Paul Tough, one of America’s foremost writers on poverty, education, and the achievement gap, will discuss his new book “Whatever It Takes,” a portrait of educator Geoffrey Canada’s radical attempt to get children in central Harlem out of poverty.

Join Goldman School of Public Policy Professor David Kirp, and Knight Professor of Journalism Michael Pollan for this special discussion.

About the Book:

What would it take?

This was the question that Geoffrey Canada found himself asking. What would it take to change the lives of poor childrenÌ¢‰â”not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide? The question led him to create the Harlem Children’s Zone, a ninety-seven-block laboratory in central Harlem where he is testing new and sometimes controversial ideas about poverty in America. His conclusion: if you want poor kids to be able to compete with their middle-class peers, you need to change everything in their livesÌ¢‰â”their schools, their neighborhoods, even the child-rearing practices of their parents. His efforts have been so inspirational Ì¢‰â‰” and successful Ì¢‰â‰” that Democratic Presidential Nominee Barack Obama has included “Promise Neighborhoods,” based on Canada’s model, in his presidential platform.

“Whatever It Takes” is a tour de force of reporting, an inspired portrait not only of Geoffrey Canada but also of the parents and children in Harlem who are struggling to better their lives, often against great odds.

“Paul Tough is a lucid, engaging storyteller, and his account of this
visionary man in Harlem changed my understanding of poverty in America in the most surprising way: it made me feel hopeful.” — Ira Glass

“The most compelling and potentially the most important book on the
problem of poverty in urban America in years. Not to be missed.” —
Michael Pollan

“Paul Tough’s clear-eyed portrait of Geoffrey Canada offers the most
cogent, provocative, and original thinking on urban poverty to come along in many, many years. “Whatever It Takes” pushed me to question what I thought I knew. Powerful and hopeful, disturbing and daring, it’s one important book. Essential even.” — Alex Kotlowtiz, author of “There Are No Children Here”