Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, inspired hundreds of St. Louis-area residents with his impassioned keynote address during the 2004 Salute to Excellence in Education Scholarship and Awards Banquet in September 2004.
He returned to St. Louis for the first time on Tuesday to share his thoughts on urban education during the Citizens for Missouri’s Children Speak Out For Kids luncheon.
“We have failed our kids,” he told the American before his speech at the Chase Park Plaza.
“St. Louis is identified as a place with young people in trouble. But it’s happening all over Missouri, and it’s happening all over the U.S.A. It’s not just a group of black kids in a pocket over here or over there.”
Canada said the biggest crisis involves public education.
“We have failed our public schools and we need an aggressive response,” he said.
“If you get everything right, and you get public education wrong, it doesn’t work. If everything else is wrong, but you get public education right, then there is hope.”
Canada has been working with his dream, Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc., since 1990.
The program works to enhance the quality of life for children and families in Harlem and other New York City neighborhoods. HCZ, Inc.’s 15 centers serve more than 10,000 at-risk children.
When Canada delivered his Salute to Excellence address, the HCZ was in what he called “Phase III” and served about 3,000 youths. He has seen HCZ expand to full capacity in its fourth phase and calls 10,000 youth clients “the right number.”
But he adds that he isn’t in the business of turning youths and families away because of the number of clients or because they might live just outside the 100-block boundary of his program.
“We’re very loose geographically. We’re not immigration,” he said with a smile.
The emphasis of The Children’s Zone work is not just on education, social service and recreation, but on rebuilding the very fabric of community life.
He said HCZ has started focusing on two new areas since his last St. Louis visit – obesity and boys.
“We take heights and weights of all our young people, and we found that 44 percent are overweight. It’s almost normal to be overweight, and that’s a crisis,” he said.
“Because of diabetes and high blood pressure, future health costs will be staggering.”
Canada, a graduate of Bowden College and Harvard University, said as you walk through Harlem you see many people with missing limbs. It is because of infections and complications of diabetes.
“You see so many people in wheelchairs. And this is nothing in comparison to what is coming in 20 to 30 years, because the older population did not have such a high percentage of overweight people as now,” he said.
He said HCZ is “attacking the problem on all levels, including nutrition, health and cultural attitudes.”
If things do not change, he said, “it is going to be a real horror show.”
The second major focus now is on the young men the program serves.
“We’re really beginning to take a hard look at what happens to boys in our program, because we’ve had them for several years now,” he said.
“We knew our boys were in trouble, and we’ve been collecting data on our 100 blocks that really proves it. So now we are asking, ‘What can we do to intervene?’”
Many of the boys being studied were in middle school or high school before entering the HCZ program. As the youths who have participated from birth grow up, the number of boys leaving high school or not seeking post-secondary education decline.
“Our boys are behind, but we’re going to catch them up,” Canada said with confidence.
He said the key to this is finding something that excites young men about their education and future.
“We don’t rely on one strategy. Chess, sports, debate martial arts, investment club – sooner or later, we’ll find something for everyone,” he said.
“Kids need to know that they can make it without having to hustle and do illegal things.”
Citizens for Missouri’s Children is a nonprofit, non-partisan public interest organization advocating for the rights and well being of Missouri Children.
Beth Griffin, executive director, calls Canada “one of the nation’s most prominent advocates for young people.”
“He has shown us what is possible when we all work together to create a better future for all children,” she said.
As for the future of his HCZ children and those across America in public schools, Canada said, “We’ve got to find answers, and that’s a challenge.”