Changing a Community

An Interview with Geoffrey Canada, President and Chief Executive Offi cer, Children’s Zone Geoffrey Canada at work with young students

EDITORS’ NOTE Geoffrey Canada received So this was not just about creating a school given the skills to handle confl ict mediation. We a bachelor’s degree in psychology and soci- but about changing a community that had the have to create a protective set of supports for ology in 1974 from , and en- worst outcomes for children into one that had our kids six to seven days a week for most of tered the Harvard Graduate School of terrifi c outcomes for children. their waking hours. shortly thereafter, where he earned a mas- It was the idea of rebuilding the commu- How do you collect data to track the ter’s degree. After graduation, Canada joined nity, cleaning up the streets, getting rid of graf- impact of these programs? the faculty of the Robert White School in Boston, fiti, and making parks and playgrounds safe One of the most important aspects of our Massachusetts, and by 1977, he had become its combined with the idea of starting with children work is that we have to determine whether or Director. In 1983, Canada came to Harlem as and families from birth and staying with them not we have made a difference – anecdotes and the program director for the Rheedlen Institute’s until they graduated college. gut feelings are not suffi cient. Truancy Prevention Program. In 1990, Canada And reaching scale, right now we work with We collect data sometimes using pre- and was appointed President of Rheedlen. He ex- 85 percent of all of the children in our 97 blocks. post-tests, sometimes using standardized tests, panded the center and, by 1997, Rheedlen had We felt that’s how you change a commu- and sometimes creating our own tests, which 11 sites throughout Manhattan. In 2002, it nity that has been failing its children. helps us determine what is and is not working. was renamed the Harlem Children’s Zone and What are some of the key lessons you It’s important for those of us in this busi- it began offering tutoring, recreational pro- have learned since starting the program ness to accept that some things we do aren’t grams, and community outreach. In 2009, U.S. and how have you innovated to meet the going to work as effectively as we had hoped, President announced plans to challenges of the different students? so we have to create a feedback loop between replicate the HCZ model in 20 cities across the One of the key lessons has been that the what we’re doing with the child and a measure- nation. Canada has written two books includ- work is hard and you shouldn’t go into this ment of whether it’s having the intended impact, ing Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of work thinking that in a year or two, you will and when it doesn’t, to evaluate what needs to Violence in America (1995) and Reaching Up have it all fi gured out. be done to make that strategy more effective. for Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys These families are facing multiple chal- Are there opportunities to duplicate in America (1998). lenges from the past and in the present, and they this model and expand into other markets? will face them in the future. These challenges are President Obama has said he’s going to ORGANIZATION BRIEF Harlem Children’s Zone such that the concept that you’re going to solve replicate our model in 20 different places across (www.hcz.org) began in 1970 as Rheedlen, them in a year or two doesn’t make sense. So America. He has created something called working with young children and their families you have to be in there for the long haul. Promise Neighborhoods, which is based on our as the city’s fi rst truancy prevention program. Also, you have to put together a team of model, and has placed that Congress-funded In the early 1990s, HCZ ran a pilot project that committed and competent individuals. I program in the Department of Education. brought a range of support services to a single want to stress the commitment level that folks Currently, there are fi ve replication efforts un- block. HCZ created a 10-year business plan, feel – they will do whatever is necessary to save derway, about 20 in the planning stage, and we and in 1997, began a network of programs for kids – but also the competence level; commit- think another fi ve will begin later this year. a 24-block area: the Harlem Children’s Zone ment without competence will not produce Besides the federal efforts, there are com- Project. By 2007, the Zone Project had grown the results you need. munities all over the country that are replicat- to almost 100 blocks. Today, the Harlem How have the different program offer- ing our model on their own. We support those Children’s Zone® Project serves more than ings evolved both inside and outside of the communities through our Practitioners Institute, 9,400 children and 6,200 adults. Overall, the classroom? where we share our successes, challenges, and organization serves more than 11,400 children The challenge in a community like Harlem strategies with folks who are interested in doing and more than 10,800 adults. Over the years, is that I worry about whether my children are what we do. the agency introduced several groundbreaking getting great education and teachers when In addition, the Promise Neighborhoods efforts including The Baby College® parenting they are in school, and I worry as much about Institute is a collaboration between the Harlem workshops; the Harlem Gems® preschool pro- whether they are hanging out on corners and Children’s Zone and PolicyLink, and this pro- gram; the HCZ Asthma Initiative; the Promise being exposed to violence and drugs when gram helps communities across the country Academy Charter Schools; and an anti-obesity they’re not in school. learn how to replicate our work. program. All HCZ programs are offered free of So we created a structure that supports What is one of your proudest accom- charge to the children and families of Harlem. children while they’re in school but that also plishments through HCZ? spends time working with kids while they are This year, we’ll have over 1,000 of our kids What was the vision behind creating the out of school. in college. Because getting kids through col- Harlem Children’s Zone? We have great sports teams, chess teams, lege is our fi nal goal, it’s heartwarming for me I was trying to come up with a strategy and art programs, and we make sure young to spend time with these young people, track that would change the outcomes not just for the people get connected to work; we make sure their progress, and watch them go through their children that I would be working with but for all young people are taught service and to give college careers heading towards a more suc- of the children in the community. back to their communities, and that they’re cessful life.• 64 LEADERS POSTED WITH PERMISSION. COPYRIGHT © 2012 LEADERS MAGAZINE, INC. VOLUME 35, NUMBER 4