“In my shop, if a child does not succeed, it means the adults around him or her have failed.”
Those are the words of Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone.
Among the leading social entrepreneurs of our time, Geoffrey Canada has taken Harlem Children’s Zone from a one block pilot program in 1990 to a 100 block comprehensive service provider with the goal of serving 15,000 children and 7,000 adults by 2011. A product of poverty himself and raised by a single mother, he went on to receive a Master’s degree in Education from Harvard and take on the fight against generational poverty.
Harlem Children’s Zone’s programming begins with expectant parents and follows children through college graduation. Their approach includes parenting education, charter schools, nutrition and fitness education and career readiness. For the community they also provide financial and legal services and initiatives to help families cope with asthma and combat obesity. The goal is to provide such a strong a net of services that it is impossible for anyone to fall through the cracks.
I am thrilled that Geoffrey Canada will be the next speaker at Minnesota Meeting. This session will explore how Minnesota might integrate lessons learned from the Harlem Children’s Zone model. To ensure the success of all students, regardless of race or income, and to provide them with meaningful opportunities, we need more than strong schools. We need all sectors of our communities working together to support student success.
Click here for a New York Times in-depth article on Geoffrey Canada and Harlem Children’s Zone.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: Education, Harlem Children's Zone, Minnesota Meeting, Poverty
