Introduction

The Current State of Implementation at Selected EZ/EC Sites 

Researchers

University Committments

Professional Organizations

Service Coordinations

Continuation Activities

Ideas for Improvement

Nothing counts as progress in the community if the children are ill-served.  Sadly, too many children-especially in the inner cities of the nation-live under stressful conditions.  For many inner-city children, survival is a primary concern.  Reading, writing, and arithmetic seem little related to a future that is uncertain and possibly devoid of hope.  These are systemic problems of a distressed community, not simply psychological problems of individuals or of narrowly framed categories of children.  It is true, of course, that there are marvelous resources in most cities, but access to the supportive and enriching aspects of urban life is extremely limited for many children. 

Schools in these troubled communities have made valiant efforts to adapt to the needs of students; the needs, however, often surpass all that schools alone can do.  For this reason, schools have sought strengthened ties with community agencies of many kinds.  Schools that formerly relished their independence now find themselves working in partnership with social, health, and corrections agencies as well as with families.  Building school-family-community collaboratives is tough, risky work, but the movement continues to grow.  It is long-term work that cannot afford to fail.  There is increasing recognition that seeing urban school situations narrowly and rejecting the broader, more encompassing influences in the lives of children and expanded approaches to problem-solving is tantamount to impeding the solution of urgent problems. 

Our ongoing program of research and development at the National Center on Education in the Inner Cities (CEIC) has focused on these complex affairs, mostly at grassroots levels, during the past six years of our operations.  Our broad-based theme of connecting schools with family and the community powerfully echoes the guiding themes of the federal Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities (EZ/EC) initiative.  EZ/EC is described as a key strategy for community revitalization in the most distressed areas of the nation, a comprehensive approach involving coordination of economic, physical, environmental, and community resources and much attention to human needs. 

The breadth of the EZ/EC commitment, involving virtually all federal departments, was the program feature that particularly captured our attention.  Problems of the inner city transcend the capacity of isolated agencies to respond effectively, so broadly coordinated approaches are clearly required.  Creating links from local levels to the higher levels involved in EZ/EC planning, however, remains a challenge.  Ensuring that human needs, particularly those concerning children, are not lost in powerful moves for economic development is one of our most immediate concerns. 

Several assumptions and early observations provided the impetus for the National Invi-tational Conference on Development and Learning of Children and Youth in Urban America.  They include the following: 
 

• It is common to regard the economic side of urban problems as the most critical, assuming that focusing on economic issues will ultimately lead to connections with family resources and to improved opportunities for children.  Good jobs are perceived as the key.  Without disagreeing, we nonetheless assert that ultimately nothing counts as progress until we address the human side of urban problems-specifically the development and learning of children. Nothing is more basic, in the short and long term, than providing for the nurturance and development of the young.  We cannot delay attention to children, because what is lost often cannot be made up and the future of the nation literally resides in their heads, hearts, and hands.  Thus, we hold a strong conviction that decisions about how to revitalize the inner cities of the nation must begin with the people who live there, especially the children.
• We assume that research and researchers have much to contribute to problem-solving ventures, especially in designing valid and sustainable solutions to complex problems.  It is necessary to make all well-confirmed knowledge available as plans and programs unfold.  But researchers also have tools that can address emerging issues, and these are urgently needed in improvement efforts.  Too often, researchers are connected to inner-city situations only occasionally and by a slender thread.
• Teachers, psychologists, physicians, social workers, and other professionals tend to burn out quickly in inner-city situations.  Among teachers, for example, those who acquire tenure of-ten try to move to more comfortable schools.  Professionals are expected to address the most difficult and challenging problems of the community, yet for various reasons they often abandon the inner city.  To the extent that this continues to be true, inner cities will continue to lack high-quality professional services.
• Similarly, urban universities, the custodians of much talent for research and training in their communities, are mostly detached from inner-city problems.  Again, there are small thread-like contacts between urban universities and communities, mostly representing interests of individual professors of education, social work, or economics, but nothing like the broad coalition of disciplines and professions required to address inner-city problems in the spirit  of the EZ/EC initiative.  For the most part, however, universities have abandoned the inner city and turned to more convenient sites for their field work.  Further, there remains a high degree of fractionalization within universities; representatives of various departments often meet as strangers when they encounter one another in community work.  It is helpful to recall the work of land grant universities in the field of agriculture and in rural communities, following the Morrill Act of the last century.  Comparable work is required now, we believe, to connect the universities into broadly framed revitalization programs in the inner cities.
• Many doubt whether governmental offices are able to achieve cross-agency and cross-departmental coordination to the level expected in the local community.  Government offices have become highly fractionated and highly adept at negotiating relationships with local agencies in very narrow ways.  However, achieving comprehensive and coherent patterns of operation at the local level will be unlikely unless and until there is corresponding coordination at all levels of government.  Block grants and waivers will help, but barriers to thorough-going coordination and devolution are everywhere.  The challenge of change extends to high places as well as to the neighborhood.

