| Founded | 1990 |
|---|---|
| Founder | Geoffrey Canada |
| Focus | Combating effects of poverty; improving child and parent education |
| Location | |
Area served | Harlem |
| Method | Donations |
Key people | Geoffrey Canada, President and first CEO, Kwame Owusu-Kesse, current CEO[1] |
| Website | hcz.org |
The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) is a nonprofit organization for children and families living in Harlem, providing free support in the form of parenting workshops, a preschool program, three charter schools, and child-oriented health programs for thousands of children and families. The HCZ is "aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves."[2]
The Harlem Children's Zone Project has expanded the HCZ's comprehensive system of programs to nearly 100 blocks of Central Harlem and aims to keep children on track through college and into the job market.[3] "We’re not interested in saving a hundred kids," founder Geoffrey Canada says. "Even three hundred kids. Even a thousand kids to me is not going to do it. We want to be able to talk about how you save kids by the tens of thousands, because that’s how we’re losing them."[4]
The Obama administration announced a Promise Neighborhoods program, which hopes to replicate the success[5] of the HCZ in under resourced areas of other U.S. cities.[6] In the summer of 2010, the U.S. Department of Education's Promise Neighborhoods program accepted applications from over 300 communities for $10 million in federal grants for developing HCZ implementation plans.[7][8]
- ^ "Anne Williams-Isom takes the helm as CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone - NY Daily News". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on 2014-10-10. Retrieved 2014-10-10.
- ^ "Harlem Children's Zone History". Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- ^ "The Harlem Children's Zone Project: 100 Blocks, One Bright Future". The Harlem Children's Zone website. Archived from the original on 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2008-10-12.
- ^ "13,000 Kids, 97 Blocks, and "Whatever it Takes,"". The Attic. 24 May 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Focusing on Results in Promise Neighborhoods: Recommendations for the Federal Initiative. A Discussion Paper by Harlem Children's Zone, The Center for the Study of Social Policy, & PolicyLink. Authors: Betina Jean Louis, Frank Farrow, Lisbeth Schorr, Judith Bell, & Kay Fernandez Smith
- ^ "Barack Obama and Joe Biden's Plan to Combat Poverty". Obama-Biden website. Fall 2008. Archived from the original on 2009-07-07. Retrieved 2009-06-05.
- ^ "Promise Neighborhoods Applicant Information". U.S. Department of Education. 22 July 2010. Retrieved 29 August 2010.
- ^ "Update on the Promise Neighborhoods Program". PolicyLink. Archived from the original on 2010-07-13. Retrieved 29 August 2010.