How Place is Transformed by Neighborhood Leadership

It was day two of EdRedesign’s annual Summer Institute for Neighborhood Leaders and Kwame Owusu-Kesse, CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, decided to kick off the morning session by showing something on the big screen that got a lot of oohs and ahhs: A photo of his two young daughters, affectionately referred to as Chocolate Cupcake and Chocolate Muffin. 

For Owuse-Kesse, the photo was meant to be more than just a light moment before everyone got down to business for the three-day event called “Transforming Place through Neighborhood Leadership.” It was meant, he said, to be a reminder.

“I show this photo to center us,” he said. “This work is about our young people. We are anchored on our young people.”

The comment, and the photo, resonated with the audience, which included nearly 300 cradle-to-career neighborhood organizers; city, state, and federal officials; school education leaders; academics; and funders. 

Says Rob Watson, Ed.M.’18, executive director of EdRedesign, “Over the last several years, this convening has become one of the preeminent gatherings of leaders from across the nation working to eliminate intergenerational poverty in urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods and transform our democracy.”

The goal, he says, is to “bring together the firepower of community innovation, Harvard University, and the pioneering work of the co-sponsor, the William Julius Wilson Institute at Harlem Children’s Zone, to advance a new paradigm in transformational approaches that place young people and families on pathways to social and economic mobility."

This year’s institute included sessions on creating post-secondary pathways for young people, cradle-to-career work already being done in neighborhoods across the country, trends in upward mobility, the value of personalized learning plans for every child, and how to turn entrenched challenges into solutions.

Ron Ferguson, an adjunct lecturer at the Harvard Kennedy School, co-hosted a session on early childhood and the importance of parent engagement. He shared information about The Basics Inc., a Boston-based nonprofit he founded that grew out of Harvard’s Achievement Gap Initiative. The Basic’s mission is to work with families and caregivers to bolster learning and brain development for babies, toddlers, and preschoolers.

“About 80% of early childhood is spent with family,” Ferguson explained, and 80% of brain growth happens by the age of three. In addition to using text messages to share information about development and learning with families, Ferguson said the group also works with existing organizations already connected to families such as libraries, health centers, public housing organizations, barber shops, and Head Start centers.

“Our stuff is like a spice that’s added into what they already do,” Ferguson said.

During an earlier session, Elson Nash, director of the Division of School Choice and Improvement Programs at the U.S. Department of Education, spoke on a panel discussion with Anthony Smith, the executive director of Cities United, about addressing community violence. They discussed the growing role of online aggression, how to identify the most at-risk students, the spike in violence involving young girls, and the cost for young people of not addressing violence. In June, the U.S. surgeon general announced that, since 2020, gun violence has been the number one cause of death among children and adolescents, surpassing car accidents, drug overdoses, and cancer. To change this statistic, Nash said, young people must be part of the conversation.

“Engaging young people in designing solutions is going be very important,” he said. 

Smith praised the current administration for supporting work to end violence but added that politicians and policymakers can’t do it alone.

“Go to local meetings and make sure that public safety in your community is an issue,” he said. “Get to know who in your communities is doing this work. Also get to know the moms and dads and siblings who have lost loved ones to violence.” Many, he said, want to get involved.

Involvement and collective impact were two areas that Owuse-Kesse stressed when he talked to the audience about the success of the Harlem Children’s Zone, which he joined in 2014, becoming CEO in 2020. 

“When I think about the power in this room,” he said, “and all that we can accomplish, I’m in awe. And while I want the successes of Harlem Children’s Zone to be recognized as exceptional, I don’t want us to be the exception.” The bottom line for everyone in the room, he said, was shared: “This work is about impact.”