Geoffrey Canada was born January 13th, 1952. Growing up poor in the South Bronx, Canada consistently faced violence and financial issues. His father was absent for a majority of his life, so he grew up with his mother and three brothers. The neighborhood he grew up in was quite rough, and he learned how to fight at a young age. He even carried a knife and a gun around in his youth. His early life was overwhelmed by chaos and disorder, and he had his first child when he was only a sophomore in college. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Canada, pushed her boys to pursue an education, prompting Geoffrey to pursue a career in education. (Harvard Graduate School of Education, n.d.). He received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin college in 1974 and a master's degree in education from Harvard. Dedicated to spending his life serving children in communities similar to the one he was raised in, Canada became the director of Rheedlen, "a social service and truancy prevention program in Harlem", that would later become the Harlem Children's Zone in the 1990s (Steele, 2009). Initially serving a 24-block area in Harlem, Canada's leadership has prompted the Harlem Children's Zone to expand to nearly 100 blocks. Geoffrey Canada served as CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone until 2014 and remains president of the organization to this day (Harvard Graduate School of Education, n.d.).

(Harlem Children's Zone, 2021).