Building a Promise Neighborhood from the Inside Out: A Springfield, Ohio Experiment with Asset-Based Community Development

Abstract

This paper examines the impact of the Springfield Promise Neighborhood (SPN) initiative on the City of Springfield, Ohio. Launched in August, 2010, SPN adopted an asset-based and resident-driven strategy to transform vulnerable neighborhoods by ensuring the academic and social success of the youth within a defined geographic locality. SPN was conceived as an initiative that would eventually impact all of Springfield by engaging citizens and youth to envision and achieve a preferred future story. The early piloting of the model has taken place in partnership with Lincoln Elementary School and its attendance zone, which represents a 110-block area surrounding the school. This case analysis has been undertaken in order to reflect on the progress made and the lessons learned from the initial six years of the project and consider how these findings could be integrated into a scalable model that could influence other neighborhoods within Springfield.