This section examines what is, for us, a major issue at the outset of the EZ/EC initiative-the observation that the human development side of inner-city needs, particularly the needs of children and youth, has been insufficiently attended.  The first task is to test the validity of our statement that programs for children have, to a large extent, lost out in EZ/EC programs.  Of course, EZ/EC plans are only at beginning stages, and in many cases it has taken time to trim down plans from EZ to EC levels.  Only recently, for example, did the St. Paul City Council and mayor approve the allocations of EC funds to several projects.  For this reason, what we observe and describe is tentative, incomplete, and very preliminary. 

We have not been able to make a comprehensive survey of all 105 EZ/ECs, but we have completed the following activities: 
 

• Read selected EZ/EC documents on file at the Department of Housing and Urban Develop-ment (HUD).
• Read reports such as Profiles of Planned Education Components and Best Practices distrib-uted by the Urban Interagency Task Force.
• Sent observers to several EZ/ECs and received their reports on six major topic areas (i.e., provisions for children, youth, and families; researchers; university commitments; professional organizations; service coordination; and continuation activities).
• Discussed the EZ/EC implementations with several generalists, the Price-Waterhouse me-diators contracted for by HUD, and with several federal officials.

We now proceed to a discussion of the six query areas that were identified for observations at the time of EZ/EC site visits.  For each topical area we provide a few orienting comments, then a few examples about what we learned at the various sites. 
Provisions for Children, Youth, and Families 

There is no doubt that economic development and jobs are the priority in EZ/EC-supported programs.  Programs that directly affect children, youth, and families are losing out, probably more so in Enterprise Communities than in Empowerment Zones.  In many cases, applications were made for broadly envisioned Empowerment Zones, but the actual awards were for something more limited in scope.  In the process of reshaping plans to the award conditions, attention to children and learning was often lost.  Because programs are only now beginning in many places, we offer this summary view cautiously.  Time will be required to clarify what is truly happening and the likely outcomes. 

Los Angeles

In the original plan, education and family support were two of the six proposed strategies.  Some funds were to be linked to the Los Angeles Educational Alliance for Restructuring Now, a broad program for changing Los Angeles schools that appears-at its early stages-to show promising results.  However, funding-all of it 
Economic Development Initiative funds-was limited to stimulating economic 
development. 

Minneapolis/St. Paul 

Both cities applied for Enterprise Zones but received Empowerment Communities.  Pro-grams relating to children were lost in the process of downsizing to the Enterprise Community level.  Several youth programs, such as job readiness and conflict resolution programs, were re-tained and supported.  In Minneapolis, a Youth Enterprise Center is managed mainly by a teen-age board, and staffed by Americorps volunteers. 

Boston

Three of seven Human Development Goals and Benchmarks are related to children and youth:  technology, alternative education (for out-of-school and at-risk youth), and expanded day care. 

Baltimore

The board for Enterprise Zone management has no school representative, but does in-clude a representative of Sylvan Learning Systems.  A broad set of education activities was planned, but placed on hold after funding.  School boundaries were not considered in initial planning.  Money is expected to fund Village Centers for family-oriented programs, but plans are required for approval. 

Chicago

Youth Futures, Public Safety, and Linking Health and Human Services are three initia-tives (of seven) relating to children, youth, and families.  Specific developments are impressive but not widely implemented.  One central issue is securing parental participation in programs-such as at Terrell Elementary School, which has introduced parenting workshops and programs on conflict resolution and crisis management.  Westinghouse Vocational High School operates a Parent Resource Center that addresses student and family health issues. 

