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Lecture Series presents Geoffrey Canada: "Improving the Lives of Children, One Poor Child at a Time"

02/21/2012

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Geoffrey Canada

School reformer Geoffrey Canada, founder and president of Harlem Children's Zone, will present "Improving the Lives of Children, One Poor Child at a Time" at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 27, at Hall Auditorium. His talk is part of Miami University's 2011-2012 Lecture Series.

Canada is nationally recognized for his pioneering work helping children and families in Harlem and as an advocate for education reform. Since 1990 he has been the president and chief executive officer for Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), which The New York Times Magazine called “one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time.”

The Harlem Children’s Zone Project, launched in 1997, targets a specific geographic area in Central Harlem with a comprehensive range of services. It combines educational, social and medical services for children from birth to college. The Zone Project today covers 100 blocks and has served approximately 10,000 children.

The work of Canada and HCZ has become a national model — the template for President Barack Obama’s Promise Neighborhoods program — and has been the subject of many profiles in the media.

Canada was named one of “America's Best Leaders” by U.S. News and World Report in 2005, and in October he was named one of the 2011 TIME 100 “most influential people in the world.” Arne Duncan, U.S. Secretary of Education, has said that Canada, “has shown time and again that education is the surest path out of poverty. The Harlem Children’s Zone Project, which he founded, provides a cradle-to-career continuum of high-quality neighborhood schools and support services for disadvantaged children. It’s based on the simple idea that you cannot divorce where kids live from where they learn.”

Canada has received numerous education awards and honorary degrees, and in March he will receive the second Harvard Graduate School of Education Medal for Education Impact.

The lecture is free, but tickets are required due to limited seating. Free tickets will be available at the box office in Shriver Center beginning Wednesday, Feb. 22, for the Miami community and Friday, Feb. 24, for the general public.

For more information go to www.muohio.edu/lecture.