Delta Health Alliance announced Tuesday that it has been awarded a five-year $30 million grant by the U.S. Department of Education to fund and create the Deer Creek Promise Neighborhood in Washington County.

This organization said in a press release that the new grant will allow Delta Health Alliance to offer programs similar to the Indianola Promise Community it manages in Sunflower County.

“We are humbled to have been selected for this funding and grateful that Delta Health Alliance now has the opportunity to help targeted families in Washington County with programs that will improve academic achievement and health care,” said Bill Kennedy, Delta Health Alliance Board chairman.

Kennedy said the Deer Creek Promise Neighborhood will partner with local school districts and a number of other public and private organizations and agencies to offer coordinated programs that will improve student readiness, academic achievement, college and career preparation, and health care for students and their families.

The service area for the Deer Creek Promise Neighborhood will include the Leland and Hollandale public schools, the towns of Leland, Hollandale and Arcola, and the unincorporated communities of Stoneville, Freedom Village, Elizabeth and Tribbett, the release said.

“Being awarded a Promise Community designation is a shared vision of hopes, dreams, and aspirations for the emergence of the 21st Century leaders and learners,”  said Rev. Jesse King, superintendent of the Leland School District.

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