In my dissertation, I assess the geographic distribution of Promise Neighborhood funding and estimate effects of the program on student academic outcomes. I use spatial demographic techniques and quasi-experimental methods to answer two primary research questions: (1) Does the funding selection process for Promise Neighborhoods target the most disadvantaged neighborhoods? and (2) What is the effect of Promise Neighborhoods on student academic outcomes? My results indicate that higher levels of economic disadvantage in the applicant neighborhoods, relative to their surrounding context, decreases the likelihood of award receipt, suggesting educational triage practices. I also find between a 0.08 and 0.28 statistically significant standard deviation effect size in math and reading assessment scores for elementary school students, depending on grade and subject, indicating that trends in academic achievement diverged for Promise Neighborhood students and non-Promise Neighborhood students following the intervention. My dissertation grapples with the implications of public policies and federal funding for the creation of present-day educational opportunity gaps, and helps to reorient the sociological literature by considering neighborhoods and schools jointly, rather than separately estimating school effects and neighborhood effects on children’s well-being.