The Harlem Children’s Zone is a non-profit organization worth knowing about. They offer free support to families living within a 97 block of Harlem. They offer parenting workshops, a pre-school program, three charter schools, a health program and much more.
As they describe it, they are “aimed at doing nothing less than breaking the cycle of generational poverty for the thousands of children and families it serves.” And they are doing so with the help of so many business people and leaders in the community. Their board of trustees includes Chairman Stanley F. Druckenmiller and Chairman Anne Williams-Isom, while their list of donors includes financial executive Jeff Feig and many others.
The HCZ Project started out in the 1990s with just one block in Harlem. They launched a ten year strategic plan in 2000 to expand the depth and breadth of their programming and to move to 24 blocks. This then became 60 blocks, and eventually the 97 blocks they have today. Today, they serve more than 10,000 youth and almost 10,000 adults.
They have become a national model, with the help of many like Jeff Feig, for thought leadership in education, community development and the fight against poverty. And they are certainly a model worth looking at for business leaders in many other locations.
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