Product of our communities ?

While its interesting to want to dissect the causes of "bad" communities or neighborhoods, how exactly does that fix the problem? A lot of times politicians and neighborhood figures think they can pinpoint an issue and have one solution and boom everything is solved. As much as we'd like to believe it true things don't work that way, unfortunately we have a bigger issue at hand because its deeply rooted. Issues within communities range from racial segregation, minorities, poverty, crime and lack of resources. Within lower income communities we see a high rate of retention, violence, gun violence and criminal activities. Its easy to point the finger and say violence arise from the environment or retention happens because of single parent homes but again the reasons/causes go on and on. As we read in There Are No Children Here, single parent homes are a major factor in how children respond to their environment, their decisions, and overall how being in a one parent home affects their outcome.

Children amongst low income families and communities are a product of their environment in Chicago. We see children younger and younger getting pregnant, wielding guns, and committing violent crimes usually living with the mother as Head of Household and little male influence. While in class we watched "Legacy" and we saw how young men and women of the projects were of that neighborhood, and the actions that were surrounding them too became their actions. People living within poverty and strained conditions tend to be more naive in involving themselves with environmental circumstances. Believing that their route would result in either streets or jail.

To break this cycle it would take true effort from parents, guidance and leadership within the community as well as reinforcement from figures in the community. This type of advocacy is important for the children of the community as they can see that their are alternate routes aside from what they see around them. Children need to see positive influences in order to want to achieve more than they have. These actions can in time be exhibited more and more through the youth to help a produce a more positive generation. Involving children in activities in the community and showing interest can help to also bring in more opportunities to shed light in "bad"neighborhoods.