Geoffrey Canada
President of Harlem Children’s Zone
Geoffrey Canada is the President of Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ), a world-renowned education and poverty-fighting organization in New York City, and co-founder of William Julius Wilson Institute (WJWI). An innovator in the field of education and place-based work, Canada has made it his life’s mission to help young people from under-resourced communities succeed through education. To realize his vision, he created HCZ, a comprehensive, cradle-to-career network of programs that serves more than 34,000 children and families in a 97-block area of Central Harlem. In 2014, after 30 years with the organization, Canada stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of HCZ. In 2020, he came out of retirement to launch WJWI, a national resource for place-based, people-focused solutions that open pathways to social and economic mobility. Canada earned his bachelor’s degree from Bowdoin College and his master’s degree from Harvard University.
