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Yale President Peter Salovey (center) and U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal (right) pose with New Haven Promise Scholars. Chris Volpe photo.

In late November New Haven Promise will host the sixth meeting of PromiseNet, an opportunity for Promise community stakeholders to gather and share their best discoveries in design, implementation, impact and sustainability of the place-based scholarship model.

These long-term commitments to the Promise communities are grounded in transformation — house-to-house, block-to-block, neighborhood-to-neighborhood. The investment in the youth of a city comes with an expected return — a new generation of talent, drive and leadership which will strength and fortify the local economy.

The Promise programs are anything but ‘cookie-cutter.’ While there is a variance in structure, size and scope, each member of the Promise Nation seeks to address and expand access to and success in higher education through deepening the college-going culture in its K-12 schools.

This interactive meeting will provide ample opportunity for informal and formal networking. We will share experiences and best practices; make the case for investing in education as an economic development strategy; explore new partnerships with the business community, political leaders, and donors; and address the tough issues of community alignment and sustainability. Above all, we will learn from the experts — each other — and come away better prepared to continue to transform our communities.

Ideally, each city or community in attendance would bring a team of four to six professionals (educators, city officials, economic development specialists, scholarship administrators, etc.) who are passionate about improving student and community outcomes by means of a Promise program. Of course the conference is open to individuals as well.