Housing secretary visits W. Phila. Promise Zone.

Federal housing Secretary Julián Castro visited the West Philadelphia Promise Zone on Friday, but not everyone went along on the tour.

Angry members of the Mantua Civic Association, one of the main local groups working for change, said they weren't invited.

"I thought it was supposed to be collaborative," said association president DeWayne Drummond, who stood, steaming, outside the tour starting point at the Mount Vernon Manor apartments while Castro, Mayor Nutter, Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, and others went inside.

Drummond said he found out about the secretary's visit on Facebook.

Nutter said later, "I don't know anything about that. I didn't send out the invitations. We always want to be inclusive, but I don't know anything about that."

From its start eight months ago, the Promise Zone has been a hard-to-define, tough-to-measure, no-one-in-charge undertaking, a federal-local partnership aimed at reversing decades of hardship in a troubled part of the city.

In January, the White House named part of West Philadelphia one of five such zones nationwide.

The designation brings no more federal money. Instead, the government awards bonus points in competitions for aid, boosting the area's chance to win grant money. It also offers extra attention and consultation.

Castro, the new head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, came to see West Philadelphia in person. He arrived as two local institutions have begun a $4 million initiative to transform early-childhood education in the zone neighborhoods of Mantua, West Powelton, and Belmont.

The effort, led by the William Penn Foundation and Drexel University, aims to double the number of children in high-quality child care within three years.

On Friday, Castro was asked whether in the future federal money might go directly to Promise Zone communities.

"We continue to be hopeful that'll be the case, but we're not waiting for that," he said. "It's definitely something that's being worked on."

In the meantime, he said, efforts must be made to help struggling neighborhoods. Nutter described the zone designation as "a gateway to other funding sources," providing cachet that offers real if not immediately apparent value.

Nutter and Castro walked the area, trailed by a dozen news reporters and photographers, stopping at the mural of antidrug crusader Herman Wrice and visiting the Montgomery Early Learning Center. At the People's Emergency Center, which helps homeless women and their children, they spoke with youngsters working with iPads, a nod to the new local project in that realm.

"I just came by to say, 'Hi,' " the secretary told the children. "Are you having fun?"

"Yes!" they shouted.

Outside, people said they were hoping for change.

"My hope for the Promise Zone is to bring jobs into the neighborhood," said Brenda Lewis of Mantua. "We haven't seen an advantage yet. And they said we won't for a while."

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@JeffGammage