Formerly known as South Ward Children’s Alliance, South Ward Promise Neighborhood (SWPN) serves as BRICK Education Network’s two generation support division. Its mission is rooted in a holistic approach, providing families in the South Ward of Newark with resources for finances, food, housing, employment, physical, and mental health.

In December 2017, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the South Ward Children’s Alliance a $30 million Promise Neighborhood grant to bring together partners from around Newark to serve South Ward families over the next five years. Today, we are known as the South Ward Promise Neighborhood (SWPN), a powerful collaborative effort of more than 25 organizations working together to lift families and children in the South Ward.

Concentrating on the South Ward allows SWPN to provide intensive quality services to a specific community, including those who are hardest to reach- where impact can be measured. The South Ward is a racially concentrated area of poverty. As with many other communities like the South Ward, many residents lack access not only to good schools and health care, but also to quality child care, banks, jobs, and healthy foods and they frequently pay more for basic goods and services. All programs and services are voluntary and free for families and children.