New Community Building Initiatives in Newark and Camden Include Focus on Out of School Time
Governor Corzine recently announced two new initiatives that take a comprehensive approach to improving student outcomes, including a focus on students' out of school time. Both initiatives seek to keep young people in school and on the pathway to college.
Both initiatives are part of the Strategy for Safe Streets and Neighborhoods, a comprehensive anti-crime plan created in 2007 to battle violent crime through more aggressive law enforcement, prevention programs aimed at at-risk youth, and re-entry programs for convicted offenders leaving prison. Governor Corzine called the programs "innovative and evidence-based initiatives that will help to build better futures by raising standards, lifting expectations, and by ensuring that supports are there to meet those goals." Attorney General Anne Milgram, Education Commissioner Lucille E. Davy, Newark Mayor Cory Booker, Harlem Children’s Zone Founder, President and CEO Geoffrey Canada, New York University Professor and Broader, Bolder Approach co-founder Dr. Pedro Noguera as well as other project partners attended the launch event held at the Quitman School in Newark.
The 'Promise Communities' initiative is based on the success of the Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ) based in Harlem, NY and will be piloted in Newark and Camden. The Harlem Children's Zone model is to develop solutions that address the full range of problems that low-income families in the Harlem community face, including providing young people with safe and educational opportunities afterschool. The Juvenile Justice Commission, a division of the Attorney General's Office, is seeking proposals from community-based nonprofit organizations that are interested in developing a strategic plan for the creation of at least two “Promise Communities”. Information on the application process can be found here: http://www.njsacc.org/wordpress/?p=2130.
The 'Broader, Bolder Approach' program, developed by Dr. Pedro Noguera of NYU, will also be piloted in Newark with support from the Ford Foundation. This program takes an expanded view of education by developing a students academic skills, but also their physical health, character, and social development, and specifically recognizes the importance of afterschool and summer programs in supporting students' development. According to Dr. Noguera, research has shown that increasing investments in afterschool and summer programs can help close the achievement gap between low-income and other students.
NJSACC Executive Director Diane Genco said "I am so thrilled to see such innovative programming come to New Jersey."
Learn more about the Harlem Children's Zone: http://www.hcz.org/
Learn more about Dr Noguera's Broader, Bolder Approach: http://www.boldapproach.org/
