"Ever since Geoff Canada returned to Harlem with a master’s from Harvard and a third-degree black belt, he’s been fighting a block-by-block and child-by-child battle against poverty, drugs, gangs and indifference. Through the Harlem Children’s Zone, he’s turned around lives while reminding America that we have, in too many ways, and in too many places, failed our children. He’s a hands-on hero."
President Barack Obama's plan to combat urban poverty draws on lessons learned from a New York charity called the Harlem Children’s Zone Project.
The nonprofit offers educational, health and social services to low-income families in a 97-block section of Harlem, with the aim of guiding poor children from birth to college.
It’s the brainchild of Geoffrey Canada, a social worker who realized “we weren’t making a difference.”
“We have huge numbers of our kids going to prison,” Canada said. “We had to come up with a different, smarter way.”
That way included tried-and-true programs such as parenting classes and after-school activities, “nothing new,” Canada acknowledged. “We just offered them as part of a comprehensive vision,” he said, giving low-income children the same structure as middle-class kids.
While the Harlem Children's Zone has programs in nine public schools, it started its own charter school, the Promise Academy, five years ago. In 2008, 97 percent of its eighth-graders scored at or above grade level, compared to only 46 percent of students in area public schools.
Canada attributes the success to longer days, shorter vacations and tying teacher compensation to performance.
“We've got to be prepared to pay teachers more and hold them responsible like professionals,” he said.
“The concept is simple, and people get it: Start early, get the kids on grade level, meet their basic needs, and never let them go.”
For a “few billion dollars,” Obama wants to create 20 “promise neighborhoods” nationwide, with charter schools, parenting classes and after-school activities modeled on the Harlem Children’s Zone.
| 40 percent |
10,883 | $3,500 |
100% |
$4.8M |
| Child poverty rate in Central Harlem, double national average. | Youth served by HCZ in 2008. | Average amount spent per child in HCZ Project. Total budget for FY2009 is $40 million. |
Kids from Harlem Gems pre-K program school-ready for the sixth year in a row. |
Returned to 2,935 Harlem residents through HCZ’s free tax-prep service |
NEW YORK. With an annual budget of $64 million, the Harlem Children’s Zone boomed with Wall Street. Hard times have led to concerns. A health clinic carried the name of the defunct Lehman Brothers, and a foundation that gave $1 million a year just folded with Bernard Madoff. “We need to come up with a strategy not to back away from our commitment to these children and families,” said Geoffrey Canada. “They’re counting on us.”
METRO/PA
NEW YORK. Growing up in the South Bronx, Geoffrey Canada was a lot like the kids at the Harlem Children’s Zone. “I was raised by a single mom,” he said. “We were poor, spending part of our life on welfare.”
At 15, he moved with his grandparents to Long Island. “It was just luck,” Canada said. “That’s part of the problem: Your life trajectory shouldn’t be based on catching a lucky break.”
METRO/PA
The Harlem Children’s Zone Project has a goal of helping in all the challenges of life, from birth to taxes. Described by The New York Times as “one of the most ambitious social-service experiments of our time,” it had humble beginnings.