In the 1980s, Central Harlem was falling apart by many standards – abandoned buildings lined the streets, sidewalks and streetlights were in disrepair, drug dealers openly conducted business in broad daylight, children struggled in school, and an increasing number of children ended up in foster care. Geoffrey Canada, the renowned founder of the Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), not only noticed all of that – he successfully transformed the community into the thriving business, educational and residential hub it is today.
“I wanted for my Harlem children what we all want for our own children. I wanted them to grow up in a safe community. I wanted them to have a decent education. I wanted them to have lots of sports and arts. I wanted their community to look beautiful. I wanted them to believe they had a future and I wanted to see them head off to college and come back with degrees, able to break that cycle of poverty,” said Canada. “That’s what I wanted, but how do you create such a thing?”
Canada shared the HCZ’s successes and challenges during a virtual Community Conversation hosted by the North Hartford Ascend Pipeline (Ascend), which was attended by Ascend leaders, Ascend partners, and community residents.
Canada and the HCZ team are advising Ascend leaders as they collaborate with partners and residents to create a cradle to career system of supports to enhance academic, health and life outcomes for North Hartford residents, similar to the system built in Central Harlem. Ascend is funded by a five-year, $30 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Promise Neighborhoods program, which was created by former President Barack Obama’s administration and inspired by the HCZ.
Harlem Children’s Zone: Then and Now
Determined to turn Central Harlem around, Canada shared how he began mobilizing community leaders and residents. They met often and consulted with experts from around the country, but struggled through many years to develop a plan.
“Our young people defined success by getting an education and moving out of Harlem to a good neighborhood because they felt that there was no way that you could successfully grow up and raise your family in Central Harlem,” said Canada.
Then, armed with inspiration from a comprehensive, cradle to career approach brainstormed during one of their planning sessions by professor Otis Johnson, who later became the mayor of Savannah, Georgia, Canada launched the HCZ and consulted with The Bridgespan Group, a global social change leader, to develop a business plan.
The HCZ’s strategy involved engaging the community to solicit ideas for how to address the health, mental health, education and social needs of children and families in Central Harlem. They sought to measurably enhance educational, health and life outcomes and transform the community.
Funded largely with private dollars, they went block by block throughout 97 blocks in Central Harlem to build tenant block associations, connect leaders with one another, and create programmatic supports starting at birth – all to ensure success for the community’s children. They followed those children through elementary school, middle school, and high school. They helped them not only get into college, but also graduate.
“I was charting our progress and tracking our outcomes because this is all about outcomes. We wanted to see whether or not our strategies were producing the results we hoped for,” said Canada. “After a few years, I had maybe 40 kids in college. A couple of years later, I had 100 kids. A couple of years later, I had 300 kids. A couple of years later, I had 500 kids. Now, in any given year, we have about 950 of our kids in college and we’re graduating anywhere between 150 and 200 kids a year with college degrees.”
In addition, Canada notes that schools run by the HCZ have eliminated the achievement gap between white and Black children. Their students are performing as well as white children in New York City and New York State, he said.