Obama Administration Using Harlem Children’s Zone Project As Program Model

I accompanied my daughter, Jacquelyn, to New York City in May for her medical school interview at TouroCOM, which is located on West 125th Street in Harlem. Subsequently, she was accepted for admission and begins her studies this week!

Back to Harlem~I spent four or five hours the day of Jacquelyn’s interview attempting to read  and do some computer work at the Starbucks across the street from the college. And I wholeheartedly agree with a line on the Starbucks website that states, “There’s a lot going on inside at Starbucks.”

This particular day I ordered my Tall Capuccino and settled in at a table in the corner looking out the big picture window onto the street. People briskly walked by briefcase in hand obviously on the way to work or some important meeting. A couple of colorfully dressed characters spent the day with boom boxes perched on their shoulders weaving in and out of traffic dancing to the music. The police were called in, twice, to the Starbucks to evict drug addicts from the restroom.

I have to say with all that went on in those hours I felt like I had been transported to a movie set~it was all surreal to ME but normal in the lives of the people whose domain I had invaded. As I prepared to leave to meet Jacquelyn following her interview so we could be on our way to the airport, I felt so saddened. I felt like such a failure, I cried.

We use our business model at Organic Bug to promote positive change and we work really hard to help~help fight climate change, help people in developing countries, help to empower others through education and awareness. But, on this day, I did not feel empowered. It was a stark reminder of how much work there is to do in our own country, for our own people.

Then, this past weekend I read an uplifting article in the Washington Post by Staff Writer Robin Shulman. Geoffrey Canada knows first hand the vicious cycle of poverty that ensues when one is born into an underpriviledged set of circumstances in America and deprived of what the rest of us take for granted. He is from a poor, sometimes violent, neighborhood in the South Bronx.

Vowing to lift himself out of his presumed destiny, Geoffrey excelled academically, eventually earning a master’s degree in education from the Harvard School of Education. As an advocate for children and families in some of America’s most devastated communities, he has become nationally recognized through his work with Harlem Children’s Zone, an ambitious project targeting a specific geographic area in Central Harlem. The project starts at birth and follows children to college, combining educational, social and medical services, creating a safety net that is nearly impossible for children to slip through.

The Obama Administration is using this successful program model to launch its Promise Neighborhoods program in 20 cities across America and has set aside $10 million in the 2010 budget for planning. Read the full article…