Thursday, March 25, 2010

Geoffrey Canada, President and CEO of Harlem Children's Zone

Outraged after reading today that black fourth-graders in Milwaukee have the worst reading scores in the U.S. and the hand wringing non-solutions that followed in the article, I went looking for examples of how to build a society where everyone can be educated and can contribute. I found Geoffrey Canada, the leader of Harlem's Children Zone, providing birth to college wrap around services in a 100 square blocks of Harlem. His program rests on a foundation of building a culture of success. In 2009, they served 10,462 youth, so this is no small pilot project. Ninety-three percent of their third graders are at or above grade level in reading and 100% are at or above in math. Check it out - let's stop failing our children!


Excerpts from Mr. Canada's recent keynote speech: