Harlem Children's Zone: Building Stronger Communities to Support Healthier Families
Originally published January 2003, Revised November 2007

It is difficult, often impossible, to raise healthy children in a disintegrated community. Without local institutions that draw families and young people together around common interests and activities–religious, social, and recreational organizations, effective schools, safe and well-used public spaces–even the most heroic child-rearing is likely to fail. Harlem Children’s Zone business plan, 2001

In January 2007, the Harlem Children's Zone Project launched Phase 3 of its growth plan, expanding its catchment area from 60 blocks in Central Harlem to 100 blocks. This project, operated by the Harlem Children's Zone, Inc. (HCZ), will expand services and programs to children and families (during Phase 3) by increasing the number of children served agency-wide from 6,000 in 2000 to over 15,000 in 2011. This change is one of a series of actions the organization is implementing as part of its long-term strategy (underwritten in part by the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation) to ultimately serve more children and families better.

Although the geography is new, the Harlem Children's Zone has focused its work on “rebuilding the very fabric of community life in Harlem for over 35 years,” says Geoffrey Canada , President/CEO of HCZ. “Our goal has always been to improve the lives of poor children living in one of the most devastated communities in America.”

The organization began in 1970 with just a handful of staff working to reduce truancy among Harlem’s youth. Since that time, Harlem Children's Zone has grown to include 20 sites serving more than 10,500 children and adults. Today, HCZ and its staff of over 1,300 have gained recognition as one of America’s most effective and innovative community-building and youth development organizations.

Early on in its history, HCZ realized it took more than just a strong family structure to build successful families and create opportunities for poor children in the community. The poverty and social ills facing Harlem residents–from high rates of unemployment to abysmally low rates of student achievement and one of the highest rates of children in foster placement in the state–have long posed challenges and obstacles for parents trying to raise healthy children in their neighborhood.

Addressing and combating this landscape took a community-wide, grass-roots effort in building safer, more constructive neighborhoods. Stated Canada, “We needed residents in Harlem to organize and gather around common interests, especially the healthy development of children, to combat and reverse the effects of poverty and social neglect.”

“Our children,” continued Canada, “especially ones from troubled communities like ours, are far more likely to grow to healthy, satisfying adulthood–and to help build a better community –if a critical mass of the adults around them are well-versed in the techniques of effective parenting, and are engaged in local, educational, social, and religious activities with their kids.” Thus, Canada and HCZ believed that the earlier children receive the necessary “health care, intellectual and social stimulation, and consistent guidance from loving, attentive adults,” the more likely these children would be to become responsible and contributing members of their neighborhoods.

These two principles–a critical mass of engaged, effective families, and early and progressive intervention in children’s development–are now at the core of HCZ’s programs, which work to build a stronger community. These principles are the basis of the agency’s long-term plans to expand and serve greater numbers of residents in Harlem and beyond.

Harlem Children's Zone, Inc. (formerly known as Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families) established the Harlem Children’s Zone Project in 1997 as a localized, multi-faceted approach to empower and provide the necessary support to parents, residents, teachers, and other key neighborhood stakeholders seeking to create significant, positive opportunities for their children to become healthy, productive adults. The project began its efforts by focusing on a 24-block area in Harlem (116th to 123rd Streets from Fifth to Eighth Avenues), a community where 61% of all children live below the poverty line and 98% of the community is African American or Latino.

By 2000, the HCZ Project emerged as one of its most promising and effective initiatives within the organization. That same year, HCZ, Inc. began a deliberate, intensive look at all its various programs and operations as it began to develop a plan for the organization’s future. With the support from The Edna McConnell Clark Foundation and the consulting firm Bridgespan Group, the Harlem Children's Zone went through a process of self-discovery and learning that uncovered its strengths–and weaknesses. The result: an ambitious, long-term business plan that would help guide the organization in becoming stronger and more self-sufficient.

