Web Resource: Harlem Children's Zone

The web-site that I have been examining is U.S.-based HCZ, or Harlem Children's Zone. The Harlem Children's Zone is New York City based, but can be replicated in any American neighborhood. where poverty has devastated the futures of residents. This project is fascinating to me because it is neighborhood specific. It addresses residents of  what began as a twenty-four block area in Harlem to a nearly 100 block span and growing. It's goal is to lift the entire neighborhood out of poverty, so that it is a great place to live, work, and stay. It is doing this though comprehensive education. The HCZ doesn't stop at preschool, or early childhood, or even high school graduation. It supports children's success until they graduate from college. And then, the educated "child" returns to Harlem. This is the issue that caught me by surprise. I am guilty of thinking about Harlem as a place from which to escape. Mr. Geoffrey Canada's vision is to bring the neighborhood children back to Harlem as Harvard graduates, and raise the quality of life there, as every American neighborhood and city plans to do. Addressing a Cleveland audience, a place that boasts the highest poverty level of any major American city, Mr. Canada mused that the value of old Harlem brownstones has begun to rise, and may be a challenge to buy for even his returning HCZ college grads. This is the unintended consequence of his program, but he wasn't quite complaining.

This particular web-site follows our discussions on poverty, early childhood development, and devotes tabs to evidence-based practice, and quantitative results of the many programs offered. The results document improvements in health, education, and psychosocial development. There is economic benefit information,as well as support from private business and President Obama. I find the site and the e-mail updates to be an exciting affirmation of the strength of community efforts, and the proof that education cures poverty.

The insight I gain from this sight is that programs and supports for children cannot stop in mid-education. Studies that follow children until the fourth grade are insufficient. Children continue to grow into adulthood, and that is where we want them to enter in safety and with readiness. Commitments to children must start before birth, and cannot be cut before they are ready to fully participate in their communities.This is what the HCZ is modeling for the rest of the nation struggling with poverty.

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre

In reading about CHIP International Activities and country overview of China, I observed four areas of research meant to find solutions to childhood poverty.

Basic services are the infrastructure of the country or geographic area. This includes health services, access to clean water and sanitation, nutrition, and education.
Economic security is the availability of money, in the form of employment and/or cash transfer to families living in poverty.
Supportive policies for child well-being includes early childhood education, home visiting, and child care for working parents, and planned family reduction size.
Donors toward childhood poverty must work with government poverty reduction strategies and be made aware of the issues surrounding childhood poverty.

China has made great strides in reducing childhood poverty from 30.7 % of the population in 1978 to 3.7% in 2000.  Eastern China has experienced a greater transition to global, decentralized markets and shows less poverty than in a slower transitioning Western China. As state-owned enterprises are being reformed, jobs lost from the state sector have not yet been absorbed into the private sector, leaving an estimated 12.3% unemployed. The rising unemployment rate, and the reduction of state sponsored health and education services are making access to health and education more difficult for the jobless. Though anti-poverty initiatives are on the government policy agendas, they remain small scale.

On this site, there are several research briefings and papers available that support the overviews and key findings. One that I found interesting is the policy briefing that addressed early childhood care and development (ECD) as a poverty prevention method. This group was not convinced that ECD models upon which available research are based would be effective in developing countries. The briefing suggests that
available research "presupposes a universal scientific basis to child development"(Hill, Harper, Marcus, 2004, p. 2). and that it may not be appropriate and accepted in developing nations. Also, that the long-term benefits of ECD cited by the Perry High Scope and the Abecedarian projects were not reliable. Thirdly, child education programs and child welfare systems seldom collaborate, further lessening the impact on child poverty. And lastly, ECD programs are expensive and labor intensive, and developing countries surely lack the resources to make them effective.
The brief goes on to describe why ECD as we know it in developed countries is inappropriate to the needs of poor families elsewhere.

We have spent many classes discussing the great benefits of early childhood interventions. This report runs counter to our studies as an aid in relieving poverty. I believe, however, that education is the critical factor in living well. A universal approach to early childhood care delivery may not be effective for all countries, but grassroots, local interventions that promote the education and welfare of families would indeed be effective, as is true within the United States. There is no magic wand that will sweep across the world and fix it. The fix is worked by individuals where they live.

Sources:
Hill, F., Harper, C. & Marcus, R. (2004). Policy briefing 4: Early childhood care and development (ECD) - an innoculation against poverty? Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org
http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=chipactivities-int
http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=countryo

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I have yet to have a nibble on my e-lines trolling for professional links in foreign waters, but fishing sometimes requires stillness, and patience. In the meantime, there are so many early childhood website's to stay on top of. The one I chose to follow for this Issues and Trends course is The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ). This program/project is aimed at helping children living in Harlem, New York grow from prenatal until college graduation, and be able to live and work in their Harlem area neighborhood. There was no real process to choosing this site. I have heard leader Geoffrey Canada speak, and he is passionate about seeing opportunities for children living in severe poverty, opportunities that don't fade over time. So many of the effectiveness studies we have seen so far report results into fourth grade or so, or even stop at "kindergarten readiness". Mr. Canada doesn't want to stop until the children in his program are out of college. This program is a model for many cities across the United States that quit putting forth effort in early childhood,or even stop tracking children's success long before an at-risk child is out of danger of failing. The schools and neighborhoods here in Cleveland need a strong and successful model to follow to reverse the growing blight of poverty here. The Harlem Children's Zone might have something to show us.