The Projected Projects

While people are familiar with the "projects" in Chicago were, many aren't as familiar with the initial plan for them. Back in the early 1920's the projects were built for public housing and were predominately whites within the neighborhood. With time this area slowly became the central housing community for blacks. These homes included Robert Taylor, Cabrini Green, Harold Ickes, Dearborn Homes and Stateway Gardens. All of which were located in the south side of Chicago along the newly renovated Bronzeville area. While the initial plan behind the Projects was for pubic housing it was also convenience, there was an expressway a few blocks over and L lines to commute to and fro the loop. However by the 1960’s the neighborhood began to become more diversified.

            While black people were migrating themselves into the city and into the “projects” the whites of the community began to move out. It was no long before the community was predominantly black and filled with poverty. The homes that were once non violent and full of working families had taken a turn for the worse. One of the biggest concerns inside of the projects was the large amount of violence that took place. There were countless shootings, murders, and drug related crimes that were increasing by the day without much reconciliation because they crime was that bad. Along with heavy violence there were many other factors that contributed to the decline of the projects. These include lack of resources, the drug epidemic and more importantly the environment itself.

            Although the projects were built to help those of lower income, by the time blacks took over the area the number of jobs were limited. The lack of recurring income for homes lead to the high levels of crime, drug use and drug dealing. Needless to mention a vast majority of these homes were female head, which was a shift from the earlier wave of families, which were more two-parent homes. With women being the head of household maintaining structure in the home, ensuring the children are fed and safe during this era school sometimes wasn’t the priority. We see that in the many cases of children who were lingering around the basketball courts, loitering in the halls and all the while being exposed to drug activity, anything but a suitable environment for children.

            Poverty has an been an ongoing issue within black communities and while we’d like to blame someone for this, it’s a fight that they cant win. While in chapter 2 of The Truly Disadvantaged Wilson explains poverty as a psychological problem. Watching your parents who are working dead end jobs with little income and receiving financial assistance from the state will then show children that even with a good work ethic getting ahead is not foreseen. Not all parents who receive government assistance will forever be dependent as we saw with the rise and fall of the projects. However we also saw that even with government help the system was not designed for black Americans to flourish. With black Americans living in poverty with little to no income, high crime rates and very minimal education the government was not focused on the improvement of life for blacks but minimizing crime.

            The projection of the projects was initially built for families with low income but still very viable within the community, we saw how quickly it was the center for high crime rates, high retention, and drug activity. None of which was projected when those homes were built. It was no surprise that a demolition of the projects was the next best option for the Chicago Housing Authority.