During this effort, the organization “reaffirmed its emphasis on assisting youth and families,” says Canada. Thus, part of this planning process included many difficult decisions, including the decision to transfer the responsibility of administering popular programs (such as a local senior center) that were not directly aligned with its core mission of helping children and families and that diverted resources from HCZ’s organizational strengths. Most radical of the changes, the agency decided to realign the organization and its efforts around the Harlem Children’s Zone Project.

While the process was often difficult and arduous, says Canada, the time and effort it took to create the business plan has helped improve the organization. “Programs that we felt took away from the mission have been eliminated while our other programs have been reorganized. We've now staffed the organization with the necessary ‘intellectual firepower’ to accomplish our goals. Most importantly, we've added a thousand more children served by our programs within the last year.”

In the first phase of growth, HCZ decided that, rather than immediately expanding the geographic boundaries of neighborhoods served, the organization needed to stay within the original 24 blocks while it devoted its resources and energy to strengthening the organization’s capacity to serve greater numbers of youth, such as deepening its management capacity and creating an internal process to evaluate its impact on the community. During the second phase of growth, which began in 2004, HCZ expanded its boundaries, launching the HCZ Promise Academy Charter Schools, and establishing the Practitioners Institute, a program for HCZ staff to share knowledge and lessons learned with practitioners and policymakers interested in the Children’s Zone from around the globe.

Although challenging and very ambitious, said Canada, “HCZ’s plan for growth excites me.” By the end of the final phase in 2011, Harlem Children’s Zone Project aims to cover 100 blocks in Central Harlem bringing HCZ, Inc.’s services to more than 16,000 children and adults. “All of us at the Harlem Children’s Zone are very excited about the opportunity to help thousands more youth in the years to come.”

Today, the programs of Harlem Children’s Zone fall into one of two categories: programs serving residents within the HCZ Project zone itself and programs that are part of HCZ’s Beacon Schools and Preventive Services, which are available for parents and youth outside the geographic boundaries of the HCZ Project. 

The Baby College teaches and provides expectant and new parents the necessary skills, information, and support they need to raise healthy, happy children. The curriculum was designed in collaboration with Dr. T. Berry Brazelton and his Touchpoints program. The Baby College addresses the needs of children from birth to the age of 3, and is an integral part of the organization’s early intervention work. Through a nine-week series of workshops, parents are trained in issues of health, safety, discipline, child development, parental stress, and child–parent bonding. Following the series of interactive classes, outreach workers organize monthly get-togethers to help graduates form relationships with other parents in the community.  

HCZ’s Harlem Gems portfolio includes 3 sites, Harlem Gems Head Start, Harlem Gems Universal Pre-kindergarten (UPK) and Uptown Gems UPK, that prepare young children for kindergarten. Each site features an extended year and extended day program that students attend from 8:00 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. from September-August. The rich curriculum is based on High Scope, Creative Curriculum and Life Skills Learning Approach. Students also learn numbers, days of the week and other basic vocabulary words in Spanish, French and English.

• Each Harlem Gems Head Start classroom has a maximum of 20 students, one lead teacher, one assistant teacher and three Peacemakers (college aged Americorps interns). This site serves 57 children between the ages of 2-4 years old.
• Each Harlem Gems UPK classroom has a maximum of 20 students and is led by one master’s level certified teacher, one bachelor’s level teacher and three Peacemakers (college-aged Americorps interns). HCZ’s two sites serve 137 children between the ages of 3 and 4 years old.

Harlem Peacemakers identifies and trains young people ages 18 to 24 who are interested in making the public schools stronger and safer for children and families. By working with teachers in elementary school classrooms and running after-school and summer programs, Peacemakers strive to enrich the lives of neighborhood youth by teaching and encouraging techniques of violence prevention and providing academic support. Peacemakers program provides support to 7 schools in the Children’s Zone.

