton. “The city, along with several community partners, is working with the school district to identify ways we can work together to build stronger neighborhoods for children and families. The Mayor’s ONE Lexington Initiative, along with the Department of Social Services and Neighborhoods in Transition Task Force, are all deeply engaged in our neighborhoods and are lending their expertise, time and energies to supporting our schools as we all work to build stronger neighborhoods.”

Timothy Johnson, United Way of the Bluegrass President and Chief Executive Officer, said his organization is uniting with the school district and other organizations on the initiatives.

“Our schools do a great job of providing support and assistance to students during the instructional day, but we know that the other 17 hours that they spend each day in their homes and neighborhoods are critical,” said Johnson. “Collectively, our community is coming together to develop a plan that will provide the wrap-around support and services needed to empower children and families, and help remove barriers that often stand in the way of success, health, and long-term financial stability.”

The seeds for the Promise Neighborhoods started in March 2018, when Caulk’s District Safety Advisory Council heard students say they didn’t feel safe at home, at school, or in the community. That led to a 10-point safety plan.

In the fall, when the state department of education identified seven elementary schools serving six contiguous neighborhoods in the same part of Lexington as needing Comprehensive Support and Improvement, Caulk raised the question, “Does where students live matter?”

Local officials determined it did and that too many children in Lexington were living in high poverty neighborhoods that lack critical assets such as quality schools, accessible job opportunities, reliable transportation, and safe places for recreation which help children be better positioned for success in adulthood.

Organizations in Lexington are already doing great work, Wallace said.

In the collaborative effort, existing funds would be redirected instead of trying to bring in new revenue, Wallace said.

Wallace said there will be some immediate changes, such as those that are taking place at William Wells Brown and Harrison elementary schools, but “this will not be an overnight fix.”

“It will be a dual generational approach, where we focus on our babies,but we also help and support their families,” he said.

This story was originally published December 20, 2019 at 2:59 PM.