The Harlem Children’s Zone is a community-based organization dedicated to reducing
the problems of truancy, violence, foster care, pregnancy, poor school performance, and
lack of self-esteem among high-risk New York City youth. The Harlem Children’s Zone
has worked successfully in truancy reduction and pregnancy prevention. It is also the
home of The Renaissance University for Community Education (TRUCE), an awardwinning
media literacy and arts education program for adolescents.
TRUCE, a comprehensive youth development program for 150 adolescents between the
ages of 12-19, fosters academic growth and career readiness through the innovative use
of the arts, media literacy, health and multimedia technology. Each year TRUCE helps
seniors graduate on time and get admitted to college. The majority of TRUCE seniors
pass the high school Regents exam. TRUCE outperforms the NYC averages of
graduation rate and entrance into a 2 or 4-year college. College bound seniors received
over $650,000 in scholarships. Through a variety of hands-on, youth directed projects,
young people participate in creating an award-winning cable TV program (The Real
Deal) that features poetry, video dramas and documentaries; creating community murals
and gardens; publishing a quarterly newspaper (Harlem Overheard); and receiving
academic support with an intensive college preparatory approach (The Insight Center).
The Real Deal has produced numerous award-winning videos including two that were
featured at the Sundance Film Festival and one that was featured at the Whitney Museum
in New York.