$1M investment in Grays Ferry, Point Breeze

The leaders of a new partnership among the city, the school district and music-mogul-turned-developer Kenny Gamble's community-development organization are set this morning to announce a $1 million investment in the Grays Ferry and Point Breeze neighborhoods.

The money will be used to bolster educational needs, remove blight and create new economic opportunities in the South Philadelphia communities - which are among the city's most distressed.

Grays Ferry is home to less than 1 percent of the city's population but has more than 10 percent of those in the federal government's Section 8 housing program, according to one estimate.

The announcement of the Promise Neighborhood Planning Grant will take place at Charles Y. Audenreid High School, which over the years has been the scene of violence and low student achievement.

Mayor Nutter, Schools Superintendent Arlene Ackerman and Universal Companies Founder and Chairman Gamble are expected to make remarks, along with U.S. Sen. Bob Casey, U.S. Rep. Chaka Fattah, state Sen. Larry Farnese, state Sen. Anthony Williams and City Council President Anna Verna.

The grant, from the U.S. Department of Education, will provide the initiative with $500,000, while an additional $500,000 in matching funds was raised by Universal Companies.

Nationwide, 21 organizations such as Universal received $10 million in grants to carry out similar community-revitalization programs.