March 28, 2005
Harlem activist Geoffrey Canada to speak
at UCSC April 12
By Jennifer McNulty
A tireless community activist, Geoffrey Canada has been described
as "the brother who never left the hood because he
keeps looking into the faces of the children and seeing himself
there."
Geoffrey Canada is president of the Harlem Children's Zone.
Photo: Michael Collopy |
Canada will discuss his work on behalf of at-risk children
and families during a free public lecture entitled It
Takes a Hood: Community Revitalization, Educational Reform,
and the Harlem Childrens Zone, on Tuesday, April
12, at 6:30 p.m. in the Colleges Nine and Ten Multipurpose Room
at UCSC.
Free parking will be available at Colleges Nine and Ten and
in the Core West Parking Structure, and free shuttles will run
between the parking garage and the event.
Canada is the president of the Harlem Childrens Zone,
which works with children and families in 23 blocks of central
Harlem.
The recipient of numerous awards and honorary degrees, Canada
in 1994 received the first annual Heinz Award for his work with
urban youth.
Canada grew up in poverty in the South Bronx, and his acclaimed
memoir, Fist Stick Knife Gun: A Personal History of Violence
in America, reveals how the gun lobby fuels gun violence
in inner cities. His latest book is Reaching Up for Manhood.
In Harlem, Canada has worked with Rheedlens Beacon School,
which provides support to children and families, the Community
Pride Initiative that works with tenants to help them reclaim
their neighborhoods, and the Harlem Peacemakers Program, a communitywide
effort to reduce violence. Canada has a bachelors degree
from Bowdoin College and a masters from the Harvard Graduate
School of Education.
Canadas visit is sponsored by the UCSC Center
for Justice, Tolerance, and Community with support from
the Academic Resources Collaborative; African American Resource/Cultural
Center; American Studies; Anthropology; Center for Cultural
Studies; Chicano/Latino Research Center; Chicano/Latino Resource
Center; Colleges Nine and Ten; Community Studies; Education;
Educational Opportunity Programs; Institute for Humanities Research;
Merrill College; New Teacher Center; Oakes College; Politics;
Psychology, and Sociology. The Ford Foundation provided major
funding for the event.
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