Spotlight on: Harchester Children’s Initiative
Harchester Children's Initiative began life as a small, single-town pilot a few miles east of Tamworth. Today, it serves thousands of children and families across Staffordshire, helping its communities to achieve life-changing social and economic mobility.
Early history: 2020-2025
While the Harchester Children's Initiative (HCI) officially came into being in 2023, the seeds of the project were planted a few years earlier when a group of school, church and community leaders came together to respond to the challenges posed by COVID-19. At that point, the Initiative’s initial ambition was straightforward: to support Harchester’s families through the health pandemic.
In 2021, recognising the extent to which children's absence from early years settings and delays in routine health checks meant that early speech and language problems were not being picked up as they might have been previously, the at-that-point-unnamed local collective launched the first (of what would later become) ‘BEAM Centre’ at Harchester Primary School—providing a secure, inclusive and welcoming environment for local children, their families, educators and health professionals to come together to ensure that the children in their care were as ready for school as they could be.
In 2023, with the HCI formally established as an official entity, Lynda Block and Prashant Dattani secured around £20,000 of seed funding to support the Initiative’s first, ‘formal’ pilot programme, establishing ‘BEAM Centres’ at four local schools (three primary and one secondary).
Map of Harchester by unknown local artist
(2020)
Middle history: 2025-2030
Building on the success of the early initiative and opportunities identified through their deepening collaboration, the HCI secured additional funding to launch their 5-year strategic plan: steadily and systematically expanding its programmes to support four more communities by 2027, and another 12 across Staffordshire by 2030.
In 2026, the HCI marked a major milestone with the creation of ‘Aspire Academy’—when the four schools involved in ‘Project BEAM’ resolved to come together to provide a coherent educational experience, from nursery to sixth form, for the children of Harchester across its four ‘campuses’.
In 2028, the HCI was formally joined by four additional partners (two medium-sized academy trusts, a well-established federation of primary schools and a large GP practice) to significantly expand the organisation’s capacity and reach.
Later history: 2030-2035
What started as a group of community leaders coming together to better understand and support local families through a global health pandemic has grown into a vision for breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty in post-industrial towns like Harchester. Through its recently established ’Placemaking Institute’, the HCI is currently partnering with ~20 towns and cities across the UK to strengthen place-based, cradle-to-career strategies.
Today, the HCI’s pioneering place-based model serves more than 22,500 children across Staffordshire each year. Crucially, more than 1,300 young people have graduated from university with another 900 currently enrolled (inc. degree apprenticeships).
Each year, around 100 HCI Alumni ‘complete the loop’ by returning home as university graduates, community-engaged citizens and role models for the children and families entering Aspire Academy’s ‘Baby College’ and associated pathways—creating a cycle of achievement for children and families in and around Harchester.
Now, if you’re familiar with:
the geography of Staffordshire
the prevalence of cradle-to-career initiatives in the UK education system
the fêted early naughties sports drama Dream Team
simply the fact it’s not 2035 yet
—you’ll suspect that something’s awry with the account above. And you’d be correct. The town of Harchester in Staffordshire doesn’t exist (outside of Sky One, 2007 or the hearts of Harchester United’s lifelong Dragons, at least), which means neither does Harchester Children’s Initiative.
But it’s not fanciful. It’s not a fantasy.
This model and these outcomes do exist—in a range of villages, towns and cities around the UK and far, far beyond. One of the most studied and mature is the Harlem Children’s Zone, which is currently gearing up to celebrate its 25th anniversary.
A full account of its storied history is available to read here—much of it will sound very familiar!
Spotlight on the Harlem Children’s Zone
To celebrate HCZ's 20th anniversary, founder and president, Geoffrey Canada, takes a look back at the organisation's storied history.
As is apparent in the video above, the Harlem Children’s Zone represents a beacon of hope and a transformation force for thousands of children and families in New York City.
Today, in 2024, the HCZ is an incredibly impressive operation: crystal clear in its ambition and approach, buoyed by past successes and, given this, assured in its future (with $1 billion’s worth of assets sitting on its balance sheets and a further ~$1 million of revenue coming in each year).
In light of its stature and success, it’s hard to feel anything other than admiration for what the thousands of people involved in the project have achieved to date. But we must—that is, we must feel more than admiration. If that’s all we take away from the example of HCZ (and others), we reckon its founders would be pretty gutted.
