Julián Castro, head of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, will be in town on Friday, Sept. 5 to tour parts of West Philly designated as a Promise Zone.

Castro will be in parts of Mantua, Powelton, West Powelton and Belmont. The tour is related to the recent $4 million initiative by the William Penn Foundation and Drexel University to transform early childhood education in West Philly. The initiative seeks to increase the number of neighborhood children in high-quality child care and to raise children’s performance on literacy tests.

Project organizers hope that improving early childhood education is the first step toward changing life in the Promise Zone, which includes some of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.

Neighborhoods included in a “Promise Zone” are placed in the front of the line for federal grants and aid in an effort to help create jobs, reduce violent crime, improve educational opportunities and assist local leaders navigate federal programs.