Steven Smith's recent post highlights an interesting feedback loop that exists between local and national policymakers and stakeholders. He mentions the Harlem Children's Zone--an excellent example of a grassroots initiative that knits together a range programs and services to provide a more complete and effective system of education and social services for neighborhood residents. This is an instance where local-level innovation has sparked a federal response. The success of the Harlem Children's Zone has garnered national attention as well as a desire from federal policymakers, as Steven mentions, to take this model "to scale". The U.S. Department of Education hopes to do this through its Promise Neighborhoods initiative, which would encourage grantees to "coordinate their efforts with programs and services provided by other Federal agencies, including the Departments of Housing and Urban Development, Health and Human Services, Justice, and the Environmental Protection Agency."

Additionally, HUD recently announced its Choice Neighborhoods initiative. This is an example of the federal government playing a leading role in encouraging a more comprehensive, holistic approach to addressing the challenges of concentrated poverty at the community level. With this program, HUD hopes to leverage federal funding to create public, private, and nonprofit partnerships for more effective interventions in these high-poverty neighborhoods.

It's true that breaking down the silos and overcoming the fragmentation in the safety net will not be an easy or a short-term task. Streamlining federal programs, encouraging regional coordination, and developing and supporting the necessary local service capacity will require a considerable shift in the way we fashion our safety net--a shift that implicates local, state, and federal policymakers, private funders, and nonprofit providers. But the innovative approaches emerging at both the local and national level provide promising signals that the hard work that needs to be done has already begun. If we can keep this feedback loop going (and, as one commenter pointed out, making program evaluation a part of these new initiatives will be key to helping bring these efforts to scale), we will be well on our way to figuring out how to start closing the gaps in our safety net.