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.