Social activist Geoffrey Canada will receive the Phillips Brooks House Association’s annual Robert Coles “Call of Service” Award in recognition of his community development work, PBHA announced this weekend.

Canada, a 1975 graduate of the Harvard Graduate School of Education, serves as President and CEO of the Harlem Children’s Zone, a non-profit that combats poverty and works to close the achievement gap in a 100-block area in Harlem. The organization employs a comprehensive approach including parenting classes, charter schools, and summer programs.

HCZ has been hailed for its success in bringing at-risk youth up to and beyond grade level in reading and math, and President Barack Obama has pledged to establish twenty “Promise Neighborhoods” modeled on Canada’s work.

“What the Harlem Children’s Zone is doing is on the forefront of the national conversation on child poverty and achievement gap issues,” said PBHA executive director Gene A. Corbin.

Harvard sociology professor William J. Wilson, who is performing a study on the structural and cultural impact of Canada’s work, said he “could not think of a more deserving recipient” of the award.

“Here, we have kids from some of the most impoverished backgrounds and mostly with single parents, whose scores on standardized tests far exceed the overall scores in New York City,” Wilson said. “Canada is a visionary, and he is quite aware of the factors that contribute to positive outcomes for young kids.”

Canada will be third recipient of the “Call of Service” Award, following child advocate Marian Wright Edelman in 2007 and former Vice President Al Gore ’69 last year.

He was chosen to receive the honor through a series of conversations among PBHA volunteers and alumni, culminating in a deciding vote by PBHA student officers.

PBHA President Richard S. Kelley ’10 said that Canada was a clear favorite from the beginning.

“Geoffrey Canada offers an excellent role model,” Kelley said. “He is a Harvard School of Education graduate, and he used what many people see as a privileged education to do real good within a community.”

Canada will receive his award and address students in Memorial Church on Oct. 23 as part of PBHA’s annual Alumni Weekend.

— Staff writer Evan T. R. Rosenman can be reached at erosenm@fas.harvard.edu.