Project: Delta Promise Community (DHI Project #42)
Lead Agency: Delta Health Alliance, Inc. (DHA)
The Delta Health Alliance is embarking upon a program, Indianola Promise Community Project that will target one rural community focusing on children from the prenatal stage through college years; as well as, families of the children. Modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone in Harlem, New York, the program is designed to improve health care, early childhood development, literacy, social services in Indianola, MS. DHA proposes to use competitive Request for Proposals (RFP) for partners and community- and faith-based organizations in and around Indianola to implement a multi-faceted social service program addressing needs such as early childhood development, adult literacy and job training, development of community centers for after-school, weekend, and summer programs, access to primary care and dental services, access to prenatal care and family planning services, and college assistance and, ultimately, the job market.
As Indianola Promise Community Project achieves positive outcomes, DHA plans to expand the Promise Community model throughout the poverty-stricken Mississippi Delta to provide the following array of services:
- Access to prenatal care and family planning services;
- Maternal and infant wellness initiatives;
- Parenting programs;
- Early childhood development and literacy;
- Access to primary care and dental services;
- Development of community centers for after school, weekends and summers;
- College assistance programs; and
- Adult literacy and job training.
