Interrupting the Cycle: The role of Promise Neighborhood initiatives in creating access to opportunity

Abstract

This study examined place-based, cradle-to-career approaches to community-level change such as Promise Neighborhoods and the indicators used to measure their impact. Key predictors from childhood were chosen for analysis to understand to what extent they contributed to educational attainment and economic mobility later in life. Data was used from the Child Development Supplement and Transition to Adulthood Supplement of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) between the years of 1997 – 2019. Children who ranked higher in reading skills and social wellbeing achieved more years of education and higher incomes in early adulthood on average. However, the effects of neighborhood-level exposures included in the study such as safety and neighborhood quality proved to be largely inconclusive. Finally, subgroup analyses showed varying magnitude of effects across characteristics such as race, poverty level, and urbanicity.