Join Our Team
Are you looking for a fulfilling career in education? We are always excited to meet talented, tenacious candidates who love children and care about improving their lives and supporting the larger Central Harlem community.
Is that you? Browse our current job openings.

At HCZ and across our schools, we do whatever it takes to make sure our children and families succeed.
Work at HCZ
Who We Are
Harlem Children’s Zone is the pioneer of holistic, place-based services designed to break the cycle of intergenerational poverty. We know the best way to resist poverty is by investing in opportunities for children and adults to rise above it. We address the needs of our community every step of the way — from the birth of newborns to in-and after-school learning opportunities, health and nutrition education, career counseling for students upon college graduation, and a range of services and programs for families throughout.
What We Do
We innovate in the name of service. Over the decades, we have introduced groundbreaking programs and offerings based on the changing needs of our community. We care deeply for our community and are committed always to finding ways to improve their lives, alleviate their burdens, and support their success, health, and well-being.


Meet a Member of Our Team
Laressa Bordenave
As a College Coordinator at ETC, Laressa keeps students on task with college applications and focused on their dreams.
Read MoreHow We Do It
Always guided by the HCZ Values, we are devoted and tenacious. We love the children of Harlem, their families, and our greater community. HCZ seeks individuals who share a desire for helping children and their families succeed while contributing to a culture of success and rooted in passion, accountability, leadership, and teamwork.
![A woman in an office speaks about her experience at Harlem Children’s Zone.]](https://hcz.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/LatashaMorganPSA.png)
Latasha Morgan shares what she loves about working at HCZ.
Why Join Us?
As a member of the HCZ family, you will join a supportive community of educators and administrators dedicated to helping children and their families fulfill their potential, every day.
Full-time employees can access medical, dental, and vision insurance, as well as coverage for unexpected events. Savings and investment opportunities are available to full-time and part-time employees.
We value employee growth, diversity of talent, inclusion, and rewarding work.
Employee Growth
We know you have your own career goals. We want to help you meet them.
Diversity and Inclusion
We value inclusion of all people and perspectives and diversity in every sense of the world — from background, to experience, and ideas.
Rewarding Work
At HCZ, our work and your contribution truly makes a difference in the lives of children, families, and an entire community.
HCZ Role Roadmaps
Select examples of career paths at HCZ:
- Program Aide → Student Advocate → Advocacy Coordinator → Assistant Director → Director
- Program Aide → Arts Specialist → Program Coordinator → Assistant Director → Director
- Program Aide → Health/Nutrition/Sports Educator → Health Coordinator → Assistant Director → Director
- Program Aide → Teaching Assistant → Teacher
- After School Program Tutor → Academic Specialist → Teacher
Work at Promise Academy® Charter Schools and Harlem Gems® Preschools
Who We Are
We are a team of impassioned educators who believe an excellent education is key to a scholar’s future success — and we strive every day to deliver this for every last scholar.
When scholars enter Harlem Gems® Preschools or Promise Academy® Charter Schools, we make a promise to help each and every one enroll in, succeed through, and graduate from college. We also help scholars find internships and job opportunities.
What We Do
Across our two preschools and two K-12 charter schools, which also serve as community centers, we welcome scholars from underserved communities and underperforming school districts and provide them a nurturing, compassionate, and supportive learning environment.
We understand that children’s capacity to learn depends first on ensuring their basic needs have been met. To that end, we offer wraparound support for our scholars, including: social workers, chefs, medical centers, and dental centers. We also support our students outside of the classroom through after school programs, Saturday school, summer school, Healthy Harlem, Center for Higher Education and Career Service (CHECS), and more.


Meet a Teacher
Soah Narm
As an orchestra teacher, Soah makes music personal by weaving in scholars’ interests so they learn to love music.
Read MoreHow We Do It
We are relentless in the pursuit of our scholars’ success. Everything we provide for our students — from world-class instruction, to exceptional extracurricular activities, social emotional support, and healthy meals — is designed to fulfill the promise that they will graduate from college.
Harlem Gems® and Promise Academy® K-12 curricula and programming are standards-based, rigorous, leading edge, technology-focused, and imbued with social emotional learning. We also frequently include family and the larger community in our work in order to promote safety, well-being, and the development of our scholars.


Meet a Teacher
Jerry Perez
“I want students to know they have a role to play in the sciences,” says Jerry Perez, who is beloved among his students for bringing science to life.
Read MoreWhy Join Us?
We offer highly competitive salaries with generous performance-based bonuses, a comprehensive benefits package, and a low student-teacher ratio.
Relay Education
Available Only to Promise Academy® Educators
Relay Graduate School of Education is a private graduate school that prepares teachers and school leaders. In a partnership with Relay, HCZ Promise Academy sponsors selected teacher leaders to enroll in Relay’s two-year residency, at which they become teaching fellows. Upon program completion, they receive certification and become lead teachers.
Performance-Based Bonuses
We reward efforts that lead to tangible improvement in student outcomes.
Comprehensive Benefits Package
For full-time staff, we offer: medical, dental, vision, and unexpected events insurance. For full-and part-time staff, we offer savings and investment opportunities.
Low Student-Teacher Ratio
Fewer scholars per class means scholars are more engaged, teaching is personalized, and every teacher develops a relationship with every student.
Role Roadmaps
Examples of career paths at Promise Academy:
- Teaching Assistant → Teaching fellow → Lead teacher
- Tutor → Teaching Assistant → Teaching Fellow → Lead Teacher
- Lead Teacher → Education Director → Principal
- Lead Teacher → Educational Coach → Education Director
Find Your Team
The nature of our work is broad and deep. At HCZ, there are opportunities to work with children, families, community members, as well as people from all over the world interested in replicating our programs. Find the team that’s right for you.
Contact
Have questions? Want to learn more about working at Harlem Children’s Zone or Promise Academy® Charter Schools? We’re here to help!
For questions about Harlem Gems and Promise Academy careers: promisecareers@hcz.org
For questions about all other HCZ careers: hczcareers@hcz.org