Growing Up Baltimore – Harlem Children’s Zone
It’s a weekday and school is underway at the Union Baptist Church “Head Start” center in West Baltimore.
In classrooms, preschoolers solve simple math problems, create art, or work on the computer. Here’s Cameron, aged four.
[Reporter]: “Do you like school, Cameron?”
[Child]: “Yes.”
[Reporter]: “And do you like reading?
[Child]: “Yes. I like to read books.”
Union Baptist launched its Head Start center 41 years ago. Its model is similar to the Harlem Children’s Zone in that children not only receive academic instruction, but a range of services for the whole family: parenting classes, after-school programming and more. Reverend Alvin Hathaway, Sr. is pastor of Union Baptist.
“For example, children that have health needs, there’s a nurse that comes in and monitors their needs. For children that may have some learning disabilities, they get specialized attention…All children, we believe that if you affirm them, if you give them opportunities, tell them that they’re important, that every child can learn.”
Reverend Hathaway was among the Baltimore educators, child advocates and government officials who traveled to New York City recently, for a national conference about the Harlem Children’s Zone.
Launched in 1997, the groundbreaking initiative is the brainchild of educator Geoffrey Canada, who rose from poverty in the Bronx, to become a Harvard grad.
Journalist Paul Tough penned the 2008 book, “Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America,” explains the Harlem Children’s Zone.
“It is a 97 block neighborhood in central Harlem that provides services for about eight thousand kids right now. [It’s] a comprehensive system of programs that run from cradle to college. That helps kids at every step along the way and provides services, especially for poor families in those neighborhoods; educational and social services.”
The Harlem Children’s Zone is funded by private and government sources. The nonprofit had a budget last year of $68 million; about 5-thousand dollars per child.
Proponents say that money is well worth it because HCZ differs from other programs. They stress a holistic “pipeline” philosophy: start with pregnant women, then their babies, and offer them all types of targeted educational and social support.
That blueprint has been praised locally by Baltimore Mayor Sheila Dixon, who traveled to Harlem to study the model, and Lt. Governor Anthony Brown.
Nationally, everyone from Oprah to President Barack Obama have heaped accolades on the HCZ.
The Obama administration has earmarked monies in the 20-10 budget to replicate the model in 20 communities nationwide.
If all goes as planned, Baltimore and other cities will be able to apply for $10 million in federal planning grants next year, with billions more federal dollars expected to fund such initiatives annually. They’d help fund what the President calls “Promise Neighborhoods.”
Matthew Joseph, the executive director of Advocates for Children and Youth, a regional non-profit, likes the idea.
“The possibility of having a Harlem Children’s Zone in Maryland and particularly in Baltimore City is so exciting, because it really represents a transformation on how to help families. And instead of doing what we have historically done in Maryland, which is wait for families to go into crisis, it really is about trying to reach families a long time before they have serious problems and help them prevent those problems from taking place.”
Joseph said his organization has analyzed some of the tough problems facing Baltimore.
“There are 10 neighborhoods in Baltimore City that just eat up hundreds of millions of dollars a year in terms of child welfare services, juvenile justice services, emergency health care services.”
A Harlem Children’s Zone model could combat interlocking issues, he said, such as poverty, crime, substance abuse, and teen pregnancy.
“So we’re spending the money to wait for these families to go into crisis and then we are doing a really poor job at addressing the problem once it occurs. When for a fraction of that money we could help preserve these neighborhoods and preserve the families.”
On a cold November day, social worker Bronwyn Mayden is on foot scouting potential sites for the University of Maryland, Baltimore. The School of Social Work wants to create a Harlem Children’s Zone type model here. It would be called “Promise Heights” and located on the city’s Westside.
“What we would like to do is have a community hub, a place where all of our students could go, researchers could go, that would be able to work in a particular community and terms of services starting from prenatal care–even before prenatal care, before women get pregnant and men are thinking about having families. But start with them and then go all the way up to age 21.”
Besides the University of Maryland Baltimore, numerous local teams have expressed strong interest in submitting proposals. They include Living Classrooms, Park Heights Renaissance, Inc., Johns Hopkins and East Baltimore Development Inc., also known as E-B-D-I, and the Center for Urban Families, to name a few.
Indeed, some worry that so many bids might weaken Baltimore’s overall chances in the federal application process. But Deputy Mayor Salima Marriott, who has convened regular meetings of the interested parties, believes there’s room for multiple ideas.
“The concept is excellent. And some will be federally funded, but that does not mean we cannot have several Promise Neighborhoods in Baltimore City, and get funding from private foundations, etc. And so we’re excited about the potential for Baltimore City.”
The Harlem Children’s Zone has been studied by Harvard economists and shown quantifiable success. For instance, nearly 94 percent of its third graders tested at or above grade level in English. Some 93 percent of its 9th graders passed statewide algebra exams, and 90 percent of its high school seniors were accepted into college last year.
Dr. Andres Alonso, CEO of the Baltimore City public school system is quite familiar with the HCZ model from his former role as Deputy Chancellor of New York schools.
He supports the concept, but has some questions about long-term sustainability and other issues.
“My only caveat is that there are no silver bullets. And if you actually look at performance, we’re getting as much growth and performance as any other district in the nation. It’s not about the Harlem Children’s Zone or something else. The real question is, ‘How do we grow?’”
That’s a question that will likely be debated in the coming months and years for city stakeholders working to educate children. Their very futures depend upon adults getting the answers right.
I’m Donna Marie Owens, reporting in Baltimore, for 88.1, WYPR.
Our series, “Growing Up Baltimore” is made possible, in part, by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence. The findings and conclusions of our series do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of these organizations.
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