Geoffrey Canada - Bringing the American Dream to Children through Powerful Opportunity

Educators have the power to change the lives of the students they work with – but they also work within a system. That means there are also opportunities to change that system to make it work better for the educators and students it serves.

That’s the mission of Geoffrey Canada, renowned thought leader, activist and advocate for education reform. Three decades ago, Canada founded the Harlem Children’s Zone, touted by the New York Times as “one of the most ambitious social-policy experiments of our time.”

According to the Harlem Children’s Zone website, the Zone was created with a clear mission – “to end intergenerational poverty in Central Harlem and lead the way for other long-distressed communities nationwide and around the world to do the same.”

That mission has been brought to life through opportunities. Early childhood, education and career programs, community outreach, wellness initiatives and more have helped provide clearer pathways toward “mobility and prosperity.”

That vision aligns with the goal Canada said he’s built his life and career around, and he spent this episode of Change Starts Here’s You First Summer Series exploring that mission with host Dustin Odham.

“I have always been passionate about trying to bring the American dream to children who grow up in places where that dream seems to have disappeared,” he said.