Charleston Promise Neighborhood

What Charleston Promise Neighborhood does

Charleston Promise Neighborhood (CPN) is an independent 501(c)(3) nonprofit headquartered in North Charleston, South Carolina, providing wraparound place-based services to residents of a 5.6-square-mile area known as The Neck. CPN operates across four programmatic pillars: Health & Wellness (anchored by the KidsWell program delivered in partnership with the Medical University of South Carolina and Fetter Health Care Network), Education, Workforce Development, and Community Engagement. Program delivery is channeled through four partner schools — Chicora Elementary, James Simons Elementary, Mary Ford Early Learning & Family Center, and Sanders-Clyde Elementary — under a partnership with the Charleston County School District, with cultural-institution partners including the Charleston Museum, South Carolina Aquarium, and a digital-inclusion partner PC's for People. In January 2026, CPN launched a Vision Care Partnership with Zenni Optical and Chase Stokes to provide eyewear to children at the partner schools.

CPN's business model is that of a traditional community nonprofit: it does not sell a product or service priced to customers, nor does it operate a technology platform. Revenue is generated through grants, donations, and in-kind contributions from institutional partners. The organization is led by CEO Sherrie C. Snipes (in seat since 2012) and a board chaired by Debra Romano, with recent additions to the team including Katie Hyslop as Director of Development and Marketing (2025) and Maddie Thompson as Grants Manager. Headcount is in the 1-10 range. The competitive position is that of a community-embedded, trust-anchored service intermediary operating in a low-income service desert, with no disclosed technology stack, no AI capabilities, and no disclosed financial scale.

Name

Charleston Promise Neighborhood

Legal name

Charleston Promise Neighborhood

Website

https://charlestonpromise.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2012

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Charleston Promise Neighborhood is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit providing wraparound health, education, workforce, and community services to residents of The Neck area of North Charleston, SC, delivered through four partner schools in the Charleston County School District.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Community Development and Educational Equity Services

NAICS

Child and Youth Services (62411), Educational Support Services (6117)

SIC

Services-Health Services (8000), Services-Educational Services (8200)

akta.pro primary industry

Youth Housing, Foster Care & Wraparound Support (Education-Linked) Nonprofits (BPAGADAO)

akta.pro secondary industry

Community Centers & Neighborhood Support Services (BPAGAEAL)

Keywords

• Community development programs
• Educational equity services
• Nonprofit youth services
• School-based health programs
• Workforce development initiatives

Headquarters

HQ city

North Charleston

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others, Technology or R&D

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

Charleston Promise Neighborhood (CPN) is a nonprofit organization that delivers a portfolio of interconnected programs across four service areas: Health and Wellness (KidsWell school-based medical/behavioral health), Education (afterschool/summer programs, family engagement, principal support), Workforce Development (middle school leadership and adult career services), and Community Engagement. Services are delivered directly at four partner schools and through community events to children, families, and adult residents in the under-resourced Neck of Charleston area of Charleston County.

Product overview

Charleston Promise Neighborhood is a nonprofit organization operating as a single, unified community development program rather than a platform-plus-modules architecture. The organization delivers a portfolio of interconnected programs organized into four core service areas: Health and Wellness (KidsWell), Education (afterschool/summer programs, family engagement, principal support), Workforce Development (middle school leadership and adult career services), and Community Engagement. These programs work together to support children, strengthen families, and mobilize residents in the under-resourced Neck of Charleston area.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• KidsWell: Charleston Promise Neighborhood's school-based health and wellness program that delivers medical and behavioral health services directly to students on-site at school, in partnership with MUSC and Fetter Health Care Network.

