LA to Receive 'Promise Zone' Funds Aimed at Combating Poverty

Mayor Eric Garcetti will be in Washington, D.C., Thursday for a White House event at which Los Angeles will be named one of five "promise zones" that will receive millions of federal dollars aimed at combating poverty.

The Los Angeles "promise zone" includes the East Hollywood, Pico- Union/Westlake, Thai Town, Little Armenia and Koreatown communities. Mayoral spokesman Jeff Millman said the city will likely give the funds to nonprofits and other groups involved in anti-poverty efforts in those communities.

The mayor is expected to return to Los Angeles Thursday night, Millman said.

The other promise zones to be officially announced by President Barack Obama Thursday are in San Antonio, Philadelphia, southeastern Kentucky and the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Obama first discussed his Promise Zone Initiative in last year's State of the Union address. Thursday's announcement will coincide with the 50th anniversary of President Lyndon B. Johnson's "war on poverty."