Sharing Web Resources- Harlem Children's Zone

For the last couple weeks I have studied the Harlem Children’s Zone website. At the heart of their work is the desire to prevent another generation of young people in Harlem from being lost to poverty. I found this organization to be very inspirational in decreasing poverty in a section of New York that often falls prey to this issue.

As I visited the website, the section that caught my attention was the issues that this organization addresses. One issue that I have educated myself enormously on this week is poverty. In an article by the founder of HCZ, Geoffrey Canada, titled “Winning the War on Poverty through Education,” Canada talks about his fulfillment in ending the long-lost war on poverty and providing a high quality education for all children. This information is particularly relevant to my current professional development because there is so much that I can do as an educator to help end this war on poverty. Children should not have to suffer such an ordeal and more importantly, every child should have a means to education.

What I found interesting on the website is how HCZ has this elaborate growth plan that benefits only the children in Harlem. I really commend Canada for initiating such a great organization that has turned many of the lives of children and their families in Harlem around. What about the rest of the cities in the country that are overpowered by poverty? What can we do to ensure that they have a growth plan that focuses on the children and their education? I feel that if there is a way to get funds to this particular program, then there should be a way to get funds to other programs as well that are deemed effective in the early childhood field.

I actually ran across a current article via the website that was published just yesterday announcing Geoffrey Canada as the recipient of the second Harvard Graduate School of Education Medal for Education Impact, the highest honor given by the Ed School. Clearly, economists, neuroscientists, and politicians give a huge thanks to a man who has devoted his life to the succession of all children. No one really has a problem investing in this program because its outcomes are unbelievable. This organization is life-changing for children who thought maybe an education was out of the question. With an organization like HCZ, the future is very bright for not only children and their families but for this nation.

There are so many good people out there who have devoted their life to children and their future. It is one of the reasons why I decided to go into the early childhood field in the first place. I wanted to reach children at an age that is the most important in gearing them in the right direction. I learned that yeah, poverty is out there but just acknowledging it is just the beginning. Educators like Geoffrey Canada founded an organization that has proven successful beyond the eyes of society. It is amazing what a vision can start out to be and what it grows to become. I know that the early childhood field is a field worth investing in because children are the essence of this world. We need them more than we know. It is truly great what great insights I gained from exploring HCZ’s website. It is one of the many successful organizations that are leading us into a brighter future.