Harlem Children's Zone Manager To Present Lecture At Indiana U Black Culture Center

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Shana Brodnax, a 1999 Indiana University graduate, former Wells Scholar and now a senior manager of the nationally recognized Harlem Children's Zone (HCZ), will present the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center's annual alumni lecture at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 31.

$harlem, children, indiana, black, culture, university, center, Harlem Children\'s Zone, crade to college, Building an Empowered Black Community, lecture, Shana Brodnax, Audrey T. McCluskey, Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, black, african, american, history, news, black radio network, minority news, african american history, african american news, minority news$

Shana Brodnax

The title of Brodnax's lecture will be "From the Cradle to College: Building an Empowered Black Community in the Harlem Children's Zone."

This presentation also is part of the IU Bloomington campus' Critical Issues Lecture Series, in collaboration with the Department of African American and African Diaspora Studies. It will take place in the Grand Hall of the Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center, 275 N. Jordan Ave. The public is welcome to the free lecture and reception.

The Harlem Children's Zone offers an interlocking network of education, social-service and community-building programs to more than 8,000 children in a 100-block area of Central Harlem in New York City. It also serves more than 7,400 adults and has an annual budget of more than $75 million. Last year, the Obama administration announced an initiative to offer matching funds for up to 20 "Promise Neighborhoods" modeled on the HCZ Project.

Brodnax is an experienced leader and manager of youth programming and other community-based initiatives, with a focus on low-income communities of color. She joined the Harlem Children's Zone as senior manager of early childhood programs in October 2007, and she oversees all programming for children under the age of 6, including The Baby College, Three-Year-Old Journey, Get Ready for Pre-K, Harlem Gems and the transition to the Promise Academy Charter Schools.

Prior to coming to HCZ, Brodnax served as the department director of workforce development at Catholic Charities New York, coordinated services to individuals affected by the World Trade Center attacks as part of the 9/11 United Services Group and administered programs in Harlem, midtown Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx and Indianapolis.

While at IU, Brodnax majored in African American and African Diaspora studies and political science, and she earned honors in AAADS. She was a founding member of a student newspaper, The Griot, held positions in the Black Student Union and the Student Coalition, and was a member of Delta Sigma Theta sorority. After graduation, she studied at the IU Center on Philanthropy as a Jane Addams-Andrew Carnegie Fellow and the Milano Graduate School of Management and Urban Policy at The New School in New York City.

For further information about the event, call 812-855-9271.

Audrey T. McCluskey
Neal-Marshall Black Culture Center
mcclusk@indiana.edu
812-855-9271

George Vlahakis
University Communications
gvlahaki@indiana.edu
812-855-0846