Nonprofit Spotlight: The Harlem Children's Zone

Today I ran across my inspiration for the Rock for Hunger Tutors & Meals Children’s Program. It’s the Harlem Children’s Zone in Harlem, NY. This great organization knows how to grab poverty by its roots and yank it out of people’s lives! They offer programs from pre-K to College, to families, and to expecting mothers. This organization is just amazing. They served over 10,800 of the youth in Harlem. Some of their programs include Beacon Centers, Foster Prevention Programs, and Baby College programs. The Beacon Centers take over the buildings of the schools in Harlem and turn them into community centers in after hours. This community centers offer afternoon, evening, weekend, and summer programs to help keep kids off the streets and in a safe positive environment. The Foster Prevention Program works with parents that may be loosing their children, and helps them prevent having their children end up in the foster system. Then another fascinating program is the Baby College program. This program is designed for expecting parents, and to help assist them to provide the best childhood for their children to help them break the cycle of poverty.


Poverty gets passed along from generation to generation, and it takes extreme measures to break the cycle. A child growing up in poverty has a 90% chance to continue on in that cycle for the rest of their lives, and their children’s lives. When growing up in a less fortunate lifestyle, puts all the odds against you. Parents don’t have the resources, education, or the finances to help prevent this cycle, and unwillingly and unfortunately pass it along to their children. Programs like the Harlem Children’s Zone are absolutely amazing, and should be strongly encouraged in cities across the United States. It’s a shame that in one of the richest countries in the world 1 out of 5 individuals are living in poverty, and 25% of those individuals are our children.