Philadelphia-Camden

Needs assessments revealed pressing needs of children and lack of sites for youth activities.  Programs for children started in summer and fall of 1996.  Each project must be planned in detail and approved for funding.  Funds are being sought for before- and after-school care, day care for young children, training for day care providers, full-day kindergarten classes and sum-mer or year-round programs, enrichment activities, and entrepreneurial partnerships. Some schools are being used as family centers providing health care and other services. 

In conclusion, provisions for children and families in Empowerment Zones and Enter-prise Communities are uneven and generally very limited. There is, we believe, good cause for aggressive action to increase attention to children within the EZ/EC framework. 

Unfortunately, there is a serious lack of participation in EZ/EC affairs by researchers.  In  many places, the inclusion of researchers in EZ/EC efforts is a new idea, and not always regarded favorably.  We believe that researchers can be important, creative partners in complex work; however, it will be difficult to bring together researchers of varied disciplines in ways that match the comprehensive approaches of the EZ/ECs. 

Portland

The Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory has been involved in the design, im-plementation, and evaluation of the EC. 

Philadelphia

Researchers from the City Planning Department, the public schools, and Martin Luther King Center (in Atlanta) have been helpful in the Empowerment Zone. 

The very process of conducting cross-disciplinary research in schools and in the broader life situations of children warrants research attention.  What works in broadly linked judicial processes?  In bringing together parents, educators, researchers, and the local business community and others?  Researchers are also needed to ensure that adequate knowledge base reviews are a starting point in all projects of the inner city.  For example, what do we know about pre-school readiness activities that are helpful for children entering kindergarten or first grade? What do we know about the effects of teenage employment on school performance?  What do we know to be effective ways to involve parents in the education of their children? 

It would help serve the children and youth living in our nation's inner cities if research-ers became more fully engaged in inner-city work.  Making this to happen will require attention to complex factors such as creating acceptance of researchers as partners and creating funding systems for multidisciplinary research. 
 

For the most part, university engagements in the inner city are very limited and rarely cross-disciplinary in structure.  Many individual university faculty have contacts and projects in inner cities, but coherent, broadly framed work is lacking.  Within universities, there is a need to build bridges across departments, professions, and disciplines so that the complex problems of inner-city children and their families can be addressed.  Although there is growing recognition of this need for greater capacity within universities to act in broad ways, the need for leadership, changed patterns of incentives, revised funding systems, and increased attention to issues of knowledge dissemination and utilization remains. 

A recurring comment at EZ/EC sites was that young professionals working in inner-city settings often suffer rapid burnout.  This problem requires attention by universities and all other elements of the community.  We need to find ways of supporting teachers and others of high competence so that they can sustain their contributions to children and families in distressed communities. 

Minneapolis

Metropolitan State University provides technical assistance for two "incubators" for business.  The University of Minnesota has a newly formed cross-departmental Consortium on Children, Youth, and Families that has some connections with the Extension Services of the Agricultural Sciences.  The Consortium is seeking closer ties with urban schools. 

Los Angeles 

University representatives met with community members in planning the initial application, but have not met since the funding announcement (as of June, 1996). 

Portland 

Portland Community College and Portland State University have a partnership with public schools to recruit and train minority teachers for the Enterprise Community. 

Philadelphia

Personnel from several universities are helping on individual projects, e.g., Temple Uni-versity's Nursing Department is contributing to a project on lead abatement, Allegheny University to one on health education, and the University of Pennsylvania with community schools. 

Baltimore

The President of Coffin State College serves on the Board of Directors for the Empowerment Zone.  Morgan State University staff are involved in a science-math initiative that hopefully will extend throughout EZ schools.  An ad hoc group from two universities (University of Maryland-College Park and Towson State University) and several federal officials have met to discuss development of a research and evaluation role in the Empowerment Zone. 

Chicago

Several universities have initiated partnership arrangements with schools to conduct technology-based projects. 

A major effort should be made to enhance the capacity of urban universities to become active partners in EZ/ECs.  A number of recommendations are offered in the "Ideas for Improvement" section, below. 
 

It is assumed that professional organizations at all levels-local, state, and national-have important contributions to make in helping to solve the problems of distressed urban communities.  Observations at the several EZ/EC sites have produced little evidence of strong roles or leadership on the part of professional organizations.  But the situation may be changing.  For example, the American Psychological Association has launched a series of activities relating to psychology's contributions to education, and a series of programs at the 1996 APA convention focused on psychological contributions to urban education.  Recent national meetings of the American Educational Research Association have featured lively discussions about how educational researchers can increase and improve their work in situations where children are vulnerable.  The Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development shows evidence of strong commitments to inner-city education.  And the National Education Association has recently announced a new initiative in urban education. 

