The statistics are staggering: Only 7 percent of black eighth graders perform at grade level in math, there is a 33-percent chance that a black boy born in 2001 will go to prison and 60 percent of black, male, high-school dropouts have spent time in prison.
But according to New York Times Magazine editor Paul Tough, there is reason to be optimistic about the future of America's black youth.
In a talk last night at the Penn Bookstore, Tough presented that reason - the Harlem Children's Zone, a nonprofit organization created by Geoffrey Canada that provides social and educational programs for children and families living in Harlem.
"So far, the results are really impressive," Tough said. "[HCZ] third graders scored above New York City and New York State averages on standardized tests."
Tough was on campus to promote his new book, Whatever it Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America.
The book, which began as an article for the Times Magazine, is an in-depth look at the different stages a child goes through at HCZ: Baby College for new and expecting parents, The Three-Year-Old Journey for parents of toddlers, pre-K programs for kids not yet in school and a charter school for children grades K-12. The idea is to put kids on a "conveyor belt" of support that takes them all the way through college, Tough said.
Tough said, for him, the most compelling part of the process is Baby College, the program for young parents.
"I heard a lot of stories that opened my eyes in terms of what parents [in Harlem] are going through," he said. "What struck me was the degree to which all of these parents ... were eager to learn" once they started the program.
Baby College also resonated with David Weinreb, a College senior who works for the Netter Center as a program coordinator for programs at Sayre High School in West Philadelphia. He brought three of these high school students with him to the event.
"I think the Baby College part is really important," he said. "You have to recognize that such a crucial piece of education reform is having the parents on board."
HCZ has attracted praise from the highest of offices: President Barack Obama has called it "an all-encompassing, all-hands-on-deck, anti-poverty effort that is literally saving a generation of children." He plans to create 20 "Promise Neighborhoods" across the nation, to be modeled after HCZ.
"There is a model here that can work and be adapted in other places," Tough said. "My hope is that other people building on what [Canada] has done will be able to meet [his] success and surpass it."