Harlem Children's Zone's Promise Academies include two charter elementary schools and one charter middle school. Ultimately, HCZ plans to develop these into two K-12 charter schools. Promise Academy Charter Schools offer a high-quality, extended-day (8-4), extended-year (September-August) education. All classrooms are staffed with one lead teacher and a Peacemaker or paraprofessional. The schools also have reading and math coaches; social workers; a psychologist; and healthy, local food prepared by HCZ’s Executive Chef and kitchen staff. In addition, all schools offer after-school programs from 4-6 pm and all students are encouraged to attend Saturday school. The after school programs offer academic support, recreation and clubs such as Cooking Class, Media Arts, and fitness classes. Middle school students can stay until 7 p.m. for homework help hour with tutors and receive a hot dinner meal.

HCZ Promise Academy Charter School students also receive support from the Harlem Children’s Health Project (HCHP), a comprehensive health program that provides medical, dental and mental health services. HCHP is a collaboration among The Children’s Health Fund, HCZ, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and New York-Presbyterian Hospital. The facility is located in the HCZ Community Center.

The HCZ Community Center is a year-round comprehensive program located at 35 East 125th Street that hosts Promise Academy Middle School, programs for teens and adults, HCHP, the Practitioners Institute and HCZ administrative offices. The Center offers programs 6-7 days a week, depending on special events such as a monthly Farmers Market on Sundays. There are program activities for middle to high school students (ages 11 – 18) and adults. Activities include academic enrichment, sports, recreation, fitness, health and wellness, fine arts, rites of passage and community service. The Center also provides a forum for the neighborhood, such as community meetings, health fairs, book fairs, parent meetings, conferences, performances, graduations, and youth leadership initiatives.

Through creative use of the arts, media literacy, health, and multimedia technology, the TRUCE (The Renaissance University for Community Education) Program offers high school students opportunities to further their academic pursuits and develop job skills to prepare them for college and future careers. TRUCE provides adolescents with the opportunity to learn video production while producing their own cable television program, The Real Deal, or research and write stories for the youth-run newspaper Harlem Overhead, which has a circulation of more than 25,000. Complementing these programs, TRUCE’s Insight Center provides academic support, including SAT preparation and tutoring, to help youth navigate and manage high school and the college application process. Student Advocates at TRUCE collaborate with students and their school staff to ensure that students maintain their test grades, understand and complete their homework and do college prep work.

TRUCE Fitness and Nutrition Center offers a free, 8,000 square foot exercise facility to youth and the broader Harlem community. The program promotes physical fitness and academic growth and helps youth develop marketable skills in nutrition, fitness, presentation, and advocacy. Middle school students enrolled in the program become Junior Youth Managers (JYMs). JYMs attend the program at least 3 days a week and exercise at least 2 hours a week. JYMs receive academic support from tutors and their student advocates, who speak with teachers and guidance counselors to ensure students are staying on track for success.

The Employment & Technology Center focuses primarily on high school youth at risk of dropping out of school and also provides adult residents with free public access to computers as well as computer classes. Through the lens of technology projects, adolescents advance their academic and job preparation skills with the long term goal of graduating from high school and attending college. Students also must check in with their Student Advocates who adopt a case management approach.

The College Success Office (CSO) provides year-round academic, personal and financial counseling as well as civic engagement opportunities to students in high school and college. The ultimate goal for all the students is for them to matriculate in and then graduate from college. CSO offers college students assistance with academic plans and study strategies, workshops, counseling, financial assistance, internships and other career readiness activities and guidance with post-graduate opportunities. CSO provides HCZ’s high school students with college preparation services.

A walk-in storefront, Family Support Center provides families in crisis with immediate access to professional social services including foster care prevention, domestic violence workshops, parenting skills classes, and group and individual counseling. FSC has two components: one provides services to families in disrepair, providing support designed to keep children living with their parents/guardians; another provides direct support to families in crisis (rent vouchers, emergency food, etc.).

Community Pride, a grass-roots community-building effort, works with residents to promote local revitalization projects and supports neighborhood tenant and block associations. Over the years, neighborhood residents have organized and led several projects to clean local streets and parks, developed a more open working relationship with the local police precinct, and created the Building Organizing Network, a tenants group working to improve the living conditions in city-owned buildings. This tenants group has evolved into the HDFC/TIL (Housing Development Fund Co-op/Tenant Interim Lease) housing network, and, to date, 259 co-op units have been purchased by tenants who previously lived in city-owned property. The housing stock in Phase 3 differs significantly from Phases 1 and 2. Therefore, in Phase 3, Community Pride is focusing a great deal of attention on building partnerships and programs with residents and staff in public housing projects.