Despite these positive examples, however, much work remains in establishing the strong presence of professional organizations in inner-city situations.  One idea is for national professional organizations to join together to create support systems for local affiliate organizations that support EZ/EC operations. 
 

Are the EZ/ECs effectively creating coordinated activities in the service of the children and families living in urban communities?  The need to overcome fragmentation was an under-lying premise in EZ/EC formation, a theme often echoed in the literature.  So far, most EZ/EC governing bodies have acted much like internal foundations, seeking funds and allocating them to isolated applicant organizations.  Often these governing bodies operate at central levels in very large cities, and fail to directly touch the coordination problems at grassroots or case-work levels.  In other cities, there are promising linkage systems operating between central city and neighborhood levels.  That seems to be the case, for example, in Minneapolis and in Philadel-phia-Camden. 

The ultimate test of coordination occurs at the level of individual children and families.  Much effort is required to create the links necessary from central city to the local levels-neighborhood or sometimes school-based levels-where coordination is so essential.  We have been involved in many emerging school-based collaboratives which could potentially be joined to the EZ/EC initiative.  Little, however, has been observed on this front. 

Coordination must remain an ongoing concern as Notices of Fund Allocations (NOFAs) are announced, as state and community resources are leveraged by the EZ/EC initiative, and as second-round federal funding is considered.  It will be important to provide continued funding in ways that enhance coordination rather than fractionation of services. 

Minneapolis

The initial EZ/EC plan was prepared, in part, by bringing together neighborhood planning groups and citywide planning agencies. 

Boston

The Empowerment Zone program is described as helping to bring together city, school, and community officials in ways that have not previously occurred. 

Portland

Regular meetings of staff of funded organizations are convened to promote interagency coordination and collaboration.  The Portland Enterprise Commission includes representatives of the Portland Police Department, the North/Northeast Economic Development Alliance, the Center for Community Mental Health, Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory, the Neighborhood Partnership Fund, and the Black United Fund.  The Commission meets frequently to monitor progress of the EC. 

Philadelphia/Camden

A bottom-up coordination process uses volunteer block workers.  The plan is for central Empowerment Zone staff to be replaced by members of the community within two years, though local staff will be able to reach out for technical assistance and consultation.  The process of Empowerment Zone work has been described as helpful in coordination, and many local partner-ships are developing. 

Baltimore

More than 500 people contributed to initial planning, but the complexity of the governing structure makes it difficult to achieve consensus. 

Chicago

Schools play a key role in screening programs for disorders of vision and hearing, in immunization programs, and in providing medical information to students and families. 

Los Angeles 

Mechanisms such as one-stop youth centers, one-stop capital shops, and school-to-work consortia are being set up to structure coordination and communication among multiple agencies; a central Empowerment Zone Oversight Committee will serve as the clearinghouse to monitor services and programs to see that they are systematically delivered. 
 

The question of how effectively the EZ/ECs are preparing for continuation activities is a concern at local, state, and federal levels.  What is the plan, and what is the reality of continued funding and of leadership?  How will technical assistance be provided?  Will EZ/ECs be interactive in designed ways so that they can be mutually helpful?  How much awareness is there in each of the communities about EZ/ECs and about the provision of continuation funding?  Is there a carefully developed program of evaluation for the entire EZ/EC operation, so that plans and procedures can be adapted, based on valid data? 

At this early stage, there are few answers to these questions.  It is clear, however, that awareness and understanding of EZ/ECs is very limited.  In every site visited there were concerns about improving the level of community understanding.  The likelihood of broad understanding and involvement will depend on the levels and forms of continuation funding.  If the program gives indications of being significant and sustaining, awareness and participation will grow.  At the present time, however, awareness is very low, as is understanding of the regularities of funding and other operating procedures.  Further, there is a sense of doubt about the long-term dependability of federal funding and leadership, balanced in part by the ability of EZ/ECs in certain states and communities to leverage substantial levels of nonfederal support.  Overall, this is a domain much in need of clarity, development, and strong efforts in communication, broadly oriented to all who have a stake in urban community betterment. 
 