Just as the HCZ represents a beacon of hope to its local community, it should serve as one to us as school, trust and community leaders because their example is just that—it’s a specific artefact that represents a general rule: that it is possible to improve the educational outcomes for babies, children and young people while strengthening communities struggling with issues like poverty, poor health and high crime rates.
Because every community possesses a unique blend of needs to address and resources to leverage, the key isn’t replicating what they’ve done—but in understanding and applying how they’ve arrived at those activities. Reflecting on the example of HCZ, we’d like to propose a handful of principles that resonate throughout its journey to date.
1️⃣ Always put children first
HCZ serves its community (not the other way around). This means that HCZ prioritises children’s experiences over the needs and wants of the organisation. This is easy for start-up organisations to do and harder for established institutions with deep reputations (positive or otherwise).
Leaders at HCZ commit to listening openly and fully to the challenges facing young people and their families; accepting their experiences without rushing to judgement or defence. Leaders work hard to bring people ‘into the frame’ to build trust and understanding, foster a sense of collective ownership and build greater capacity in Harlem.
This also means that HCZ has to proactively seek feedback and be ready and willing to change what they’re doing or how they’re doing it—because HCZ’s mission is bigger than any one individual, group of people or programme. That’s one of the reasons why they describe their history as “a story of relentless evolution in the name of a revolution”.
2️⃣ Think big—think systemically
From the outset, Canada and his team recognised that improving educational outcomes required more than just classroom interventions or school-level initiatives. Given the multifaceted and interdependent nature of intergenerational poverty in Harlem, they adopted a holistic approach, integrating education with health, social services, and community development.
This model reflects the understanding that children’s lives are influenced by a web of factors beyond the school gates including family stability, health, and community environment. By acknowledging these complexities, HCZ was able to design programmes that meet the varied needs of children and families, creating a supportive ecosystem for success and sustained improvement.
In this 2016 interview, CEO Anne Williams-Isom discusses the importance of supporting children in need. She also discusses the many facets of HCZ, including the 'After School Programs' and 'The Baby College'.
Think small—get an early win and build momentum
Even now, as an established institution, HCZ focuses on securing quick wins to build momentum and collective power.
In 1991, the ‘Rheedlen Center’ (as HCZ was then known) opened its first ‘beacon center’ at PS 194 Countee Cullen, a space offering a safe destination for local children and families to come together, as well as providing parenting workshops aimed at new and expectant parents. These touchpoints not only provided immediate benefits to participants but also demonstrated HCZ’s commitment to addressing issues from the ground up. By starting with a manageable project, HCZ was able to gain the trust of the community, attract initial funding, and build a strong foundation for larger initiatives like ‘The Baby College’.
Another early success was Promise Academy. By establishing a high-performing charter school within the zone, HCZ provided a concrete example of what was possible with the right support and resources. The success of this and other schools helped to build credibility, attract additional funding, and demonstrate the potential of HCZ’s broader strategy.
Take a long view
Specifically, there are two long views to bear in mind here. First, HCZ is committed to supporting its children from birth through college—from ‘cradle to career’—providing a consistent and reliable presence in their lives. This long-term perspective ensures that interventions are not just quick fixes, but part of a sustained effort to break the cycle of poverty.
Second, HCZ recognises that the work of creating lasting systemic change takes time. Relationships take time to embed. Trust takes time to build. Fundraising (often) requires demonstration of impact. Progress is lumpy, not linear. To contort a phrase: there’ll be months where nothing happens and days where weeks happen. The instructive here is that leaders need to create the time, space and resources required to enable this important, long-term work to happen—and be patient.
Spotlight on your town?
As we reflect on the transformative impact of the Harlem Children's Zone and similar initiatives, it's clear that meaningful, long-lasting change is within reach for communities facing challenges like poverty, health disparities, and educational inequities.
The story of Harchester, while fictional, is a reminder that the principles underpinning these successful models—putting children first, thinking systemically, building momentum, and taking the long view—are universally applicable.
It's up to us as leaders, educators, and community members to harness these lessons, adapt them to our unique contexts, and work together to create brighter futures for the next generation.
The success of one community is a beacon for all, showing us what’s possible when we commit to bold, holistic action.
by Victoria Hirst & Sam Fitzpatrick
The Reach Foundation
