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San
Bernardino County Supervisors seek
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PROMISE
ZONE
for City
of San Bernardino
Tuesday February 9th,
the San Bernardino County Board of
Supervisors unanimously approved an agreement with several community
partners to seek a federal Promise Zone designation for a large portion of the
City of San Bernardino.
"Promise Zones focus on helping communities
work together and partner with the federal government to meet their goals,"
said Board of Supervisors Chairman James
Ramos. "A Promise Zone designation presents an invaluable and crucial
opportunity to transform an area of extreme need in the City of San Bernardino
into a healthy, sustainable, equitable and thriving place to work, live and
play."
Promise
Zones are partnerships between the federal government and local agencies across
the country aimed at creating jobs, leveraging private investment, increasing
economic activity, expanding educational opportunities, and reducing violent
crime.
Specifically,
Promise Zones will receive preferred access to certain competitive federal
investments that further their strategic plans and assistance from dedicated
federal staff to help implement goals and to recruit and manage volunteers to
strengthen the capacity of Promise Zone partners.
"This is an amazing opportunity for our
community," said Fifth District Supervisor
Josie Gonzales. "The positive transformation of this
community and its residents is dependent upon physical transformation of the
area, linked to comprehensive and
coordinated public-private Promise Zone strategies to access and create jobs,
increase economic activity and security, improve educational opportunities, improve
health and wellness, and reduce violent crime."
Under the
recently approved agreement, by the San
Bernardino County Board of Supervisors, the County and the City of San
Bernardino will serve as the lead agencies in seeking the Promise Zone
designation. The County and City will work with San Bernardino City Unified
School District, Loma Linda University, the Housing Authority of the County of
San Bernardino, National Community Renaissance of California, and the Institute
of Public Strategies to submit the required Promise Zone Urban Application and,
if the area is designated as a Promise Zone, complete the work necessary to
implement the Promise Zone Plan.
To
strengthen the Promise Zone application, Neighbor
Housing Services of the Inland Empire, Dignity
Health, and St. Bernadine Medical
Center have joined the Leadership Council. Neighbor Housing Services of the
Inland Empire, Dignity Health, and St. Bernadine Medical Center have agreed to
join the effort.
The
federal Promise Zone initiative was created in 2013, and in December 2015 HUD
and the U.S. Department of Agriculture announced the competition to designate
the third and final round of the Promise Zones. Applications must be received
by February 23rd. The winners will be announced in Spring 2016.
The
proposed San Bernardino Promise Zone includes downtown San Bernardino and is
bounded roughly by Highland and Tippecanoe avenues and Mill and H streets.
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