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.