I 
114TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 2882 
To support Promise Neighborhoods. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 24, 2015 
Mr. PAYNE (for himself, Mr. CONYERS, Mr. DANNY K. DAVIS of Illinois, Ms. 
NORTON, Ms. BROWN of Florida, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. RANGEL, Mr. 
RICHMOND, Mrs. WATSON COLEMAN, Mr. PASCRELL, Mr. MCGOVERN, 
Mr. TAKANO, Ms. FUDGE, Ms. WILSON of Florida, Ms. PLASKETT, Mr. 
MEEKS, Ms. LEE, Mr. SCOTT of Virginia, Mr. BUTTERFIELD, Ms. JACK-
SON LEE, and Ms. CLARKE of New York) introduced the following bill; 
which was referred to the Committee on Education and the Workforce 
A BILL 
To support Promise Neighborhoods. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promise Neighbor-
hoods Act of 2015’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:49 Jun 30, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00001
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2882.IH
H2882
srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
(1) Between 2007 and 2009, the number of 
children in the United States living in poverty in-
creased by 2,200,000, to 15,500,000 children. 
(2) According to the National Center for Chil-
dren in Poverty, the number of poor children under 
age 6 increased by 24 percent between 2000 and 
2007. The Center also found that, in Iowa, 20 per-
cent of children under age 6 live in poor families. 
(3) According to the Organization for Economic 
Co-operation and Development (OECD), in 2008, 
the United States had a child poverty rate of 20.6 
percent, making the United States the OECD nation 
with the fourth worst level of child poverty. Of the 
4 most developed countries in the world, the United 
States has the highest rate of child poverty. 
(4) According to the National Center for Chil-
dren in Poverty, at age 4, children who live below 
the poverty line are 18 months below normal learn-
ing and achievement for their age group, and by age 
10 that gap is still present. For children living in 
the poorest families, the gap is even larger. 
(5) Children from low-income families are more 
likely to have low levels of school engagement, to be 
chronically absent from school, to have emotional 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:49 Jun 30, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00002
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2882.IH
H2882
srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
and behavioral problems, and to live in stressful 
home environments. 
(6) By age 3, children in low-income homes will 
have heard one-third as many words as children in 
middle-income and high-income homes. 
(7) Studies show that children who attend high- 
quality early childhood education programs are less 
likely to repeat grades, less likely to be assigned to 
special education, and more likely to perform better 
on standardized tests, experience reduced rates of 
teenage pregnancy, and graduate from high school. 
Additionally, such children are less likely to engage 
in criminal behavior and more likely to obtain em-
ployment at higher wages. Economically disadvan-
taged children gain even larger benefits from such 
high-quality programs. 
(8) Compared with children in kindergarten 
from low-income families, children in kindergarten 
from high-income families live in homes with 3 times 
the number of books and such children are 4 times 
as likely to have a computer at home. Children from 
high-income families also watch far less television 
and are more likely to visit museums or libraries. 
(9) By the time children from low-income fami-
lies enter kindergarten, they are already 3 months 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:49 Jun 30, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00003
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2882.IH
H2882
srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS
behind the national average in reading and mathe-
matics skills, a gap that persists through high 
school. 
(10) A child from a middle-income family typi-
cally enters first grade with about 1,000 hours of 
one-on-one picture book reading time with parents, 
other relatives, or teachers, but a child from a low- 
income family averages less than 100 hours of such 
reading time. 
(11) The percentage of households with chil-
dren reporting food insecurity (limited or uncertain 
access to nutritious, safe foods) increased by 25 per-
cent between 2007 and 2008. Poor nutrition is 
linked to behavioral problems, lower educational per-
formance, and delayed socio-emotional development. 
(12) Twenty-nine percent of high-achieving 8th 
graders from low-income families complete college. 
This is the same rate of college completion as low- 
achieving 8th graders from high-income families. 
(13) About one-fourth of all students who start 
9th grade will not graduate 4 years later. For Afri-
can-American and Latino students, that figure in-
creases to 40 percent. A 16- to 24-year-old coming 
from a high-income family is about 7 times as likely 
VerDate Sep 11 2014 
21:49 Jun 30, 2015
Jkt 049200
PO 00000
Frm 00004
Fmt 6652
Sfmt 6201
E:\BILLS\H2882.IH
H2882
srobinson on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with BILLS