John Simon, Brigid Hubberman and I just returned from a very exciting trip to New York City where we performed Read Along Songs at the nationally acclaimed Harlem Children’s Zone . It was an amazing experience!  We visited one of their Promise Academy Charter School sites, and performed the songs for appreciative and enthusiastic audiences of kindergarten through third graders, staff and administrators.  There was an electric buzz throughout the day!

Several years ago, the Village at Ithaca heard of Geoffrey Canada and his dedication and efforts to transform the educational lives of the children of Harlem through creation of the Harlem Children’s Zone.  They are doing incredible work, enjoying tremendous success and are clearly at the forefront of educational reform. President Barack Obama is a great admirer of what they are doing and is talking about Harlem Children’s Zone as a possible national model for educational transformation.

We were honored to have been invited there to perform Read Along Songs and look forward to return engagements as well as ongoing collaboration between Village at Ithaca, Family Reading Partnership and the Promise Academy and Harlem Children’s Zone!