Listen to this story instead.

“Good artists borrow. Great artists steal.” 

Attributed to everyone from Pablo Picasso to Steve Jobs, this oft-cited line captures a truth about creativity and problem-solving: good ideas rarely stay where they’re born. 

Every place is different, but almost none of its problems are. Communities everywhere wrestle with many of the same questions: How do more children read on grade level? How do more young people graduate? How do families find the support they need before a crisis? 

That’s why the best community leaders spend as much time learning as leading. 

Fifteen years ago, leaders from across Utah looked beyond state lines for communities wrestling with those same questions. One of the places they found was HarlemChildren’s Zone (HCZ). 

In South Salt Lake, that search took on urgency. After the murder of a child shook the community, local leaders knew they couldn’t afford to start from scratch. They looked for a community that had already begun answering the questions they were facing at home, and that search led them to Harlem. 

What they brought back wasn’t a program, it was a different way of thinking about community change. 

Those ideas helped shape what would become Promise South Salt Lake, a citywide initiative built around three community promises: that every child has the opportunity to attend and graduate from college, every resident has a safe, clean home and neighborhood, and everyone has the opportunity to be healthy and prosper. Drawing on research and lessons from other successful communities, local leaders adapted those principles to South Salt Lake’s own people, priorities, and strengths. 

Promise South Salt Lake became proof that shared principles could take root in new soil. 

Over the years, Utah leaders have continued learning from Harlem. Those early visits helped lay the groundwork for what would become Promise Partnership Utah, a statewide network where communities could learn not only from Harlem, but from one another. Those visits have also inspired new efforts, including Promise Baby & You, which drew inspiration from HCZ’s The Baby College while evolving into something uniquely suited to Utah’s families. 

Every place has its own history, culture, strengths, and challenges. What works in Harlem should not look the same in South Salt Lake, and what succeeds there should not be copied exactly in Logan or Moab. The goal is not uniformity, but shared principles adapted to local needs. 

That’s how the strongest ideas spread: they don’t ask communities to become copies of one another. They invite communities to become more fully themselves. 

Today, these relationships look less like teacher and student than partners learning alongside one another. In a recent article and video, HCZ reflects on that shared journey—from early site visits to the passage of Utah’s REACH Initiative—and on what can happen when communities are willing to learn from one another over the long term. 

That’s how the strongest ideas endure. Not because they’re protected. Because each generation, each community, and each place makes them its own. 

See the Story from Harlem’s Perspective

HCZ recently reflected on this fifteen-year journey—from Utah’s earliest visits to Harlem to the passage of the REACH Initiative and the partnership that continues today. Their story offers Harlem Children’s Zone’s perspective on the same fifteen-year journey.

We encourage you to watch the video below and read their full article. 

→ Read the full Harlem Children’s Zone article

→ Watch the full video