Geoffrey Canada
Harlem Children's Zone
New York, NY USA
"Don’t feel like you’ve abandoned your mission because things are not exactly what you expect. Accept the opportunities that you get...even if it’s not what you want, accept them with glee and not with sadness."
Career Roadmap
Geoffrey's work combines: Education, Non-Profit Organizations, and Upholding a Cause and Belief
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
I knew that if I went to some of the schools that were available to me in my neighborhood, I wouldn't stand a chance against the older, tougher kids there. I moved to live with my grandparents in Long Island and that decision saved my life.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Psychology, General
Bowdoin College
Bachelor's Degree
Sociology, General
Bowdoin College
Graduate Degree
Education, General
Harvard University
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life took a while to figure out
1.
Born and raised in the South Bronx neighborhood of New York.
2.
His parents split up when he was three years old and his father only played a very small part in his life after that—says he was aware of the violence and chaos in his life from a very young age.
3.
Growing up, violence was such an everyday part of his life, he says kids in his neighborhood used to rank each other based on how well they could fight.
4.
When he was 12, he got a spring-loaded knife—says that knife represented freedom in his neighborhood and was an equalizer between him and the tougher guys on the street.
5.
Says the thing that saved him from a life consumed by violence was moving to live with his grandparents on Long Island, New York, when he was a teenager.
6.
Watching crime, drugs, and addiction destroy his community deeply affected him as a young man and inspired his life's work: to find the solutions to help the youth in communities like his.
7.
After college, he was hired at Rheedlen Centers for Children and Families, which would later evolve into the revolutionary Harlem Children’s Zone under his leadership.
8.
He is now a celebrated educator, author, motivational speaker, and educational reform activist dedicated to expanding educational opportunities for all students.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Myself:
You aren't tough enough to survive this school.
How I responded:
I knew that if I went to some of the schools that were available to me in my neighborhood, I wouldn't stand a chance against the older, tougher kids there. I moved to live with my grandparents in Long Island and that decision saved my life.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I grew up in the South Bronx in a poor, sometimes violent neighborhood. I was raised around abandoned houses, crime, violence and an all-encompassing sense of chaos and disorder.
My father left the family when I was an infant, so myself and my brothers were raised by a single mother. She struggled a lot to keep food on the table and a roof over our head.
I watched drugs, alcohol, and addiction tear apart my community.
I moved to Long Island, New York when I was a teenager to escape the violence in the Bronx. Later, when I came back and decided to start my company in Harlem, I got a lot of negativity from people who were mad I didn't start it in the Bronx.