Archive for December, 2009

A Zone in Meriden

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

In the Meriden, Connecticut, Record Journal, a report on plans to build a Children’s Zone-like project in that city:

“As we worked to implement strategies in the plan, we became aware of the Harlem work and thought that a lot of that effort would make sense here in Meriden,” said David Radcliffe, director of the Children First Initiative in Meriden. “Those at the table have worked together for years on other projects for families. Talking about the Children Zone is a natural extension of the many good works already underway in town.”

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An update from Chicago

Sunday, December 27th, 2009

In today’s Chicago Tribune, a report on the Harlem Children’s Zone and a round-up of local efforts to replicate the project through the federal government’s Promise Neighborhood initiative:

Leaders in at least three Chicago neighborhoods — Woodlawn, Logan Square and Chicago Lawn — plan to apply [for a Promise Neighborhood grant].

Bishop Arthur Brazier, longtime head of The Woodlawn Organization, is working with University of Chicago officials to craft a plan for the neighborhood. The city’s education and crime woes call for a bold, comprehensive strategy, he said.

“You can’t deal with these problems with a $25,000 untested program here, and a $30,000 program over there,” said Brazier, referring to past efforts in Woodlawn. “We’ve been programmed out, and we still have the same problems. We need a communitywide effort that includes the schools, the police, the hospitals, the politicians, the universities all working together.”

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A children’s zone in Somerville

Saturday, December 26th, 2009

In Wicked Local Somerville, an announcement of plans to create a children’s zone in the Winter Hill neighborhood of Somerville, Mass.:

The pilot program, modeled on Geoffrey Canada’s successful “Harlem Children’s Zone,” will focus on the Healey School and the Mystic Housing Development. The initiative, will map out all services for, and identify obstacles faced by, children at the Mystic Housing Development. Members of the network will work to improve coordination and expand services to close gaps, with the ultimate goal of fulfilling a promise that each child in the neighborhood succeeds in life. Eventually, the program will expand to other neighborhood schools and, ultimately, the entire City and school system.

Update: Some more news on the Mystic project.

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Leaving the Times

Friday, December 18th, 2009

I left my editor’s job at the New York Times last week in order to write full-time and start working on a new book. The New York Observer wrote about my departure here and here, Alexander Russo mentioned it here, and there was some additional blog coverage here and here.

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Australian Radio

Friday, December 18th, 2009

Last week, the Australian public-radio network, ABC Radio National, broadcast the radio documentary I did for This American Life about Baby College, the Harlem Children’s Zone’s parenting program. It ran on the network’s morning show, “Life Matters,” and was bookended by a conversation between me and the show’s host, Richard Aedy. There’s a description of the episode here, and audio here.

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Operation Better Block

Monday, December 14th, 2009

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a story about a community organization seeking to replicate the Harlem Children’s Zone model in the Homewood neighborhood:

Khalif Ali has knocked on doors all over Homewood for the past two months. He is standing on a porch on Inwood Street, waiting for someone behind the door to yell “Who is it?”

On a porch across the street, Ryan O’Donnell is answering that question from behind another door. His voice rings out: “I’m from Operation Better Block. We’re doing a community survey.”

Working for Operation Better Block, these two men have conducted the door-knocking part of a vehicle Homewood advocates are steering toward the goal of creating what educator Geoffrey Canada created in Harlem with the Harlem Children’s Zone.

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A Talk in Austin

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

On April 29, I’ll be speaking and signing books at a fundraising luncheon in Austin, Texas, for Mainspring Schools. Details are here.

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Zone Plans in Charleston

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

In yesterday’s Post and Courier, a report on plans by civic leaders in Charleston, South Carolina, to apply for federal Promise Neighborhood funds:

Charleston hopes to be among the front-runners for this money, and key leaders such as school Superintendent Nancy McGinley and Charleston Mayor Joe Riley have been working behind the scenes to better position Charleston for the funding.

Although school officials have led local planning efforts, the school district wouldn’t necessarily coordinate the programs. The money would go directly to schools and programs included in Charleston Children’s Zone, and the district would be one of the agencies involved in making the plan work.

The proposed zone would encompass Charleston’s East Side, the Neck Area and extend into North Charleston, and it would target four elementary schools: Sanders-Clyde, James Simons, Mary Ford and Chicora. The focus of the zone’s programs would be the area’s roughly 3,000 children, from birth to age 17.

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National League of Cities

Tuesday, December 8th, 2009

In Nation Cities Weekly, the magazine of the National League of Cities, Michael Karpman writes about the November conference on replicating the Harlem Children’s Zone model:

HCZ’s results are the reason why more than 1,400 local leaders from more than 100 communities gathered in New York at a recent conference co-sponsored with PolicyLink, a national research and action institute seeking to advance social and economic equity.  Speakers included New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg; Newark, N.J., Mayor Cory Booker; Savannah, Ga., Mayor Otis Johnson; Secretary of Education Arne Duncan; White House Domestic Policy Council Director Melody Barnes; White House Office of Urban Affairs Director Adolfo Carrión; Children’s Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman; American Express Chairman and CEO Kenneth Chenault; HCZ President and CEO Geoffrey Canada and PolicyLink CEO Angela Glover Blackwell.

Most communities represented hope to receive federal planning grants under an Obama Administration proposal to create up to 20 Promise Neighborhoods modeled on HCZ. However, cities that do not receive federal support still plan to forge ahead. As one school district leader stated, “this is our mission — we’re going to do this whether we get the money or not.”

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