Cities Consider Copying Children’s Charity in Harlem
June 17, 2008 | Read Time: 1 minute
The Harlem Children’s Zone, a New York charity that offers comprehensive services to young people, is a potential model for other urban areas plagued by crime, poverty, and poor education, says The Baltimore Sun.
The organization began a decade ago as a one-block pilot program and now reaches 7,400 children, about 75 percent of the youths living in the central Harlem area where the charity works.
Other cities, including Baltimore, are looking to copy many aspects of the Harlem Children’s Zone, although some criticize its focus on children without providing services to help parents find housing and employment. And the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has said that he wants to start 20 other programs like Harlem’s Children Zone across the country.
“Our mission is to transform an entire community by providing everything children need to succeed,” says Geoffrey Canada, the Zone’s founder and president, who says he was frustrated by most nonprofit groups’ narrow approach.
The charity’s services include a “baby college” — free classes that teach parents of children under age 3 child-rearing and nutrition skills — asthma education, a monthly farmer’s market, charter schools, and obesity-fighting programs.
Read The Chronicle’s article on how Harlem Children’s Zone uses business practices to expand its services.
(Free registration is required to view the Sun article.)
