The Harlem Children's Zone Project has made steady progress in reaching our goals since we began in 1997. The development of strong partnerships with parents, residents, teachers and other key stakeholders is creating a safe, nurturing environment for youth. Working in collaboration with the churches, parks, local businesses and schools, the Harlem Children's Zone Project has developed programs and activities that help children and families address the issues of failing school and unsafe streets while undertaking the challenge of rebuilding this Central Harlem community. Some of our accomplishments to date include:

The Baby College

The Harlem Children's Zone Project is designed to support children's intellectual, emotional and physical growth from the time their parents are pregnant until they head off to college or the labor market. We believe the earlier a child is touched by sound health care, intellectual and social stimulation, and consistent guidance from loving, attentive adults, the more likely that child will be to grow into a responsible and fulfilled member of the community. The Baby College is a program that addresses the needs of children between the ages of 0 to 3, and is a critical piece of our early intervention work.

• The Baby College is a nine-week series of workshops offered to parents of children between the ages of 0-3. Between 45-60 parents attend each semester. Dr. T. Berry Brazelton has helped design the curriculum and train staff in child development. Parents are divided into groups according to the ages of their children, which enables Baby College instructors to teach parents about the specific stages of child development that their child is experiencing and what to expect next. As a follow-up to the classes, outreach workers organize monthly get-togethers for graduates to help parents to form special relationships with other parents in the community while gaining valuable child health information.

Harlem Gems

In September 2001, the Harlem Children's Zone launched the Harlem Gems, a universal pre-kindergarten program for 40 four-year-olds. By hiring licensed teachers and AmeriCorps-sponsored workers we call Peacemakers, we have created an adult to child ratio of 1:4. These staff are trained by renowned pediatrician-author Dr. T. Berry Brazelton.

Peacemakers

The School Success Program places over 90 AmeriCorps-funded Peacemakers in classrooms and after-school programs at five public elementary schools in the Harlem Children's Zone Project (PS 76, PS 149, PS 154, PS 197 and PS 242). Peacemakers also operate Summer Enrichment programs at five Harlem Children's Zone Project elementary schools providing hundreds of children in grades K-2 with a literacy-based experience during the summer months. The program recently expanded to PS 154 and PS 197, which serves a large number of childen in our northern expansion.

• With the assistance of Harlem Children's Zone's Peacemakers, The Knight's School, the Harlem Children's Zone Chess program, continued throughout the school year and began local tournament play. The twice-weekly sessions attracts 30-45 children each week. In 2004, the chess team from PS 242 tied for fourth place in the national championships.

The Employment and Technology Center

In March 1999, the Employment and Technology Center opened at 170 Lenox Avenue. The Technology Center provides computer classes to youth and adults in the Zone, offers computer access in our Community Room to and collaborates with the Peacemakers and the elementary schools to provide classes for children between the ages of 5-12. The Employment Center, which began with a program for adults, has changed its focus to youth employment. The Center was awarded a grant from the New York City Department of Employment to expand its youth program. The Job Center for Youth Program provides 50 youth between 14-18 with year-round employment training, internships, summer employment, academic support and job placement.

TRUCE
(The Renaissance University for Community Education)

TRUCE, a comprehensive youth development program for 200 adolescents between the ages of 12-19, fosters academic growth and career readiness through the innovative use of the arts, media literacy, health and multimedia technology. Each year TRUCE helps seniors graduate on time and get admitted to college. The majority of TRUCE seniors pass the high school Regents exam. TRUCE outperforms the NYC averages of graduation rate and entrance into a 2 or 4-year college. In 2004, all 16 of TRUCE's high-school seniors applied to college and 13 were accepted to schools, including Yale, Harvard, Vassar, Bowdoin, Penn State, SUNY Albany, SUNY Purchase, Morhouse and Morgan State. Through a variety of hands-on, youth directed projects, young people participate in creating an award-winning cable TV program ("The Real Deal") that features poetry, video dramas and documentaries; creating community murals and gardens; publishing a quarterly newspaper (Harlem Overheard); and receiving academic support with an intensive college preparatory approach (The Insight Center).

