Charlotte Observer----
Charlotte, NC Community Leaders gather to read about the Harlem Children's Zone and talk about how to replicate it
On one level, the two dozen people gathered at Johnson C. Smith University on Monday morning were a kind of ad hoc book club.
But the subtext was ambitious: breaking the cycle of poverty and academic failure in Charlotte.
Leaders of foundations, charities and government agencies that work with education and poverty met to talk about the Harlem Children's Zone, a long-running quest to transform the lives of kids in one of New York City's poorest neighborhoods.
They prepared by reading Paul Tough's “Whatever It Takes,” an account of founder Geoffrey Canada's vision, which starts with teaching parents better ways to raise their kids and offers support and incentives all through childhood.
“In our office, ‘Whatever It Takes' started quite a buzz,” said Brett Loftis, executive director of the Council for Children's Rights. “What Geoffrey Canada has been able to do in Harlem, it seems that many of us have talked about for most of our careers.”
Canada, who originally emerged as a national leader against youth violence, launched the Children's Zone in 1997 to serve a 24-block area. Now the turf is near 100 blocks, and the offerings include education for expectant parents, preschool, health services, charter schools and tutoring.
The project inspired then-presidential candidate Barack Obama to pledge to replicate it in 20 “Promise Neighborhoods” around the nation. The U.S. Department of Education hopes to award planning grants in 2010.
Participants who accepted a July invitation from the nonprofit Mecklenburg Citizens for Public Education (MeckEd) to read the book showed up shaking off chilly rain.
“If it had been a hurricane, I would have been out here this morning,” said Michael Marsicano, president of the Foundation for the Carolinas.
Leaders in Charlotte have long talked about uniting the groups that help families and kids. Schools, charities and government agencies often work together. But no one has yet brought about the kind of ambitious vision Canada has.
“We're taking very fragile neighborhoods and asking them to fix themselves,” said Mary Wilson, Director of the Mecklenburg County Department of Social Services. “We're not really surrounding them with the right kind of resources.”
Marsicano said he was struck by a Canada quote from the book: “For me, the big question in America is: Are we going to try to make this country a true meritocracy? Or will we forever have a class of people in America who essentially won't be able to compete because the game is fixed against them?”
Canada's approach is to motivate parents and students to adopt more successful approaches, on a wide enough scale to flip the neighborhood's culture from one of resignation and failure to one of achievement.
That should appeal in Charlotte, Marsicano said: “If Charlotte is anything, it is a meritocracy. It is in our DNA.”
But the book highlights challenges as well as inspiration, many said. Canada, an African American who grew up in poverty, has an unusual ability to reach both impoverished families and the millionaires who support the Children's Zone. His backers have demanded results but tolerated setbacks, including low test scores in Children's Zone schools.
Charlotte, some said, lacks one obvious leader and can be impatient when results don't come quickly.
“I don't know that we need a Geoffrey Canada,” Wilson said, “because sometimes what happens, it becomes that person's mission rather than the community's mission.”
“There are tons of (leaders) here,” said Willie Ratchford, Charlotte-Mecklenburg's community relations director. “They're just working on very small scales.”
Loftis and Kathy Ridge, executive director of MeckEd, said they'll talk to key figures to follow up on Monday's talk.
“This is not the solution session,” Loftis told the group. “This is the beginning.”
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Sources: Charlotte Observer, Google Maps
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