The Promise of a Better Future

Through the Boston Promise Initiative, Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI) will implement a continuum of cradle to career solutions to ensure that the academic and developmental outcomes are significantly improved for 1,858 youth in the Dudley Village Campus (DVC), a 1.3 square mile area located in Boston, MA.

Three chronically under performing schools are at the center of our Year 1 Work. Data shows that DVC youth are behind both their peers in the City and across Massachusetts: performance in English Language Arts and Mathematics is ranked, on average, as very low or critically low; and between 83% and 94% receive free/or reduced lunch; 24% to 28% are students with disabilities; additionally, the needs of students are readily apparent both outside of the classroom with youth and their families are disproportionately affected by poor health outcomes (youth asthma rate: 17%), food insecurity (25.4%), violence (54% of students report crime to be a major problem in the DVC), high rates of unemployment (25%), and housing instability.

The DVC has built a strong system of evidence-based solutions that leverage existing resources while filling gaps with best practice programs that meet the demands of an engaged, informed, multi-cultural, multi-lingual community of stakeholders. Highlights of the solutions include the creation of a new in-district charter school, the addition of two new high-quality, multi-lingual head start classrooms, and the addition of a STEM high school, all within the DVC area. DSNI has a track record of addressing chronic problems through a successful large-scale, grass-roots neighborhood revitalization effort.

The Boston Promise Initiative management plan outlines the resident leadership, organizational structure, staff qualifications, and robust data analysis capacity that will inform decision making, ensure continual learning, trigger timely course correction, and ensure rapid scale-up across the city.

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