by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
A 15-member contingent from Jacksonville spent the day Tuesday in New York City’s Harlem Children’s Zone. The 50 square-block area is the focus of a non-profit community-based organization that works to enhance the quality of life for children and families in some of New York’s toughest neighborhoods.
According to a couple of participants that went on the trip, the initiative is working and aspects of it could be used here. However, implementing such a program that involves entire community buy-in, after-school programs, a willingness to take some level of personal responsibility and the desire to exceed in every facet of life will require a major shift in thinking in Jacksonville — and funding.
“The model the Harlem Children’s Zone uses is very different from what we’ve seen before,” said Susie Wiles, Mayor John’s Peyton chief of special initiatives and primary spokesperson. “It’s certainly worth more exploration. If we use it here, where and how big? Also, what partners do we involve?”
Wiles called the program a “living, breathing experiment” that operates in the exact opposite manner many other programs in Jacksonville – and nationwide — operate. Rather than fund the end results — prisoner reform and adult addiction treatment — officials with the Harlem Children’s Zone target children at very young ages.
“You have to buy into two new ways of thinking. One, the past programs have failed and there are a list of things,” she said, mentioning teen pregnancy, drug addiction, poverty and low standardized test scores, among others. “We are spending more money than ever on those things and they are still going wrong. You also have to accept the reason why those programs failed is because the investment has been on the wrong end of the spectrum. Most of the money is spent on the back end and it’s very expensive to do that.”
Linda Lanier, executive director and CEO of the Jacksonville Children’s Commission, spearheaded the trip and organized the delegation. She said many similar initiatives look good on the surface, but after some digging prove to be relatively worthless.
“This was the exact opposite experience,” she said. “It’s so common sense. It’s the way they are focused. They take the things the basic middle class kid has and ask ‘How do we fill in the gaps in the life of the child that doesn’t have those things?’ Those things include opportunity, physical environment and others.
“In some ways, those are lofty goals. In some ways, they are basic fundamentals. It was thought-provoking.”
Lanier said she doesn’t want to copy what is going on in New York, but emulating some of those programs — especially those that target very young kids and their parents — is feasible in Jacksonville. The biggest difference, she said, is that the Harlem Children’s Zone focuses on 50 square blocks while the problems in Jacksonville can, in theory, stretch across 800-plus square miles.
Realism has been a key, too.
“They are realistic,” said Lanier. “They know they can’t save the world. They focus on 50 square blocks and 10,000 kids. It was a learning trip and every community can write their own story.”
Both Lanier and Wiles said Peyton — who also went — plans to reconvene the group in the very near future for the purpose of assessing the next step.
“We will digest things and figure out where to go from here,” said Wiles. “I think it’s achievable, it’s doable.”