Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg broke ground today on the Promise Academy School Building and Community Center at the St. Nicholas Houses in Harlem that will house 1,300 students from Kindergarten to 12th grade.

The facility is being made possible by a $60 Million Grant from the Department of Education's Charter Facilities Matching Grant Program, a $20 million Gift from Goldman Sachs Gives and a $6 Million Gift from Google, Inc.

Also at the ceremony were US Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan, President and Chief Operating Officer of the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. Gary Cohn, and New York City Housing Authority Chairman (NYCHA) John Rhea and the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ).

The building's developer, Civic Builders, donated its $5 million development fee and the law firm Shearman & Sterling LLP provided pro bono legal services. The Mayor was joined at the St. Nicholas Houses announcement by Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott, Schools Chancellor Cathleen Black, Harlem Children's Zone President and Chief Executive Officer Geoffrey Canada, Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy Chairman Kenneth Langone, Harlem Children's Zone Board Chairman Stanley Druckenmiller and students from the Promise Academy.

The school is scheduled to open for the 2012-2013 school year.

The Promise Academy will not only enrich the lives of the Harlem Children's Zone students, but it will also add to the vitality of the St. Nicholas Houses community," said Mayor Bloomberg. "Despite intense budget pressures, New York City is forging ahead with partnerships and initiatives that help break the cycle of poverty and give our students the tools to succeed in a global economy."

HUD Secretary Donovan said that "NYCHA recognizes the key connection between housing and education in creating opportunity for the children of St. Nicholas Houses and Harlem. The new school and community center will help to better integrate St. Nicholas Houses into the community - benefitting both the residents and Harlem. The Harlem's Children Zone is evidence that, in President Obama's words, 'in this country, change comes not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up.'"

"We are thrilled to be able to provide a state-of-the-art school for the kids in Harlem and bring a great new community center to the residents of St. Nicholas Houses," said Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone. "This is an incredible opportunity to transform the lives of an entire community and to demonstrate what the rest of the country can do to improve public housing."

The $100-million, five-story, 135,000-square-foot school building will house a new community center and the Harlem Children's Zone Promise Academy I, which is currently located at the Harlem Children's Zone's 125th Street headquarters and at PS 175 on West 134th Street. The building will have more than 50 classrooms with state-of-the-art technology, a two-floor library, gymnasium/auditorium, large cafeteria/meeting room, fitness room, dance studio, music room, computer lab and three science labs. The students will continue to benefit from the school's free "wrap-around services," which include access to medical, dental, and mental health care, a social-work team and a full complement of after-school programs. The building will house a community center offering a variety of free programs to the residents of the neighborhood, such as exercise, nutrition and continuing education classes. The building's facilities and meeting rooms will also be available to St. Nicholas Houses residents and community groups.

The light-filled building has been designed by John Ciardullo Associates, which designed the very colorful and attractive Verrazono Bridge Maintenance Facility in Staten Island and the Bathgate Educational Campus in the Bronx. As part of the project, Harlem Children's Zone will also upgrade the existing playgrounds in the housing development and plant new trees along 129th Street.