Improving Education for Children
Loyola University Chicago School of Law recently hosted an interdisciplinary educational forum that discussed best practices for combating poverty and improving educational outcomes for children in Chicago.
The forum, which included a keynote address by author and former New York Times magazine editor Paul Tough (pictured left), explored the The Harlem Children’s Zone approach to inner city education, as well as addressed the recent plans by the Obama administration to offer new funding to replicate twenty "Promise Neighborhoods" throughout the country.
The Harlem Children's Zone ("HCZ"), Geoffrey Canada's cutting edge approach to inner city education on which Tough's best selling book Whatever It Takes, Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem in America is based, boasts a record of raising academic achievement by creating a safety net for poor children. The HCZ program model offers a range of "cradle to college" services within a limited 100-city-block neighborhood of Harlem, including prenatal education for parents, early childhood parenting workshops, all-day pre-kindergarten, charter school education, after-school programs, and support for students once they enter college. The HCZ model has been hailed as "the most ambitious social experiment to alleviate poverty of our time."
The Obama administration recently announced plans to offer $210 million in new funding to replicate twenty Promise Neighborhoods throughout the country, with $10 million for planning grants already appropriated. Woodlawn, Logan Square, and Chicago Lawn communities are considered frontrunners as potential Promise Neighborhoods in Chicago. Several other organizations throughout metro-Chicago are also interested in replicating the HCZ model via Promise Neighborhood grants.
Tough and the panel of Chicago experts discussed the potential impact of a Promise Neighborhood in Chicago, how to improve on the HCZ model, as well as addressed issues that distinguish Chicago from Harlem and other communities seeking to create a "Children's Zone." Expert panelists included Loyola law alumnus Azim Ramelize, Chicago Dept. of Children and Youth Services; Chris Brown, Local Initiatives Support Corporation; Dr. Bradley Stolbach, La Rabida Children's Hospital; and Barbara Bowman, Chief Officer, Early Education, Chicago Public Schools.
