COVID-19 Relief and Recovery

COVID-19 hit Black and brown communities disproportionately hard. Harlem Children’s Zone (HCZ) took swift and broad action to hit back.

In short order, HCZ conceived and implemented a comprehensive, multi-pronged approach to emergency response and recovery. The organization focused on five crucial areas to help offset the pandemic’s impact on Central Harlem:

• Protecting the most vulnerable
• Bridging the digital divide
• Preventing learning loss
• Mitigating the mental health crisis
• Providing economic relief and recovery

But in accordance with its vision, HCZ’s efforts weren’t limited to Central Harlem. Joined by leading national and community-based institutions in six major American cities — and fueled by a catalytic investment from the Audacious Project — HCZ launched a National COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Effort impacting 250,000 individuals in Black and brown communities disproportionately hit by the pandemic.

Support from the Audacious Project

HCZ’s comprehensive and scaled response to the COVID-19 pandemic created a new approach to fighting poverty and racial inequities across the U.S.

Owing to the success of the response, Audacious Project selected HCZ as a 2020 project grantee and made a $26 million commitment toward the organization’s goal of raising $50 million to its National COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Effort. HCZ’s William Julius Wilson Institute was the platform for this national effort.

“At a time when efficacy and fast action are critical, Harlem Children’s Zone’s comprehensive approach and deep community ties are paramount to building an equitable recovery and resilient future,” Anna Verghese, Executive Director of The Audacious Project at TED, said. “We are grateful to be able to support their work both in Harlem and as their model expands across the country.”

Partnering with Nonprofits in Areas of Need

To advance its National COVID-19 Relief and Recovery Effort, HCZ joined with a set of national partners — NAACP, StriveTogether, and PolicyLink — with both national reach and footprints in the organization’s six partner communities. Their involvement amplified impact through membership networks, advocacy, and mass communications.

Additionally, HCZ partnered with six highly respected institutions that are located in areas with significant need, anchored in the communities they serve, and have the capacity to deliver on this effort.

This effort established a powerful, Black-led partnership. Together and in the years ahead, HCZ and its partners can pool and leverage more resources to drive health equity, justice, and social and economic mobility in Black and brown communities across America.

HCZ’s community partners are: