Community leaders from the Highland and Northside communities joined Dr. Russell Booker and Dr. Jennifer Parker last month on a trip to the Big Apple to visit a pioneering organization achieving remarkable outcomes for children, families, and communities in Harlem. The Harlem Children’s Zone provides programming targeting education, youth, health, and community.
Why travel all the way to New York City to tour this center? What about this organization makes it worth replicating?
One word. Scale.
In 1970, HCZ looked different than it does today. HCZ started as Rheedlen Center for Children and Families, a truancy prevention program. Rheedlen grew to a beacon center and then converted an elementary school into the Countee Cullen Community Center. This community center, a one-block pilot program, offered programming and safety for children and families after school, on the weekends, and during the summer. Nine years later, HCZ launched their 10-year strategic plan and through intentional and systemic actions, HCZ grew from one block to 24 blocks to 60 blocks to its current 97 blocks. Whether trying to curb absenteeism or providing a safe haven for children, HCZ uses education as a tool for collective impact.
HCZ views intergenerational poverty through a systemic lens. Intergenerational poverty does not occur in a vacuum, so they examine interconnected systemic failures to determine practical solutions.
Harlem Children’s Zone has not only expanded their brick-and-mortar presence, but also their service offerings. What they refer to as “strategic relentlessness” looks like SAM’s initiatives: comprehensive, cradle-through-career, place-based programming which serves children, families, and communities. Geoffrey Canada, president and founder of HCZ, puts it this way:
“…the most powerful way to fight poverty is to make strategic investments that change the odds for low-income communities.”
SAM visited NYC to witness first-hand what can make the difference between a cycle of poverty and a cycle of achievement and how to recreate that impact in the Spartanburg community.
This trip was funded by the wonderful folks at Blue Meridian Partners – a group of results-oriented philanthropists seeking to transform the life trajectories of our nation’s young people and families in poverty by investing in strategies that work.
A dynamic group of individuals from Spartanburg visited HCZ
Dr. Russell Booker, Spartanburg Academic Movement Executive Director
Dr. Jennifer Parker, SAM Center for Resilient Schools and Communities Director
Shawna Bynum, Director of Franklin School
Patrena Mims, Executive Director of Bethlehem Center, located in Highland community
Tony Thomas, Northside Development Group Community Engagement Coordinator
Lekesa Whitner, Northside Development Group Supportive Services Manager
Wilma Moore, Highland Community Outreach Advocate
Dr. Kathleen Brady, SAM Grant Consultant
Marquice Clark, Principal of Cleveland Academy of Leadership
Marquice Clark, Principal, Cleveland Academy of Leadership shares about his own experience.
All of my life's experiences have been building blocks to construct my paradigm, my way of seeing and understanding the world.
In the beginning of my educational career, I was certain that we could change the outcomes for our students if we only taught a little bit harder and cared with a bit more passion and while I still believe an effective teacher is the change agent for improved outcomes, just 2 years as an administrator forced me to see that a larger scope of impact was needed to sustain students. For me, this was a near useless attempt. After years of begging parents to attend PTO meetings, offering food, and even hosting weekend events, I was sure that there was little hope. Moreover, I was growing weary of beating the drums of equity. It was beginning to feel like I was the villain or worst I was becoming ashamed to speak up for equitable solutions.
On May 25, 2022, I packed my luggage and mental baggage filled with life experiences, weariness, shame, and exhaustion headed to New York City to learn the work of The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ). Within the first hour of deboarding the plane, it was clear that HCZ was different -- very different. The more time I spent with the folks of HCZ, the harder it was for me to hold on to my old paradigm. I was experiencing a paradigm shift while battling the discomfort of a mental conflict that occurs when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information -- cognitive dissonance. I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears what is possible for our children of Spartanburg, South Carolina and more locally at The Cleveland Academy of Leadership.
The HCZ is a results-based organization that has created a culture of data minded servants who thrive in a data climate of evaluation, refinement, and reinforcement. No rock is left unturned.
They offer everything from parenting classes to FAFSA submission and even college counselors to support children through their collegiate career. A true cradle-to-career pipeline with 100 percent of all high school seniors being admitted to a college or university.
I left HCZ filled with hope, a vison, energy, and at peace with the work that was before me. I now know that this work in educational equity can be done, and I don't have to do it alone.
In the early years of planning the Northside Development Initiative, it became clear that rebranding and supporting the school in the heart of the neighborhood would be imperative to the overall health of the community. Mr. Clark has made significant social and academic strides at the school, and is an important voice as we determine next steps for academic, social and emotional supports for Northside families.