Harlem Children’s Zone Project inspires St. Paul (And AmeriCorps is part of the solution)

I read once that eliminating poverty is not possible by tackling one problem at a time, but that services for housing, health, education, crime prevention, etc need all to be provided as a package.

The Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) thought the same thing years ago. As crime, drugs and violence ripped through Harlem in the 80s and 90s, families disintegrated and hope was lost to the wind. HCZ responded by opening a community center, adding AmeriCorps members to classrooms and after school programs, and piloting a novel project: addressing a laundry list of low-income families’ needs all at once…on one city block.

Today, the HCZ Project has grown to nearly 100 city blocks, and inspired St. Paul City Council member Melvin Carter and mayor Chris Coleman to go take a look. This year, they are excited about proposed moving and shaking at a St. Paul elementary school.

Carter says that Harlem has “gotten where they are by really supporting parents, not just supporting individual children, by giving the families the resources to be successful as well as a neighborhood that is moving in a positive direction.”

Maxfield Elementary, where six Reading Corps members are serving this year, has been stubbornly low performing, with only 1/3 of students last year scoring proficient on the MCA IIs.

Maxfield Principal Stachel says, "The bottom line is a whole lot of great things are going on here." Maxfield officially is being termed a “turnaround school”, which means more funding can come in. That, plus the momentum toward imitating HCZ to support the Summit-University communities, means change is in the air. And Reading Corps is there to see it!