The Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) was established that only a limited percentage of children from the communities attained for work was reached and that the duration of the interventions was limited to two years in the lives of these children. This analysis was launched to expand and improve the programs: reaching more children while increasing service quality. In 1997, a new paradigm was created: two domains were combined, on the one hand, programs to address the needs of children and families in poverty, and at the same time efforts to build the basic infrastructure of a community. The Harlem Children's Zone actually starts with what most middle-class families find for granted: strong schools, beautiful and safe playgrounds, good homes, support from religious institutions, functioning organizations, safe streets, since it's very difficult, often even impossible to educate healthy children in a disguised community, where there are no institutions that make connections between children and families (City Limis, 2010).
Hence, strong efforts were made to create a strong community, with common interests being committed, namely: the development of children. Two principles are the basis of the operation. First: create a critical mass of affected families and, secondly, an early progressive intervention in the development of children. This assumes that children who are stimulated and supported by affected adults and an environment are more likely to grow into productive, active, healthy citizens. The project, therefore, started in a specific geographic environment, where services for children and neighborhood residents were bundled.
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The model of the HCZ ® consists of several principles:
Based in a neighborhood: a whole neighborhood is involved in the operation. This is because of reaching enough children to influence the culture of a community, in this way, the physical and social environment is also addressed, and programs are set up that are large enough to accommodate local distress.
Create good, accessible programs and schools and make sure they are connected to each other. In this way there is a continuous flow of support for the children, starting with prenatal programs for parents to support young people seeking graduation and work. It is important that in addition to an important educational hatch, programs have been set up to support families and the wider society.
A third pillar is to build a community feel between residents, institutions and key partners that create an environment that is necessary for the healthy development of children.
Evaluating program results, giving feedback and updating programs is crucial.
And finally, cultivating a culture of success is of utmost importance. And this at different levels of leadership, teamwork, individual actions
The Harlem Children's Zone schools are a remarkable project, recently considered by the New York Times, "one of the most ambitious social experiences of our time." As one of the greatest educational achievements of recent times, Harlem Children's Zone groups are proving that it is possible to recover children of low socioeconomic status, black children and those for whom English is the second language. The results also show an emerging model for low-income students. The basic theory is that middle-class children enter adolescence with certain models of work in their heads: what I can achieve, how to control impulses; how to work hard. Many of the poorest children with family disruption have not internalized these models. The child within the program is worked on as a whole (their family environment, social aspects) and not only with curricular subjects. One of the principles worked out is that both the family and the community are involved in the project. There may even be an economic incentive for parents to participate in the program, but even in the absence of these factors, there is a whole psychological work where middle-class values are instilled in the students so that they have aspirations in life.
In addition to stimulating self-esteem, they learn good social behavior: how to behave in public, how to shake a hand, and so on. The program covers 100 blocks and serves 10,000 children around Harlem. It is an example of how the innovation allowed in charter schools, free from the yoke of traditional public schools, can be a catalyst for innovation and achievement. In this model of success, the school year is also longer.
According to Canada, some Harlem Children's Zone schools are open from 8:45 p.m. to 5:45 p.m., 11 months a year because that is what it takes to get these students. The evaluation of all the steps is done every day to see what is working. The results come out very fast not to let the student miss the step, after all, he has to recover even in the same school year. Those with poor performance spend 50 percent more time in school. Those who are well, stay for 2 hours beyond the traditional time. Also charged are the dedication and effort of the teachers who are changed when after constant evaluations, there is poor performance of the students. Some education experts argue that school alone cannot produce major changes. The problems are in society, and you have to work on broader issues like economic inequalities. Reformers, on the other hand, have argued that school-based approaches can produce great results: American children of African descent with averages equal to white middle-class children.
Harlem Children's Zone is an educational organization whose long-term goal is to increase the college graduation rate among students in that neighborhood of New York.
To achieve this, the proposal of is based on educating them from the first years of their lives in the schools of the organization and accompany them until they finish their university studies. The organization began working with an area of twenty-four blocks, which later increased to ninety-seven. Given the huge demand and according to US regulations, quotas are drawn among all applicants. Almost all children attending the institution live in poverty, and this is precisely the reason why Geoffrey Canada decided to take action on the issue. Canada grew up in conditions similar to those faced by most students in Harlem. He is the son of a single mother with four children in his charge, accustomed to living with cockroaches and rats in low-cost departments. Something that he ensures has marked him for life. One of the conditions to achieve this is that children get the same structure as their more fortunate peers. Both in terms of education and culture, as well as medical care and social assistance in general. It is for this reason that the organization has established medical and social assistance services available free of charge to all children in the area (Hard Knot Life, 2008).
Another of the conditions imposed by Canada is a certain academic rigor that attempts to compensate for the deficiencies of the origin and the socio-cultural environment. In the organization's schools, there are more hours of classes, summer vacations last only three weeks and many children also attend on Saturdays. Schools have labs, a gym and a cafeteria where only healthy food is served. Another important point that Canada claims as a right is a power to drive out bad teachers, something unthinkable if it were working under the public system and control of the unions. But as we pointed out earlier, the main point of the proposal is to start working with children from the early years. For this, Harlem Children's Zone is also responsible for educating parents. In nine-week workshops, parents learn how to raise their children with good habits and physical violence, so that they are well prepared at school ( Dobbie, 2011). It is nothing less than an educational project that aims to break the closed circle of structural poverty, always existing in countries with an unfair distribution of wealth. That is poor children of poor parents who go to poor schools, get jobs for the poor, live in places for the poor and have poor children. It would not be wrong to imitate the example in countries such as ours, where all the time is declared about the value of education, but little is done about it that has a real impact.
While there has been progressing, there is a huge backlog that public policies have not yet reached. Harlem Children's Zone and Geoffrey Canada point to one of the possible ways to achieve this. Vision: Ensuring a worthy future for every Harlem child, breaking the cycle of poverty through the social and educational development of boys. Mission: To support the children throughout their growth path, from primary schools to university and entry into the workplace, making them independent adults. Values: The values on which our organization is based are: accountability, leadership, teamwork, and a deep passion for the work we do. These values are important for orienting activities and behavior of our staff, which sends them to our young people. Defining vision, mission, and values, HCZ has developed its own five-based intervention model principles of action:
• Intervening in a specific area to create a profound change in community culture;• Create a set of coordinated, continuous and personalized activities to support young people in the planning their future;
• Fostering social cohesion among residents, institutions and all stakeholders to create an environment favorable to the development of boys;
• Evaluate program impacts to improve program definition and management, from a perspective point of view of accountability;
• Promote a successful culture based on passion and group work to realize their desire.
References
C. (2010, February 10). City Limis: Harlem Children's Zone: Effects on the Street. Retrieved October 01, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nCAYp8SSXdU
Dobbie, W., Fryer, R. G., & Fryer Jr, G. (2011). Are high-quality schools enough to increase achievement among the poor? Evidence from the Harlem Children's Zone. American Economic Journal: Applied Economics , 3 (3), 158-187.
H. (2008, October 23). Hard Knot Life - HCZ Teens on Their Lives in Harlem. Retrieved October 01, 2017, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6j3izeXko-U
