Rheedlen Centers For Children And Families
Helping Harlem Families Thrive
In 1970, the Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families opened in Harlem with the goal of reducing truancy from schools. Guided by community residents themselves, Rheedlen now fights to keep families intact-and kids engaged-one block at a time.
For children to succeed, the Rheedlen Centers staff has found that families need to be connected to each other-and to a broader community that can provide economic and social support.
"Rheedlen's core mission is strengthening poor families in our targeted communities, essentially Central Harlem," said Geoffrey Canada, Rheedlen's president/CEO. "We learned that we have to work with whole communities so they can support children, not be the barrier that children must overcome."
Schools become family centers
For 30 years, Rheedlen has been committed to the belief that staying in school is a powerful way to improve the future for young people. According to Canada, schools are the best places to intervene early to resolve child abuse and neglect. Extending the positive role that schools can play, Rheedlen has also taken on the management of the Beacons program at Countee Cullen, a New York City public school. Through the city-wide Beacons program, schools become recreation and social-service centers for the whole family, open seven days a week, 13 hours a day. A full array of free educational and vocational activities support youth and family development, and community members come together for community meetings and social activities. Rheedlen also operates more traditional after-school programs in four other public schools.
A key factor in Rheedlen's success is its ability to link its own support to preventive services aimed at keeping families intact. "Central Harlem has one of the highest referral rates to foster care in the state," said Canada. "Inexperienced and very young parents often make the wrong decisions about whether they can work and care for their children, sometimes leaving very young children alone. We combine counseling with an infrastructure of support and work with families to identify problems while they are still minor."
Other services offered by Rheedlen include the Family Support Center, which offers walk-in crisis support and prevention programs; the Baby College, which bolsters parenting skills and provides access to health care; and the Harlem Employment and Technology Center, which provides local residents with computer training and access to e-mail and the Internet.
Starting with the possible
In 1997, Rheedlen launched the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) with the ambitious goal of creating positive opportunities and outcomes for children in one specific area of Harlem. "Because we know we cannot comprehensively address the needs of all children in Harlem, we start with what is possible," said Canada.
What is possible turns out to be a 23-block area in which all of Rheedlen's programs are connected. HCZ makes basic supports available, offering educational, cultural, and social-services supports to children and their families as well as job training and access to technology.
To create positive change and tangible impact, Rheedlen believes collaboration is the key. "We really believe the future of the work we do in poor communities is going to be based on our ability to work with other organizations that have similar missions," said Canada. "We looked for block associations and tenant organizations, but they didn't exist. We helped form them because those organizations keep communities cleaner, stronger, and safer. Children cannot thrive and learn when they fear for their safety."
Canada, the acclaimed author of Fist Stick Knife Gun and Reaching Up for Manhood, summed up the vision that drives Rheedlen, saying "if we're going to convince today's urban youth that a disadvantaged background does not dictate defeat," said Canada, "this is where we're going to do it-right here in their neighborhoods. We must give them real role models and real heroes-the successful, educated men and women who live in their communities, shop at their stores, and ride the buses and subways along with them."