"The Real Deal" has produced numerous award-winning videos including two that were featured at the Sundance Film Festival and one that was featured at the Whitney Museum.

TRUCE Fitness & Nutrition Center

Conceived by community youth to promote health and wellness in their neighborhood, TFNC has been recruiting middle and high school students to play a role in developing the center and programming. Youth Managers provide weekly presentations (Motivation Mondays) at the TFNC that are open to the general public and address health related issues that are known to have an impact on the residents of the HCZ.

Truce Fitness and Nutrition Center provides free services to Harlem residents, which includes martial arts, fitness and nutrition training and assessment, dance and aerobics. In addition, their goals are to promote awareness of such issues as sexually transmitted diseases, smoking, substance abuse, and violence.

Community Pride

Community Pride works with Harlem residents to stabilize city-owned housing and small private home ownership; improve the physical environment and increase resident leadership and involvement in the community. Community Pride's neighborhood revitalization program has created over 260 tenant owned apartments since 1993. In addition, Community Pride collaborates residents to coordinate volunteer efforts, manage their buildings, facilitate meetings, organize tenants, and develop block associations.

Community Pride and TRUCE have collaborated on several projects that combine neighborhood beautification, community service and intergenerational learning. These projects include producing a documentary about 125th St., developing a public service advertising campaign entitled: "Learning from the Past to Prepare for the Future", and creating community murals.

Family Support Center

Family Support Center (FSC) serves families in Central Harlem from our walk-in storefront facility at Lenox Avenue and 119th Street. and offers families in crisis immediate access to professional social services including foster care prevention, domestic violence workshops and parenting skills classes (at The Baby College). The Family Empowerment Program, located at the Family Support Center, augments the work of FSC by providing short-term crisis services to 150 families. The Family Empowerment Program provides home-based supportive counseling, as well as individual and family therapy, a parenting group and an anger management group. They also provide an array of referrals and advocacy for clients.

SMART
(Shaping Minds Around Reading and Technology)

SMART uses trained staff and computer literacy programs to offer students individualized comprehensive support during in-school and after-school hours, reinforcing the school day learning. While we recognize that computers will never replace good teaching and a well-rounded curriculum, Harlem Children's Zone uses the most effective technology available to support children in mastering the complexities of reading fundamentals. The SMART program is available at PS 76, PS 149, PS 154, PS 197, PS 242, PS 94/Countee Cullen Beacon, MS 54/Booker T. Washington Beacon, HCZ's Employment and Technology Center and HCZ's Harlem Gems program.

5th Grade Institute

In order to help children meet the challenges of entering middle school, HCZ created the 5th Grade Institute, which helps students develop their academic, leadership and social skills. The after-school program is held five days a week, from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. at PS 76, PS 149, PS 154, PS 194 and PS 242.

Asthma Initiative

HCZ has launched the Harlem Children's Zone Asthma Initiative along with Harlem Hospital's Department of Pediatrics, Columbia University's Harlem Health Promotion Center, Touchpoints, and the New York City Department of Health. HCZ Project programs such as Peacemakers, Harlem Gems and Baby College, are working with Harlem Hospital staff throughout the year to screen all Harlem Children's Zone Project children between the ages of 0-12 for asthma.

The Initiative's screening indicated that almost one-third of children in the HCZ Project have asthma. In contrast, the national rate is 5-7 percent.

To address this health crisis among children, the HCZ Asthma Initiative has designed a holistic response. Community workers from Harlem Hospital have begun comprehensive home visits to conduct individual assessments and provide services to families with asthma. The home visit includes an assessment of the adequacy of existing primary care and asthma medication (in collaboration with clinical staff), and provision of a full range of environmental, social, educational and medical interventions when indicated. The HCZ Asthma Initiative seeks to improve day-to-day health, reduce school absenteeism, emergency room visits and asthma-related hospitalizations. As part of the asthma program, we have created the Breathe-Free Initiative, which works to help adult smokers who live with asthmatic children to quit smoking.