This week’s theme on the radio show “This American Life” www.thisamericanlife.org is about “Going Big.” Ira Glass, the host of the show, profiles three stories about people and programs that take grand, sweeping approaches to solving problems.
The first story is about the Harlem Children’s Zone www.hcz.org and the goal to address poverty through early childhood education in Harlem. The scope of this program is to reach almost every child living in 97 inner city blocks within Harlem – that’s around 10,000 kids. One of the BHAGS (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) is to make sure that every child graduates from high school and college – that is awesome!
The core of this program is to get young Harlem parents to attend Baby College. Why, because scientist have concluded that the most effective time to intervene in the lives of economically challenged kids is between the ages of 0-3. And the best people to intervene are their parents.
One of the things that they teach parents during Baby College is that a key factor in determining your child’s success later in school is tied to language. The sheer number of words that you speak and read to your child between the ages of 0-3 has a profound impact on their future success in school.
If you want to learn more about the Harlem Children’s Zone you can also read the book – Whatever It takes: Geoffrey Canada’s Quest to Change Harlem and America – http://bit.ly/k3MfE.
