The Harlem Children’s Zone

The Harlem Children's Zone, which was originally known as the Rheedlen Foundation, is a school organization that was introduced in the year 1970.

The reason for introducing the organization was to put off absenteeism which was common in Harlem. The organization opened the Countee Cullen Community Center in 1991. The center initiated activities that could be accessed by the children during the nights, weekends and summers. The school organization has been advanced such that, it has integrated teachers assistants called the Peacemakers who are able to maintain livelihood, safety in the classrooms and effectiveness (Palfrey, 2006). Harlem children Zone's has also networked other programs, which services more than 6'000 adults and 8,000 children.

Various programs have been started through the years to speak about the difficulties faced by the poor families such as failure to attend schools, breakdown of apartments, aggressive crimes and matters related to health. The organization started offering services which included parenting seminars and workshops, pre-schooling, and programs on obesity.The organization had targeted to destroy the succession of poverty for both children and adults in Harlem. The Promise Academy is one of the most outstanding programs that were introduced by the Harlem Children's Zone. It is a high quality licensed communal school. The main objective for the creation of the school was to give to children a high quality public education, and unlike private schools, there were no payments.

The admission process was done fairly whereby the game of chance (lottery) system was used to admit students. The promise Academy school formed other to constituent schools and the students have comprehended their school days hence a comprehended school year. The comprehension enables them to have enough time they require to master the school curriculum (Palfrey, 2006). The schools also added a health clinic which provided free medication and dental care to students in 2006. The eals prepared were from fresh foods. However, the organization has weakness.

One of them is that many tutors have missed their employment as a result of low students' academic performance.Mr. Canada was born and brought up in the South Bronx; in a poor and violent neighborhood. Despite the unwelcoming state of his environment, he managed to succeed in his studies and received a bachelor's degree, then master's degree from Harvard University. He had a passion in raising awareness on education for children. Mr.

Canada devoted himself by helping unfortunate children to have the chance to get a quality education regardless of their conditions or income in Harlem, and help them succeed in unexpected ways.Mr. Canada is nationally known for his revolutionary work of assisting children and families and as a zealous supporter for education development. He was made the President and Chief Executive Officer of Harlem Children's Zone in 1990 which was taken as the most striving social experiments of that time. He is said to be a role model nationally.He is also an author, and one of his books is that of "Fist Stick Knife Gun".

In his writings, he drew upon his own childhood experiences and at Harlem Children's Zone. He received Heinz Award because of his service to the disadvantaged children and families.The abbreviation KIPP refers to Knowledge Is power Program introduced in 1994 by Dave Levin and Mike Feinberg. Just like HCZ, It is a free program which aimed at helping the disadvantaged families and communities nationally and has become the principal school operator under the public school in the United States.

Like HCZ, the school believes that there are no short cuts hence students should spend more time in class, complete full school curriculum, have prominent educators, and aim of achievement. This will help the disadvantaged widen their knowledge, abilities and personality needed for success. The admission criterion is not based on students' prior academic account, behavior or background. Most students also entitled to the subsidized meal initiative. KIPP is also a public school. Additionally, they have other activities such as extracurricular activities.

Students are given pay-check as a token towards good behavior, and academic performance. Teachers discuss with parents what is required of students unlike in HCZ; KIPP schools tend to have low attention of special education and students with limited English proficiency (Tough, 2009).KIPP is in the course of creating new high schools all over the nation. Students from established KIPP middle schools will have a chance to go to these high schools.

These high schools will maintain KIPP's values, which are determined to provide an accurate college-preparatory curriculum that supports growing degrees of self-governing responsibility and for learning.Mr. Feinberg and Mr. Levin are the co-founders and superintendent of KIPP Houston and New York respectively in 1994. Feinberg graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1991 and joined Teach for America, where he became the fifth grade bilingual teacher. Levin graduated from Yale University and like Feinberg, he joined 'Teach for America' where he taught the fifth grade.

He went on to establish KIPP Academy New York. Like Mr. Canada, both Levin and Feinberg were awarded to leading societal entrepreneurs with pioneering solution and potentials to transform patterns across society while Levin was rewarded The Thomas B. Fordham Prize for high performance in Education.In conclusion, both HCZ and KIPP initiative have a significantly positive impact in the society. Though they have weaknesses, their strengths are much heavier and felt.

It is, therefore, upon all the people to consider helping the vulnerable in society (Tough, 2009). We need to be passionate and associate with them despite their background and level of income. People should get serious in education in order to achieve their goals. Therefore, education is the key to success.