FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. — Broward College is a recipient of $30 million over five years from the U.S. Department of Education as part of its Promise Neighborhoods program. It is a highly competitive grant, with more than 50 organizations applying for it and only seven recipients. This is the largest grant in the College’s history. Further, Broward College is the first grantee in Florida and the first community college in the nation to ever receive a Promise Neighborhoods grant.

The grant will be used to support Broward UP communities like never before. The College will now reach earlier into the education pipeline, providing cradle-to-college-to-career support for those in Broward UP communities. Broward UP is the College’s innovative approach to increasing college access and attainment by providing workforce education in communities impacted by high unemployment and low education attainment rates.

“Promise Neighborhoods build on the rich resources, ingenuity, and creativity of communities to bring together schools, nonprofits, and other organizations in a concerted effort to meet the needs of children and youth,” said Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “Through these new grants … more children in communities all across the nation will have access to cradle-to-college and career supports that will help them reach their potential and thrive.”

Authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the Promise Neighborhoods program strives to significantly improve the academic and developmental outcomes of children living in the most distressed communities of the United States. The program serves neighborhoods with high concentrations of low-income individuals; or with multiple signs of distress, which may include high rates of poverty, childhood obesity, academic failure, and juvenile delinquency, adjudication, or incarceration.

“This grant from the Department of Education will materially expand the impact we are making in our Broward UP communities,” said Broward College President Gregory Adam Haile, J.D. “Working together with our partners, we will utilize this grant to offer comprehensive support that will help families reach their unlimited potential. We are positioning our children for post-secondary success, while we also work with their parents and caregivers to improve workforce skills.”

Since 2018, Broward UP has expanded the College’s business model to deliver workforce education courses and programs, along with career readiness and related support services in communities most affected by intergenerational poverty and economic immobility. Broward College seeks to actualize every resident’s unlimited potential by building strong community, municipal, and nonprofit partnerships to raise the educational attainment levels and positively impact the social and economic mobility of area residents.

The Broward UP Promise Neighborhoods project will provide for a comprehensive two-generational model to serve children from an early age to adulthood, positioning them for post-secondary education, while also working with their parents to gain workforce skills so that they can support their families. Over the next five years, Broward College and its community partners will focus on a broad “cradle to career” approach with initiatives that expand from early child care and kindergarten readiness programs; enhancing K-12 supplemental instruction and success; improving high school completion and college enrollment; improving access to education and job training for young adults and all residents in the Broward UP communities; addressing critical challenges facing the children and residents in the community.

As the lead agency, Broward College will coordinate the grant program with community partners, including Broward County Public Schools, the Urban League of Broward County, YMCA of South Florida, Boys and Girls Club of Broward, OIC of South Florida, HANDY, Inc., Hispanic Unity of Florida, Pace Center for Girls of Broward County, Jack and Jill Children’s Center, the FLITE Center, Children’s Services Council of Broward County, Broward Partnership for the Homeless, and Nourishing Lives. Matching funds from these and other community agencies and philanthropic gifts will be secured over the period of the grant to support the program.