Geoffrey Canada’s innovative and inspirational anti-poverty model – Harlem Children’s Zone – is being expanded into 20 communities nationwide, including a second in Manhattan and one in Brooklyn.
The Harlem Children’s Zone is an inclusive education and social services network that begins with a baby university for expectant parents, continues with early-childhood programs, and ensues with charter schools that bring students from kindergarten to college. As discussed in the last blog post, this program effectively starts at the root, bringing students from “cradle-to-career,” as Yoav Gonen wrote in a Sept. 22 New York Post article. It begins immediately in children’s lives, allowing no time for students to fall through the cracks.
To get this expansion started, President Obama has requested $200 million in his 2011 fiscal budget to help implement them this year, along with $10 million for other planning grants. So while the state U.S. state of education may currently seem bleak, the future appears to be looking up.
