Harlem Children’s Zone, Inc. (HCZ) is a multi-site, multi-program community organization that provides a unique and comprehensive interlocking network of education, social and health services, and recreation to more than 26,000 children and adults in Central Harlem. Many of the children HCZ works with go to public schools and attend its engaging after-school programs. Whether in its Promise Academy charter schools or public schools, HCZ’s high standards and expectations are the same for all its children—ensuring that all of them are on track to attend college and successfully graduate. HCZ’s overarching goal is to create a "tipping point" in the neighborhood so that an enriching environment of college-oriented peers and supportive adults surrounds children. Nationally and internationally recognized for its early and progressive intervention programs, HCZ has been lauded by The New York Times as “one of the most ambitious social-policy experiments of our time.”

The ...