The Charleston Promise Neighborhood is a community marked by under-education, teenage pregnancy, poor healthcare, air pollution, violent crime, high unemployment, and intergenerational poverty.
- Almost 30% of residents have no high school diploma, with current graduation rates as low as 41 and 62% for the high schools serving the community.
- Single mothers head over 30% of all households—a number that continues to
rise, with 170 children born to CPN middle and high school students in 2008 alone. - Unemployment rates are more than double the national average.
- It is estimated that as many as 40% of students attending one of the elementary schools in the neighborhood have at least one parent in jail or prison.
This area was chosen because of its high concentration of children in poverty and because the three local governments and the Charleston County School District are committed to bridging existing gaps in this community to bring about transformational change. The CPN also includes several successful, small-scale, place-based community organizations with local experience and expertise that can be leveraged.