When I followed some of the outside links for Harlem Children’s Zone it lead me to the Harlem Children’s Zone College Success Office. This office assists the students who have graduated from high school to enroll in appropriate colleges. It not only assists them in getting in the colleges it also helps them throughout their college years (http://www.hcz.org). Statistics from the Harlem Children’s Zone shows that over 642 of the students who attended the after school programs enrolled in college (http://www.hcz.org).
In my search the one area that I have admired the most is the Early Childhood programs and how they recognized the importance of the first three years of a child’s life and how critical it is to their development (http://www.hcz.org). They have three fantastic programs for early childhood education. The first one is the Baby College. This program has workshops for expected parents and those that may be raising children up to age three (3) (http://www.hcz.org). This is a way for expected parents to gain knowledge about parenting before their babies are born. All of these services are free of charge to all communities (http://www.hcz.org).
The second program is the Three Year Old Journey. This program assists parents on Saturday’s for several months. It focuses on child development, language building skills, and parenting skills (http://www.hcz.org). The third program is the Harlem Gems. This program is designed to prepare pre-kindergarteners for kindergarten. The classes teach English, Spanish, and French. This program includes 3 sites which serve 200 children. It seems to me that the HCZ places a lot of focus on the Early Childhood programs because they know that the returns will be worth every effort they put forth to educate the children.
I applied for the newsletter but I have not received any correspondence back from the HCZ. Each time I have checked the newsletter sign-in I get a message that states that it takes 2-3 business days for the process to be completed. I am still hopeful. The website does contain information that adds to my understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education because it provides education, social-services, and community building programs to children and their families. The three barriers that we have discussed in this week’s assignment Awareness, Accessibility, and Responsiveness are barriers that the HCZ are eliminating on a daily basis.
Each time I view the Harlem Children’s Zone website I gain new knowledge as it pertains to the early childhood field. This week I was overwhelmed when I read about Harlem’s Single Stop program. This program brings about awareness concerning people, securing benefits, access to legal guidance, and even domestic violence. These sessions are one-on-one sessions (http://www.hcz.org).
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Sharon the Harlem Children’s Zone is tremendously honorable for helping over 642 children attend colleges and universities. With the increasing retention high school drop out rates across America struggling families are in desperate need of organizations like this give back and contribute to next generations of mankind. Manifestation of academic excellence is the key to having a successful life, guaranteeing a stable economy and overall productive society.
ReplyDeleteSharon,
ReplyDeleteI am always intrigued by the information that you provide about Harlem Children's Zone. Your comment about the returns of investing in early care and education being worth all of the tremendous effort is spot on. Introducing and sustaining effective programs such as these can offer a great deal of hope to families who experience daily hardship. While sometimes it can be incredibly challenging to overcome whatever adversity one might be facing at any given time, a positive attitude and some support behind you can go a long way. Thank you again for sharing!
Hi Sharon, thank you for sharing such great information from the Harlem Children's Zone! There are so many useful and practical resources available to parents and children. What I really like is that they don't forget about children as they transitions into the teen and adult years. I commend them for that as so many programs don't offer assistance for adults. I love the fact that they help students who have just graduated from high school to apply to appropriate colleges. This shows that they truly care!!
ReplyDeleteI also love how they help to prepare mothers with the knowledge they need before their babies are born. That is when you need the information!
You have made me really interested in learning more about this website and the varying resources and programs they offer for not only parents and children, but adults as well.
Thank you for sharing!
Take care,
Stephanie