Harlem Children's Zone's Asthma Initiative is a collaborative group that includes Harlem Hospital’s Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health, and the NYC DOHMH. HCZ administers an asthma survey to parents of 0-12 year old children who live in or go to school in the HCZ Project. Those families with a child who has been diagnosed with asthma are offered free medical, educational, legal, social and environmental assistance through home visits approximately every 3 months. Population based surveys conducted by HCZAI indicate that 31% of children 12 and under living in or going to school in the HCZ Project have asthma, a rate well above the national average of 4%-6%.

The Harlem Children’s Zone also operates programs for youth and families, open to those who reside outside the HCZ Project but who nonetheless face the same challenges and obstacles as those within the 100-block area. These programs provide opportunities for both parents and youth to transform their lives and to turn their communities into safe and healthy places that foster growth and learning for children.

Beacon Centers were created to provide youth, ranging from ages 5 to 21, with a safe haven from street violence and drug use. Situated in areas with high rates of drug trafficking and gang activity, these community centers provide youth with often the only positive alternative to street life. HCZ’s two Beacon Schools -- Countee Cullen Community Center and Booker T. Washington -- offer a comprehensive range of after-school youth development programs, academic tutoring, counseling, drug and teen-pregnancy initiatives, education classes, and social and recreational activities.

HCZ’s preventive foster care programs are comprehensive, neighborhood-based, and intensive. Through a contract with the New York City Administration for Children's Services, HCZ provides support and services to families to help them transform their lives and communities into safe and healthy places where children can learn and grow.

While preventive service sites serve different neighborhoods with different programs, they share a core philosophy around outreach, case planning, creating a seamless continuum of care, developing provider networks and accessing infrastructure.

• The Family Development Program which works with parents and their children in Central Harlem and the Countee Cullen Beacon Center, conducts assessments on a family’s needs and weaknesses, develops a plan to strengthen the family, and refers them to counseling and other agencies to receive the assistance they need.
• The Truancy Prevention program supports families at the Booker T. Washington Beacon School and in the predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of Manhattan Valley located south of Harlem.
• Midtown Family Place serves families in Chelsea, Clinton, and Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan. MFP also offers after-school programs for children.
• Project CLASS (Clean Living and Staying Sober), is an innovative program that addresses substance abuse and family strengthening.

The Harlem Children’s Zone’s internal evaluation team, led by Dr. Betina Jean-Louis, works with Philliber Research Associates, an independent consulting firm, and other researchers to evaluate all HCZ, Inc. programs. HCZ views evaluation as an integral part of their ability to serve children with programs that will help them to become successful, productive adults. HCZ uses interim and long-term evaluation data to make program changes to ensure that children receive the best possible service.

Since they launched the HCZ Project, the HCZ evaluation team has refined the evaluation infrastructure, created measures and goals for all HCZ, Inc. programs, facilitated data collection for thousands of individuals, collaborated with external evaluators, and conducted in-depth internal reviews of HCZ programs and systems. Their administrative and program staff have met with external evaluators (including Philliber Research Associates, the Institute for Urban and Minority Education at Teachers College and the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health) and foundation staff to discuss program goals and to develop measurable objectives. They have created goals and developed measures for all of their programs. As a work in progress, HCZ continues to refine its process and outcomes goals and to develop measures that will provide the most meaningful and pertinent interim and long-term data for their use and for their funders.

In FY08, HCZ has launched a long-anticipated longitudinal study that will bring qualitative and quantitative methodologies to bear in exploring the implementation and impact of their system of early childhood programs and charter schools. Dr. Edmund Gordon of Teachers College is the Principal Investigator of the study; the longitudinal study is expected to follow participating children and parents for 10-20 years.