Geoffrey Canada | |
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Born | Bronx, NY, U.S. | January 13, 1952
Education | Bowdoin College (BA) Harvard University (MEd) |
Geoffrey Canada (born January 13, 1952) is an American educator, social activist and author. Since 1990, Canada has been president of the Harlem Children's Zone in Harlem, New York, an organization that states its goal is to increase high school and college graduation rates among students in Harlem. [1] This initiative serves a 97-block area of Harlem replete with at-risk children. [2] Canada serves as the chairman of Children's Defense Fund's board of directors. [3] He was a member of the board of directors of The After-School Corporation, a nonprofit organization that aims to expand educational opportunities for all students. Canada's recommendation for educational reform is to start early using wide-ranging strategies and never give up.[ citation needed ]
Canada was born in the South Bronx, the third of four sons born to Mary Elizabeth Canada ( née Williams), a substance abuse counselor, and McAlister Canada. [4] [5] [6] The marriage of his parents ended in 1956; he was raised by his mother. His father played little part in the life of his children and did not contribute to their financial support. [7] Canada was raised among "abandoned houses, crime, violence and an all-encompassing sense of chaos and disorder".
When Canada was in his mid-teens, his mother sent him to live with her parents in Wyandanch, New York. [7] He attended Wyandanch Memorial High School. During his senior year, he won a scholarship from the Fraternal Order of Masons. [7]
He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology and sociology from Bowdoin College, from which he graduated in 1974, and a master's degree in education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Canada's brother Derrick Canada was a Harlem Globetrotters player. [8]
In 1990, Canada began working with the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families as its president. Unsatisfied with the scope of Rheedlen, Canada transformed the organization into the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ), a center which followed the academic careers of youths in a 24-block area of Harlem. The area of focus has grown to 97 blocks in the ensuing years. Canada served as president and CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone until July 2014, when the position went to Chief Operating Officer Anne Williams-Isom. [9]
The Harlem Children's Zone was profiled in the New York Times Magazine during 2004 in a story by Paul Tough. The author described the organization as "one of the biggest social experiments of our time". [10] In 2008, Tough published a book entitled, Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America. [11] Additionally, U.S. News & World Report named Canada one of America's Best Leaders in its October 2005 issue.
Canada has made a number of high-profile television appearances, including a profile interview on 60 Minutes , [12] two televised interviews with Charlie Rose, [13] a guest appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show , a guest appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon , and three appearances on the Colbert Report . [14] [15] In 2010, Canada appeared in an American Express commercial that premiered during the Academy Awards. The commercial provided an extended look at his work and success at the Harlem Children's Zone. [16]
In 2009, U.S. President Barack Obama announced plans to replicate the HCZ model in 20 other cities across the nation. [17]
Canada is featured prominently in Waiting for Superman (2010), Academy Award-winner Davis Guggenheim's documentary on the state of American public education. The film received the Audience Award for best documentary at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. [18]
Canada was offered the position of New York City Schools Chancellor by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, but he declined the job. [19]
In 2013, Canada toured college campuses with Stanley Druckenmiller urging reform in taxation, health care, and Social Security to ensure intergenerational equity. [20]
In July 2013, The New Yorker Festival released a video entitled Geoffrey Canada on Giving Voice to the Have-nots, of a panel that was moderated by George Packer. Along with Canada, the panelists included Abhijit Banerjee, Katherine Boo, and Jose Antonio Vargas. [21]
Canada's first book, Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence in America , was first released in 1995. In the book, Canada recounts his exposure to violence during his childhood and offers a series of recommendations on how to alleviate violence in inner cities. In the mid 2000s (decade), Beacon Press began considering publishing an alternate graphic novel version. Illustrator Jamar Nicholas and editor Allison Trzop created Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence (A True Story in Black and White), which was released in stores on September 14, 2010. [22]
Publishers Weekly praised Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, commenting that "[a] more powerful depiction of the tragic life of urban children and a more compelling plea to end 'America's war against itself' cannot be imagined." [23]
In 1998, Canada published his second book, Reaching Up For Manhood: Transforming the Lives of Boys in America. [24]
Geoffrey Canada was chosen by Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York in 2006 to serve as co-chair of the Commission on Economic Opportunity tasked to formulate a scheme that would considerably trim down poverty. In 2011, he was selected to join the New York State Governor's Council of Economic and Fiscal Advisers. He is also an adviser to and board member of many non-profit entities. [35]
Eliezer "Elie" Wiesel was a Romanian-born American writer, professor, political activist, Nobel laureate, and Holocaust survivor. He authored 57 books, written mostly in French and English, including Night, a work based on his experiences as a Jewish prisoner in the Auschwitz and Buchenwald concentration camps.
Wyandanch is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York. The population was 12,990 at the 2020 census.
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The Harlem Globetrotters are an American exhibition basketball team. They combine athleticism, theater, entertainment, and comedy in their style of play. Over the years, they have played more than 26,000 exhibition games in 124 countries and territories, mostly against deliberately ineffective opponents, such as the Washington Generals and the New York Nationals (1995–2015). The team's signature song is Brother Bones' whistled version of "Sweet Georgia Brown", and their mascot is an anthropomorphized globe named "Globie". The team is owned by Herschend Family Entertainment.
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Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for civil rights and children's rights. She is the founder and president emerita of the Children's Defense Fund. She influenced leaders such as Martin Luther King Jr.
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Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) is a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization based in New York City. Founded by Geoffrey Canada and led by its current CEO, Kwame Owusu-Kesse, HCZ pioneered the model of place-based, cradle-to-career services that empower young people and families from under-resourced backgrounds to achieve life-changing social and economic mobility.
Paul Tough is a Canadian-American writer and broadcaster. He is best known for authoring the works Whatever It Takes: Geoffrey Canada's Quest to Change Harlem and America and How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character.
Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence is a memoir by American social activist Geoffrey Canada. Beacon Press published the book on January 31, 1995.
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Jamar Nicholas is an African American cartoonist, graphic novelist, and educator based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He is known for original graphic novel, Leon: Protector of the Playground, and his graphic novel adaptation of Fist, Stick, Knife, Gun, a memoir written by African American social activist Geoffrey Canada in 1995. Nicholas's work discusses topics such as bullying and violence while providing alternative, positive portrayals of black individuals.