How Harlem Children Zone Builds Leadership from Within

Twenty years ago, Salahadeen was a teenager whose future success seemed like a long shot. Raised by drug-abusing parents with six siblings in a crowded one-bedroom apartment, Salahadeen could have gone either way: he was chosen as valedictorian of his school, but was barred from graduation because he had gotten into trouble so regularly. Not long after, he was arrested.

The turning point came when he entered HCZ’s Countee Cullen Community Center and found caring adult mentors who kept him focused on developing his artistic abilities and finding his way – to college, to the workplace, to a stable married life with children of his own. After building his own graphic design business, Salahadeen came back to HCZ, working his way up to become director of our TRUCE^® Fitness after-school program, where hundreds of at-risk middle-school girls and boys ready themselves for success in high school, college and life.  

Salahadeen is just one of the many HCZ employees who started with the organization as an at-risk youth. “We understand the urgency of the issues our young people face every day when they struggle with school work, with their anger and with their confidence,” Salahadeen says. “Now it’s our turn to develop the future leaders of Harlem.”