Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children's Zone Essay

Canada like Laurence, was forced to face the hardships involved with growing up. However, the black marks in history does not define Canada , it is how Canada learns from their mistakes and moves forward. Laurence explains through her microcosm of a prairie town that along with growth comes the formation of perspective that will forever affect one's future decisions .

Over a significant time frame, African Americans have been forced to endure numerous hardships – one of which being the negatives stigmas that unfairly generalize their people, culture and way of life. Therese stereotypes of a whole nationality label Blacks as, “superstitious, lazy, ignorant, dirty, unreliable, (and even) criminal,” (“Stereotypes”). Such generalizations are products of the public’s perception, which has been diluted by rooted historic and current prejudice as well as the media’s conveyance of a well-known African American cultural center: Harlem. Despite negative connotations associated with it, Harlem stands as a community that strives to flourish and maintain its strong cultural status. George Canada, the founder of the

This summer I worked in New York City at Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), which is a non-profit organization for poverty-stricken children and families in Harlem, providing free support in the forms of parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three public charter schools, child-oriented health programs that serve approximately 13,705 children and 13,784 adults. The Harlem Children’s Zone Project has expanded the HCZ’s comprehensive system of programs to nearly 100 blocks of Central Harlem and aims to keep children on track throughout college and into the job market. The organization is made-up of about twenty two programs in total that ensure there are no gaps in-between one phase to the next. For instance if a student needs to take a year off before attending college, HCZ has created programs that will stick with the student during this time frame, in other words providing these students with a strong support group so they are held accountable to attend college in the future. The HCZ is “aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and

The year was 1919 and the men of Fifteenth Regiment of New York National Guard marched home to Harlem. Thirteen hundred were black men. They faced many problems upon arrival due to still being treated as underprivileged individuals after they had fought a war with whites. Before the war these Afro American troops were trained separately at segregated camps in Maines, Iowa, that did not necessarily have the same training courses as the white camps. It was also a rule that black officers would not command white troops. White victims of postwar started taking out their rage on blacks. This wrongful treatment led to many riots. The Red Summer was numerous race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities in the United

The statistics show that the kids that have been a part of this program are less likely to be involved in violent crimes when compared to their peers. It provides these kids with a safe environment to be in where they have the opportunity thrive and grow into mature adults that will be active members of the society. The Harlem Children’s Zone helps to address the issues that families face within their communities in order to work on providing better outreach programs and ways to modify the problems that people are facing within that zone. They have almost 20 different centers that serve a little over 13,000 children and adults each year. As of 2003, HCZ had reached almost ninety percent of all children in the twenty-four-block service area

These shooting are just two examples of how unsafe Harlem, as a community, is. The funny thing is, while searching for examples of these two specific shootings, I struggled in being able to search them. I typed in general topics at first because I didn’t think it’d be that hard to find. As I continued to search, my searchings began to become more narrow. It wasn’t until I typed in “man killed in harlem staircase 80 E 110th Street” that I found two, and only two, articles on the shooting that happened in my building. I couldn’t find any videos on the shooting of Michael Lewis except for one on the article I found. And even within these articles, not much information was shared. In doing research for this essay I learned that the government could

Geoffrey Canada was born on January 13, 1952 in New York, NY (Biography.com). He grew up in a poor, violent neighborhood to a single mother. His mother highly valued education and instilled those values in Geoffrey at a very young age and since he highly valued education he went on to receive a bachelor’s degree and then went to Harvard and received a Master’s Degree from the Graduate School of Education (hcz.org). Having become a college graduate he decided to put his degree to use and he eventually became the President of Harlem Children’s Zone, abbreviated as HCZ. He was the president of HCZ for nearly a quarter of a century and received many accolades and widespread

The rich histories of Black communities in British North America are often overlooked in Canadian history. A close study of Black communities in British North America would lead to an in depth understanding of Black Canadians’ identities and their lives in Canada. Between 1830s and 1850s, there is a noticeable settlement of Blacks to the north. During mid-19th century, the hope for a new beginning in Canada without prejudice and marginalization promoted the world north of America as a shelter for the oppressed. Although they were not enslaved, the reality of this new world dismayed many.

