Orange County is taking steps to address the effects of poverty on children, “from cradle to college” and beyond.

A county initiative called the Family Success Alliance is modeled after the Harlem Children’s Zone, an acclaimed New York program that works to keep Harlem kids on the track toward college graduation.

“We were inspired by the work of the Harlem Children’s Zone,” said Meredith Stewart, program manager of the Orange County Health Department, “because of their focus on picking a specific geographic area and saying, ‘How do we work with families and children in that geographic area or zone, to really create changes at scale?’

“So we want to see changes in the community, not just at the individual level, but at the community level.”

Two out of six local zones being considered were selected as pilot zones for the project.

Wednesday, from 5 until 7, partners from Zone 4 – the area between I-40 and I-85 in central Orange County – will join members of the FSA for a public meeting at A.L. Stanback Middle School, at 3700 NC 86 South, in Hillsborough.

They’ll discuss the findings of door-to-door surveys in Zone 4, which includes Stanback and New Hope Elementary. Fifty-five percent of Zone 4 students receive free or reduced lunch.

“What I might see on a daily level is a parent calling me and telling me they don’t have a place to live,” said Aviva Scully, a social worker at Stanback Middle School, “or they need help paying a bill; they’ve had a shutoff notice; they need help with clothing; lots of calls for help with food.”

A similar meeting will be held Thursday for Zone 6, from 5 until 7 p.m. at Carrboro Elementary School, at 400 Shelton St. The zone stretches from downtown Chapel Hill southwest to Highway 54, and has the highest number of the county’s children under 18 living in poverty – nearly 900.

Child care, a light dinner and interpreters will be available at both meetings.

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