The Strong Cities, Strong Communities Initiative (SC2) supports President Obama’s agenda to make historic investments to build ladders of opportunity for those working hard to make it to the middle class and to partner with communities that were hardest-hit by the recent recession.
As a core component of the Obama Administration’s Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative, the SC2 Fellowship Program provides distressed cities with talented and mission-driven professionals who work directly with mayors, local government agencies and community nonprofits to help restore American cities and create a pathway to economic growth.
This initiative is at work in communities near you: Rockford, Illinois and Gary, Indiana.
Learn more
Accelerating Economic Mobility through Promise Zone Partnerships
In long-struggling pockets of major cities and small suburban towns cut off from regional economic engines, the Administration is announcing eight new Promise Zone partnerships to fuel the revitalization of high-poverty communities.
In these Promise Zones, we will support locally developed plans that leverage private-sector investment to create jobs, increase economic activity, improve educational opportunity, and reduce violent crime.
Our nation’s economy is in the midst of a strong recovery, but many of these communities have struggled for decades to build resilient middle-class economies. The Promise Zone approach to accelerating revitalization and improving economic mobility was launched in the first five communities by President Obama last year, when he emphasized that communities making the greatest progress “bring together local government and nonprofits and businesses and teachers and parents around a shared goal” and “[hold] themselves accountable by delivering measurable results.”
The six cities, one rural area and one tribal community named by Housing Secretary Julian Castro and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are:
- Camden, New Jersey
- Hartford, Connecticut
- Indianapolis
- Minneapolis
- Sacramento, California
- St. Louis and St. Louis County, Missouri
- Pine Ridge Indian Reservation of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, South Dakota
- South Carolina Low Country