Products and services

• KidsWell
• 21st Century Afterschool and Summer Programs
• School and Family Engagement
• Principal Support
• Pathways to Leadership: Middle School Support
• Workforce Development: Adult Resident Empowerment
• Community Engagement

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Eight partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Zenni OpticalminorStrategic or Co-development Partner · 8 January 2026Zenni Optical partnered with actor Chase Stokes and CPN to deliver free vision care, screenings, eye exams, and eyewear to students. Students received frames from the Zenni x Chase Stokes collection featuring Blokz blue light-blocking lenses and EyeQLenz all-in-one lenses.
• Chase StokesminorGTM or Marketing Partner · 8 January 2026Actor Chase Stokes partnered with Zenni Optical and CPN to raise awareness and support for vision care access for students in the Charleston community. Chase Stokes contributed his name to a eyewear collection and helped promote the initiative.
• MUSC (Medical University of South Carolina)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerMUSC partners with Charleston Promise Neighborhood on the KidsWell school-based health and wellness program. MUSC provides medical expertise and healthcare services directly to students on-site at partner schools, including screenings, treatment, and follow-up services.
• Fetter Health Care NetworkcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerFetter Health Care Network collaborates with CPN on the KidsWell program to deliver medical and behavioral health services to students at partner schools, removing barriers to healthcare access for children in the community.
• Charleston County School DistrictcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharleston County School District works with CPN through its partner schools (Chicora Elementary, James Simons Elementary, Mary Ford Early Learning & Family Center, and Sanders-Clyde Elementary) to deliver comprehensive support programs including health, education, and workforce development services.
• Charleston MuseumminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCharleston Museum partners with CPN on the annual Social Studies Bowl, a game-show style competition for elementary students that builds school pride and love of learning while making history exciting for students.
• South Carolina AquariumminorGTM or Marketing PartnerSouth Carolina Aquarium hosts community engagement events organized by CPN, including Aquarium Night celebrations that create opportunities for families and neighbors to connect and grow together.
• PC's for PeopleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPC's for People partners with CPN to provide technology access and digital literacy resources to community members, supporting adult workforce development and family connectivity initiatives.

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Harlem Children's Zone: Harlem Children's Zone is the archetypal Promise Neighborhood operator, delivering a place-based pipeline of education, health, and social services to children and families in a defined geographic corridor. CPN applies the same place-based, wraparound Promise Neighborhood template at smaller scale in The Neck of Charleston, making it the closest functional analogue.
• Communities In Schools: Communities In Schools embeds site coordinators inside K-12 schools to deliver case management, mentorship, and wraparound supports that address non-academic barriers to learning. CPN's school-based KidsWell clinics and afterschool/summer programming match this same school-anchored, wraparound delivery model.
• StriveTogether: StriveTogether is a national cradle-to-career network that convenes cross-sector partners (schools, healthcare, employers, nonprofits) around shared outcome metrics for children. CPN's integrated health, education, workforce, and community engagement program portfolio mirrors the StriveTogether cradle-to-career structure at a single-site level.

Broad incumbents

• Boys & Girls Clubs of America: Boys & Girls Clubs of America is the largest national youth-development umbrella, delivering afterschool, mentoring, and college/career readiness at thousands of sites. CPN's 21st Century afterschool and Pathways to Leadership programs overlap directly with the Club's youth-development core, though CPN is place-based rather than franchise-based.
• United Way Worldwide: United Way funds and convenes local coalitions addressing education, income, and health - the same three pillars CPN's programs target through KidsWell, workforce development, and family engagement. United Way operates at much broader scale but competes for similar corporate and foundation dollars supporting community-level wraparound work.
• Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC): LISC is a national community development financial institution investing in housing, education, health, and economic opportunity in under-resourced neighborhoods. CPN's place-based focus on a 5.6 sq mile under-resourced corridor aligns structurally with LISC's neighborhood revitalization framework.

Emerging players

• Big Brothers Big Sisters of America: Big Brothers Big Sisters is the largest youth mentoring organization in the US, providing one-to-one mentoring and youth development programming. CPN's mentorship, leadership development, and career exposure components for K-8 students cover overlapping ground with BBBS's mentoring focus, though BBBS does not provide on-site health or workforce services.
• Nurse-Family Partnership: Nurse-Family Partnership pairs low-income first-time parents with nurse home visitors to improve prenatal care, child health, and family self-sufficiency. It is comparable to CPN because it integrates clinical health partners (analogous to MUSC and Fetter) with structured support for children and families in under-resourced settings.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/CharlestonPromise
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/charleston-promise-neighborhood
• Instagraminstagram.com/CharlestonPromiseNeighborhood

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles7 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Charleston Promise Neighborhood