Yesterday, I received a press release from the City of New Haven. It was announcing an event scheduled for this morning that would

be an announcement of national interest that will change New Haven and the region forever...
and will be viewed by every student at every New Haven Public School because the subject of this event will completely change their lives, their families and their neighborhoods. 

It sounded pretty exciting. Could this be an announcement about GoogleHaven? Or, would it simply be some overhyped city announcement.

What I found interesting is that it was tied to the site Our New Haven which is being run by the folks from Ripple100 who have been so involved in GoogleHaven and many other social media activities around New Haven.

It coincided with a ‘Social Media Sync’ gathering at The Grove. Many social media enthusiasts sat down to pancakes and share thoughts as they waited for the announcement.

The live stream started, stuttered, and then failed for many people trying to watch it. There just didn’t seem to be enough bandwidth, and GoogleHaven wasn’t the announcement telling people of more bandwidth to come. Instead, it was ‘The New Haven Promise’.

Already, venerable news organizations like the New Haven Independent have their stories about New Haven Promise up and if you want details about the program, it is a good place to start.

The article talks about Ripple100‘s involvement:

To promote the new program, the school board on Monday approved a contract of up to $20,000 with media consultant Andre Yap, and his business Ripple 100 on Chapel Street, to maintain a New Haven School Change/Promise Website from Oct. 26, 2010 to June 30, 2011. The money will come from the school district operating budget.

Andre was at The Grove to talk about The Promise. He talked about how a similar program in Kalamozoo increased housing values by up to 10% when it started. He spoke about people moving to the area. They would shop at local stores. They would build the workforce. They would make New Haven more attractive to companies looking to hire. It all sounded a bit like the liberal version of trickle-down politics.

This is where the discussion got interesting. One noted critic of the DeStefano administration said that he had always been skeptical of the city’s school building agenda. Yet with The Promise, it all came together. To have a successful program like The Promise, you need to have good schools. Promising tuition to students who achieve in high school doesn’t do much if you don’t provide better ways for them to achieve. Yet at the same time, providing better ways to achieve in school without incentives, without a promise, also isn’t going to do much.

There were discussions about how this applies to undocumented students as well as students attending magnet schools. While out-of-town magnet school students are not promised college tuition, proponents argue that local students will be more motivated. This will result in more motivated teachers, and this will benefit all students, no matter where they come from.

Many of the regulars at The Grove are tied to non-profit organizations and the question quickly moved to what can we, the members of the greater New Haven community do to help students succeed. As various people talked about different programs, the Citywide Youth Coalition was highlighted as a potential focal point and clearinghouse for people interested in helping New Haven High School students succeed.

There was also a lively discussion on Twitter. Some spoke about accessibility to post-secondary education for undocumented students and the importance of the Dream Act. Others wondered when a similar program would be available in their municipality. @Gaber205 tweeted, “I am waiting the similar announcement from Quinnipiac about Hamden kids. No?”

The New Haven Independent article noted

Promise will also pay up to $2,500 in tuition for in-state, nonprofit colleges and universities, including Albertus Magnus, Quinnipiac, Yale and Wesleyan.

So, Quinnipiac stands to gain from this, as does Wesleyan. Perhaps Middletown should be considering Promise as well.

The article at the New Haven Independent ended off with the standard back and forth between cynical and hopeful readers. In many ways, the success of the program most likely boils down to how involved the people of New Haven become. Those who sit back doing nothing but predict decay are likely to contribute to that decay. Those who take an active role in revitalizing New Haven can make a difference. It is a choice each one of us makes as we think about our social contract with the people around us.