"That you’re all here this evening is testament to the fact that business people care about these issues," Geoffrey Canada, the president and CEO of Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), told the crowd of nearly 400 people gathered at Low Library last Thursday night for the Social Enterprise Program’s annual reception. President Lee Bollinger of Columbia University and Ray Horton, director of the Social Enterprise Program (SEP), recognized Canada for his leadership in the field of social enterprise.
Canada — and HCZ, which he has led since 1990 — is nationally acclaimed for a comprehensive and results-focused approach to education reform. In January 2006, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg chose Canada to be cochair of a task force assigned to significantly reduce poverty in New York City. "One of the things that has been striking over the last decade is how business and entrepreneurship have become the driving force in changing the world," said Bollinger, who introduced Canada to an audience that included former Mayor David Dinkins, UN representatives and bankers from Goldman Sachs.
"The work that Harlem Children’s Zone does is not rocket science — it’s harder," said Canada, whose educational philosophy emphasizes accountability. "We know we can’t save everyone, but you do what you can do to make a difference." Called "one of the most ambitious social experiments of our time" by the New York Times Magazine, HCZ provides an interlocking network of social service, education and community-building programs for children and families in some of New York City’s most devastated neighborhoods. The name refers to a 60-block area in central Harlem in which the majority of children live below the poverty line.
Also honored at the event were Bruce Usher, adjunct associate professor in the Finance and Economics Division, and Donald Waite, director of the School’s Executives in Residence Program, who received the Social Enterprise Award for Teaching Excellence. Engaging a far-reaching network of academic and business leaders who share a vision for finding innovative ways to generate social benefit through business practices, the SEP inspires and prepares students to create social value in business, nonprofit and government organizations locally, nationally and internationally.