Harlem’s Children Zone

     At the beginning of this class I chose to follow the website of Harlem’s Children’s Zone.  A few years back I had watched a segment on the national news about this program in Harlem that parents were literally fighting to get their children into.  During the segment parents and children were brought to tears as the school officials pulled numbers of waiting families in the school’s enrollment lottery.  I was surprised to learn that some of the children were still newborns.  The waiting list for the school is so long that parents enroll their children at birth. What a magnificent program this must be I thought.  As I scrolled through the websites for us to choose from there, to my amazement, was the name of this program.  I have followed the website throughout this course because they are making a tremendous impact on their community.

     The topic of discussion this week has been equity and excellence in early care and education.  The Harlem Children’s Zone is centered on creating equity for all children in the community by improving and assisting the family, community and the education system.  Their mission includes to the statement “it is difficult, often impossible, to raise healthy children in a disintegrated community”.  Therefore local institutions bring families and young people together around interests and activities that they have in common such as religion, social and recreational organizations, effective schools, safe and well used public spaces”.  The Harlem Children’s Center’s founders realize that with so much poverty and dysfunction within their communities and families, even a family that has the best child-rearing skills, is likely to fail.  However, they also acknowledge that when members of a community organize around a common interest, even the most devastating conditions can be reversed.  In order to reverse the conditions the founders realize there are two main initiatives that will make the largest impact.  First, children from communities facing disadvantaged situations are more likely to grow to be healthy, satisfying adults that help build a better community, if they are around adults that understand effective parenting, and are engaged in education, social and religious activities with their children.  Secondly, the earlier a child is exposed to sound health care, intellectual and social stimulation and consistent guidance from loving, attentive adults, the more likely that child will be to grow into a responsible and fulfilled member of the community.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project has created a program, in my opinion, that is structured to fight for equity for its young children in education and society.  The program begins in with early childhood care and continues until the child’s twelfth year.  By providing the children with an appropriate developmental environment and providing the families with social and economic services, the opportunity for these children to become successful and productive members of society are greatly improving.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project site does not offer any links that go outside of the website.  There is a wealth of information provided; however it is all directly related to the project itself.  You can find statistical information of Harlem, the business plan for the project, and article and interviews that relate to the program itself.  As I stated many times over the last few weeks, I am interested in learning about the project so the wealth of information provided is beneficial to me.  I did find it interesting that there are no links to other organizations or websites.

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project.  http://www.hcz.org/home