This final section offers ideas for improvements in EZ/EC operations as they might ef-fect children and families.  These are certainly not finished proposals; rather, they are recommended topics for discussion.  Some of the topics are not new, though obviously important; others will be seen as quite challenging. 

Emphasize field-initiated requests/proposals for funds, rather than using centrally de-signed NOFAs.  The idea is to maximize coherence of community developments in EZ/EC areas, recognizing that the next steps for appropriate local development may be quite different from the gradually unfolding pattern of NOFAs.  There is a tendency to turn local agencies and even community-wide boards into fund-seeking operations when funding opportunities are announced in narrow ways.  Instead, local agencies should seek a coherent vision of what they can and should develop and receive assistance in achieving that vision. 

Use qualification criteria rather than competitive methods and criteria in awarding funds. EZ/EC personnel are rarely in a good position to write top-grade proposals for funds, and so they often lose out.  The competitive framework of traditional grant and contract award processes, which turns local planning into tense contests, is far from optimal.  Perhaps criteria for awards should simply include matters of credibility of design, coherence in general community planning, evidence of broad cross-agency planning, and supporting clear plans for evaluation. 

Increase funds assigned to EZ/ECs (and to similar distressed areas), even at the expense of reducing funds to other areas.  Too much is at stake in the most distressed areas of the nation to permit a lack of resources to become the prevailing factor.  In particular, the Department of Education should assemble a much higher portion of its funds-from all subdivisions-for sup-port of EZ/EC work. 

Create a special blue-ribbon commission of top-level citizens to help lead, advocate, and monitor work related to the human development side of work in EZ/EC communities and in other distressed areas of the nation.  This commission might help to cause urban universities to direct increasing attention to EZ/EC areas for research, training, and service; cause professional organizations in fields such as education, psychology, social work, pediatrics, and nursing to make concerted approaches in EZ/EC areas to help organize, upgrade, and support programs, and to prevent staff burnout; lead community awareness programs to ensure that broad understanding and supports will be offered to EZ/EC work and to kindred efforts on behalf of children in distressed areas; and design policies that will help enhance the life and learning situation of children. 

Extend waiver authority of federal departments and agencies to all programs as a means of encouraging experimental work in the community.  In the case of the U.S. Department of Education, the waiver authority should encompass all categorical program areas (such as special education and bilingual education).  Large urban school districts often find as much as one-third of their budgets controlled by categorical federal mandates, even though funds are mainly from state and local sources.  There is urgent need for more flexibility in these areas. 

Create a cross-department pool of funds for research in EZ/ECs.  There is a compelling need for broad and effective services for children, youth, and families.  Cross-agency coalitions are developing at the community level, and a similar cross-department arrangement, encompassing research functions, is desirable in governmental offices.  This would have the effect of reinforcing crossdisciplinary approaches to research in the universities.  Following are examples of the kinds of research which would be expected in this framework: 
 

• Broad, community-based systems for measuring uses of time by children (e.g., in the home, in school, in recreation) should be developed.  Systematic and recurring assessments would suggest ideas for further research and community projects.  Such a study might involve educators, psychologists, sociologists, economists, and others.  The research effort would be a creative one, developing and testing a total system for measuring uses of time.
• A broad study should be conducted on rule-setting, informal judiciaries (e.g., at home or at school), and formal police/judicial systems as a community approach to creating safe environments, reducing crime, etc.  The idea is to experiment in a total continuum of behavior management systems to discover effective approaches.  This study should involve educators, sociologists, corrections specialists, and family study specialists.
• Within each community, studies of current employment and other postsecondary options for youth should be conducted, and the data transformed into effective communication formats for students and counselors.  The study might include economists, counseling psychologists, educators, and business leaders.  The study would provide realistic, up-to-date information on job opportunities in the community and job requirements.
• Studies should seek to determine what is necessary to cause increased cross-disciplinary work in universities as they seek links with community-based projects. Such a study might employ multiple case-study methods and involve several disciplines.  Similar studies are needed of cross-disciplinary and cross-professional work among agencies to determine how agencies can work together, sharing resources and staff.
• Studies should examine what works toward fully involving students in creating self-awareness-for example, the use of school-based assessments to predict and plan their own futures.  This idea presupposes that assessment processes are too often alien to students themselves.  Can this be changed to emphasize students' responsibility for self-understanding and planning?  This study might involve educators, psychologists, sociologists, and others.