Please use this page to place resources about helping communities and people in communities. Also, check back to see what others have posted.
Harlem Children's Zone
The Harlem Children's Zone website is deep and rich. Here is an excerpt from the site about the Zone's history:
In the early 1990s, HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block. The idea was to address all the problems that poor families were facing: from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.
HCZ created a 10-year business plan, then to ensure its best-practice programs were operating as planned, HCZ was in the vanguard of nonprofits that began carefully evaluating and tracking the results of their work. Those evaluation results enabled staff to see if programs were achieving their objectives and to take corrective actions if they were not.
In 1997, the agency began a network of programs for a 24-block area: the Harlem Children's Zone Project. In 2007, the Zone Project grew to almost 100 blocks. Today the Children's Zone® serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults. Overall, the organization serves more than 10,000 children and more than 7,400 adults. The FY 2010 budget for the agency overall is over $75 million.
Over the years, the agency introduced several ground-breaking efforts: in 2000, The Baby College® parenting workshops; in 2001, the Harlem Gems® pre-school program; also in 2001, the HCZ Asthma Initiative, which teaches families to better manage the disease; in 2004, the Promise Academy, a high-quality public charter school; and in 2006, an obesity program to help children stay healthy.
Under the visionary leadership of its President and CEO, Geoffrey Canada, HCZ continues to offer innovative, efficiently run programs that are aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.
Children's Aid of NYC
This organization has been active in NYC for over one hundred years, changing as the needs of the children change. Community Schools are one of the most exciting elements of their current mission. You can read all about it on their website ; here is a brief discussion of the community school concept.
A community school is a public school that combines the best educational practices with a wide range of vital in-house health and social services to ensure that children are physically, emotionally and socially prepared to learn.
Open early mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends and summers, the community school serves as a true center of neighborhood life. It is more than simply a place where children attend classes. In this familiar environment they can also receive medical and dental care, speak to a counselor about a problem, stay after school to build reading skills, play chess, work on a computer, take art and music lessons, get help with homework, practice sports and attend summer camp.
The Children’s Aid Society operates 21 community schools in New York City, in partnership with the Department of Education. Initiated in 1992, this work has won national recognition and numerous awards.
Harlem Children's Zone
The Harlem Children's Zone website is deep and rich. Here is an excerpt from the site about the Zone's history:In the early 1990s, HCZ ran a pilot project that brought a range of support services to a single block. The idea was to address all the problems that poor families were facing: from crumbling apartments to failing schools, from violent crime to chronic health problems.
HCZ created a 10-year business plan, then to ensure its best-practice programs were operating as planned, HCZ was in the vanguard of nonprofits that began carefully evaluating and tracking the results of their work. Those evaluation results enabled staff to see if programs were achieving their objectives and to take corrective actions if they were not.
In 1997, the agency began a network of programs for a 24-block area: the Harlem Children's Zone Project. In 2007, the Zone Project grew to almost 100 blocks. Today the Children's Zone® serves more than 8,000 children and 6,000 adults. Overall, the organization serves more than 10,000 children and more than 7,400 adults. The FY 2010 budget for the agency overall is over $75 million.
Over the years, the agency introduced several ground-breaking efforts: in 2000, The Baby College® parenting workshops; in 2001, the Harlem Gems® pre-school program; also in 2001, the HCZ Asthma Initiative, which teaches families to better manage the disease; in 2004, the Promise Academy, a high-quality public charter school; and in 2006, an obesity program to help children stay healthy.
Under the visionary leadership of its President and CEO, Geoffrey Canada, HCZ continues to offer innovative, efficiently run programs that are aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.
Children's Aid of NYC
This organization has been active in NYC for over one hundred years, changing as the needs of the children change. Community Schools are one of the most exciting elements of their current mission. You can read all about it on their website ; here is a brief discussion of the community school concept.
A community school is a public school that combines the best educational practices with a wide range of vital in-house health and social services to ensure that children are physically, emotionally and socially prepared to learn.
Open early mornings, afternoons, evenings, weekends and summers, the community school serves as a true center of neighborhood life. It is more than simply a place where children attend classes. In this familiar environment they can also receive medical and dental care, speak to a counselor about a problem, stay after school to build reading skills, play chess, work on a computer, take art and music lessons, get help with homework, practice sports and attend summer camp.
The Children’s Aid Society operates 21 community schools in New York City, in partnership with the Department of Education. Initiated in 1992, this work has won national recognition and numerous awards.