Creating a Village that Nurtures Children at the Harlem Children’s Zone

This chapter focuses on some key ways that Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) works to create a village that supports the development of its youth. These strategies include community building, creating and strengthening parent networks, operating as an economic engine, and maintaining a continuing focus on safety. HCZ places so much importance on neighborhood change that the organization has created a redundant system that ensures that this work occurs: HCZ's Community Pride program was designed to engage neighbors and local institutions in working together to develop a community that supports the healthy development of children, and the individual programs in the pipeline each incorporate a mandate to foster collaboration and connection that plays out in a lot of ways. HCZ recognized to the necessity of involving the community in the identification of neighborhood problems and the creation of solutions. HCZ reached out to the residents of New York City Housing Authority housing and started to fold them into the HCZ family.