Geoffrey Canada, featured in "Waiting for 'Superman,'" will share his story of fighting poverty in Harlem today.
Canada, CEO and founder of the Harlem Children's Zone, will speak at 7:30 p.m. in John R. Emens Auditorium as part of the Excellence In Leadership Speaker Series. The title of Canada's speech is "Leadership Is Only as Great as Those Around You" and it is a free event.
"It's basically what he's learned and accomplished in building the Harlem Children's Zone, how he was able to build that program [and] how he's been able to move forward to education reform," Mitch Isaacs, associate director of Student Life, said. "So there's going to be some leadership principles."
Isaacs said people can ask questions by text messaging or by asking from a microphone during the event.
Canada has been featured in Time Magazine's 2011 Top 100 Poll, "The Oprah Winfrey Show," "60 Minutes," "The Today Show" and the 2010 documentary "Waiting For 'Superman,'" directed by Davis Guggenheim who also directed "An Inconvenient Truth."
Canada is a graduate of Bowdoin College and Harvard Graduate School of Education. He then became a faculty member at Robert White School in Boston and within a year became the president.
Isaacs said President Barack Obama modeled his 20 Promise Neighborhoods program after Canada's methods.
"Here's somebody who has accomplished something, who has worked against the status quo and been successful." He said. "I think that's a great message for anybody."
The event is being organized by both Ball State and the Muncie Public Library.
Muncie Public Library public relations manager Susan Fisher said she feels Canada is one of the more important speakers the city of Muncie has had in while.
"Muncie recognizes the importance of education, for our youth, and we think he has a powerful message to share," Fisher said.
People who have seen "Waiting for 'Superman'" will learn even more about Canada, Isaacs said.
"Geoffrey Canada was featured in the film but he wasn't the entire focus of the film." Isaacs said. "They're going to learn more about how he built the Harlem Children's Zone."
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