After viewing the videos on Geoff Canada, I was greatly astonished not only by the amount of passion Canada showed towards fulfilling his goal of providing underprivileged children with a quality education, but the level of discipline he took towards achieving it. This is so as Canada displays a strong level of servant leadership by treating each of his students with an equal sense of dignity regardless of their past and views them as an opportunity for greater success. In addition, Canada keeps his ultimate goal of ensuring that every student graduates and succeeds in college at the forefront of his endeavors, which demonstrates his persistence towards achieving it. One instance of this is the fact that Canada would willing to fire teachers

It was a normal day in the streets of Harlem, New York. Men and women moving to and fro through the streets, but one situation involving the eviction of an elderly negro couple disturbed this everyday serenity. The policemen were forced to dodge fists from the old lady as they attempted to properly evict the old couple. A large crowd gathered around the corner building, watching in horror as the elderly couple had their all their possessions tossed out onto the sidewalk. Shouts from the couple could be heard throughout the ordeal, some including statements such as “It’s all the white folks, not just one. They all against us. Every stinking low-down one of them.” It was apparent that the old lady seemed to be especially triggered by the policemen

Although the issues post-WW1 were very damaging, Canadians began to see hope for improved and exceptional quality of life between the years of 1946-1967. They felt stronger as they progressed rapidly in education, transportation and culture. Respectively, all these themes had played a crucial role in a better quality of life, for all Canadians as a population.

Additionally, Sider emphasizes the significance of racial segregation in school systems, which ignores the fact that racial equality in education does not necessarily mean racial integration (Sider 215). However, Harlem Children’s Zone is a school system that works with students from infancy until completion of a college degree. HCZ, as an institution, has been able to create a seamless pipeline of programs in the form of parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three public charter schools, counseling, and a child-oriented health programs, which ensure there are no gaps in-between one phase and the next. HCZ students are centralized by neighborhood, schools, activities, and churches in Central Harlem. The programs that are implemented by HCZ create a strong network and community for the students in school and out of school. HCZ provides alternatives to using suspension for disciplinary actions, and structures that foster enduring student investment.

Coming to an end, it can still be identified that Ira C. Herbert remains most effective due to his direct and optimistic approach by seemingly expressing his feelings in a contemplative tone and obtains his willing to cooperate with Grove Press. Richard, however, as he tightens loose ends, cuts to the point and can best be described as cynical for his defensive outback. Seaver complicates the situation by further adding that, “...no one here or in our advertising agency, I am sorry to say, realized that you owned the phrase”(Seaver 4). He also is seen as convoluting by stating (in his opinion) that he never plagiarized the brand from the start, that he was merely quoting Peter S. Prescott’s book review on Diary of a Harlem Schoolteacher, one

In addition to fulfilling the learning objectives that required my proficiency in online and campus services, the growth I attained through our readings and discussions became (although trite) my new educational foundations from which I deconstructed and/or reconstructed a reality aspiring to be bias-free. Starting from Adrienne Rich’s “Claiming an Education” where I became enraged by female oppression and exposed devolusive reality that despite this speech being near 40 years old, it still upholds presently. My dispassion for endemic public discourse continued immensely when reading Jean Anyon’s “ Social Class and the Hidden Curriculum Work” and Jonothan Kozol’s “Other People’s Children” that assisted perfectly with my Urban Youth course’s concurrent analysis and conceptualization of the school-to-prison pipeline. Both Anyon and Kozol, invited me to witness shameless discrimination, negligence and social stratification plaguing U.S education. This ideal of equal opportunity to quality education has exceeded my vain plight grappling with my white privilege by double, which I know will only continue to challenge every fiber of my being as these issues remain neglected ergo persistent. ‘Ed. Found’ reading of Henry Giroux’s interview “The Hope of Radical Education” also meshed with my

The common definition of public education in the U.S. is a system implemented to promise “equal education opportunities no matter race, religion or ability” (An American Imperative: Public Education). While all public schools are diverse in their own core values and principles, there is one underlying principle that makes a public school great - being supportive of their students. Furthermore, by following this principle, public education is paving the road to success for students. Although public education serves an irreplaceable role in society, it is not a right that is granted to everyone across the world. For instance, out of the 128 million school-aged children in Africa, an estimated amount of “17 million will never attend school,” (Fleet).