Enlace

Enlace

            As any other week we discuss important topics of the Urban Community. We are still focusing our selves from the book of Great American City by Robert J. Sampson. This week’s discussion has to do with collective efficacy. According to the book it is a theory that is based on the ability of the community members to control the behavior of individuals in the neighborhood. The whole purpose of this theory is to gain control of peoples behavior at public areas; it is a way to prevent any future deviance from happening. This is a very interesting theory and it is something that I have seen in my community of Little Village by a non-profit organization called Enlace.

            It’s interesting what Sampson mentions that there has been an increase of non-profit organizations trying to create opportunities for individuals. That is what Enlace has done for my community in Little Village. As far as I could remember Enlace was an after school program that was initiated in my elementary school Eli Whitney. It started off by offering after school extra curricular activities such as book club, soccer, basketball, or chess club. Enlace over the years it has moved more into the policy of collective civil action, where it forms charity events, community festivals, public meetings, recreational activities, and workshops for the whole little village community. Their mission statement is “Enlace Chicago works to improve these conditions through a preventative and proactive approach that strengthens our families, our neighborhood, and thereby, our city.” At the time I never thought how big of an impact has Enlace have on and my community. It was something that I realized in my last year’s class with Professor Burchfield. How certain programs that where offered by Enlace helped teenagers from deviant behavior. A program that I remembered that some of my friends had told me that helped them a lot was the gang prevention program. This program would basically take kids from my high school that were causing troubled or where in gangs. They would get assigned mentors, to open their eyes to a lifestyle beyond the neighborhood. Couple of friends that were part of that program, they had mentioned that it helped them realize the consequences of their choices. The program may not always be successful, but the fact that it is there to help the troubled youth it becomes a way to prevent deviant behavior.

            A program that I was a part of that was run under Enlace was basically a program of changing the image of the community. Enlace received couple of grants to purchase abandoned property. Now that I think of it we wore working under the theory of the broken window’s theory. It was an interesting project, of how we turned an abandoned lot into a community garden. It was the first time couple of my friends and I we were introduced into landscaping. It was an amazing experience that took us 2 months to get everything looking nice. For many of the volunteers my age it was the first time handling tools such as hammers, measuring tape, or screwdrivers. This program was well accepted in the community because it teaches the value of hard work and keeping the neighborhood green. I was part of the volunteer group, but most of the group where forced into by school or Enlace. These trouble youth’s had something positive to learn and help them realize the value of work. In all honesty I feel that this program helped us understand the value of community. It opened us to a new perspective but it gave us something positive to do towards the community. As collective efficacy has mentioned it is about controlling the behavior of people to prevent from deviant behavior. As many of us know, summer is the craziest time in Chicago. What better thing to do than put a group of teenagers to work for the community. Than having that same group of teenagers being in the streets in the temptation of doing something deviant.