Sanayi Beckles-Canton

Project: The “Harlem Whole Child & Community Wellness Project” is a three-year community-based inquiry and demonstration project exploring how publicly funded early childhood education can be reimagined to support not only children's academic development, but also their social-emotional development, family well-being, educator wellness, cultural identity, community connection, and civic life. The project will use “Chloe Day School & Wellness Center,” a publicly funded early childhood program in Harlem, as a living demonstration site for developing, documenting, and refining this model.

Dr. Sanayi Beckles-Canton is a Harlem-born educator, pastor, parent leader, and community advocate whose work centers on children, families, education, mental health, and social justice. A mother of six sons, including children with dyslexia and ADHD, she brings both professional expertise and lived experience to her advocacy for equitable and inclusive public education.

Dr. Beckles-Canton is the founder and head of school of Chloe Day School & Wellness Center, a progressive, trauma-informed public early childhood program in Harlem, and founder of The Healing Space, a community wellness, learning, and civic dialogue initiative addressing mental health, healing, family well-being, and community connection.

For more than two decades, she has worked across education, social services, faith communities, and public policy. She currently serves as co-president of the New York Citywide Council on Special Education and previously served on Community Education Council District 5, including six years as president. Her advocacy has included leadership and service with the National Action Network Education Committee, the NYS NAACP Education Taskforce, the National Council of Negro Women, and the Dyslexia Alliance for Black Children.

Dr. Beckles-Canton is a graduate of Fordham University, Bank Street College of Education, New York Theological Seminary, and The City College of New York. She was selected as an A’Lelia Bundles Community Scholar at Columbia University and a New York State Empire State Fellow.

She believes that reading is a human right and that healthy relationships create healthy families, strong communities, and thriving societies.