Evansville Designated as one of 9 New Promise Zones By Obama Administration

These Promise Zones were created to help expand economic opportunity in distressed areas.

If you aren't sure what a "Promise Zone" is, this is what the USDA website says:

The Obama Administration today named the final nine Promise Zones across the country - high poverty areas in select urban, rural and tribal communities. Through thePromise Zone Initiative, the Federal government will work strategically with local leaders to boost economic activity and job growth, improve educational opportunities, reduce crime and leverage private investment to improve the quality of life in these vulnerable areas.

The Obama administration selected 9 different cities to add Promise Zones, and among those 9 is our very own Evansville, Indiana.

This article on AP has a lot of great info about the Promise Zones, and what they hope to bring to our hometown.  According to AP these Promise Zones help ease access to federal aid and cut red tape for areas beset by joblessness, hunger, crime, and poor housing.

The Promise Zones don't guarantee more federal money, but it does give Evansville an advantage when applying for grants, and also helps with giving special access to federal employees who act as liaisons.