Public Lectures

Danz Lecturer: Geoffrey Canada

Author / Children's Advocate
President and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone

February 9, 2010   |   6:30 p.m.   |   Kane Hall, Room 130

This event is free and open to the public. To guarantee your seat please register by clicking here (available 12/1/09). Feel free to direct all registration related questions to the UW Alumni Office at: 206-543-0540 or 800-AUW-ALUM.

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Leveling the Playing Field: Helping Poor Children Succeed

Geoffrey Canada has a radical new idea: if you really want to change the lives of inner-city kids, change everything all at once'their schools, families, and neighborhoods. As President and CEO of the revolutionary Harlem Children's Zone in New York City, he has dedicated the past 20 years of his life to helping the most impoverished, at-risk youth beat the odds. Radically ambitious and startlingly simple, Canada's programs are on the cutting edge of preventing youth violence and fostering community development.

What Canada has done for a 24 block neighborhood in Harlem has been groundbreaking, replicated in communities across the country. Through programs such as the Beacon School, Community Pride Initiative, Harlem Gems, Harlem Peacemakers, and the Promise Academy, a new generation of charter school, he has developed a network of services that reach most of the 6,500 children and their families living in the Harlem Children's Zone.

The acclaimed author of Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America and Reaching Up for Manhood, a moving vision of hope for young boys, Canada is also East Coast Coordinator for the Black Community Crusade for Children.

Canada knows inner-city life firsthand. Having grown up in the South Bronx, he went on to earn a Master's Degree in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Recently, Canada was honored with the prestigious McGraw Prize for education. In his vibrant, hands-on presentation, he teaches communities about improving the lives of today's youth, one child at a time.

Canada's ideas and life work are chronicled in New York Times reporter Paul Tough's new book, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America.

In his 20-plus years with Harlem Children's Zone, Inc., Geoffrey Canada has become nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as a passionate advocate for education reform.

Since 1990, Mr. Canada has been the President and Chief Executive Officer for Harlem Children's Zone, which The New York Times Magazine called "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time." In October 2005, Mr. Canada was named one of "America's Best Leaders" by U.S. News and World Report.

 

Sponsor:
The Graduate School, www.grad.washington.edu

Co-Sponsor:
UW Alumni Association, http://www.washington.edu/alumni/

To Learn More:
http://www.hcz.org
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/01/AR2009080102297.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Canada
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/213445/december-08-2008/geoffrey-canada

 

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