Program Wants to Give Eau Claire Kids Keys to Success

Columbia, SC (WLTX) - Folks in the Eau Claire community of Columbia are working hard to get their kids, and their parents, ready for success.

"The Eau Claire Promise Zone" is new non-profit that's still in the planning stages, but is based on the famous Harlem Children's Zone that's been endorsed by President Obama.

The Harlem Children's Zone has been around since 1970 and is all about making sure parents from lower-income areas know how to raise their kids and that the kids know how to succeed at school.

The Eau Claire group wants to bring that know-how down south.

"Many of the schools in the Eau Claire neighborhood are some of the poorest-performing schools in Richland District 1 and the state of South Carolina," says Rick Noble, who's involved in the organization and is CEO of Richland County First Steps, "The community's leadership has said, enough. We're gonna do something about this."

That plan is a new idea to South Carolina. New York has perfected the model of teaching and bringing that here is the goal for Eau Claire.

"All men, women and children are created equal, but they don't necessarily end up in equal situations and have equal odds to succeed," says Noble, "What these promise zones and promise neighborhoods want to do is change the odds so every kid has the ability to succeed."

There are several others around the country but in Eau Claire, they hope to have programs for pre-kindergarten kids, afterschool for older students, and even programs for parents with newborns to teach them about things like development and discipline.

Says Noble, "Every kid in Columbia ought to be able to have been to the zoo and been to EdVenture and other museums, been on Lake Murray, been to the rivers."

But that's not always the case.

"If we can get a handle on the zero to three population and stick with it, in one generation, you can fundamentally change the situation in this state," Noble explains.

Changing the fate of the neighborhood is what the program is all about. "Changing the outcomes that would otherwise be predicted by where people are born and where people are raised," he says.

The group is in New York this weekend to learn more about the process. They're applying for a grant early next year and if they get it will hopefully have everything in place by this time next year to start helping kids.