Changing The Game: Keeping The Youth On The Right Path

   While the various social risk factors explained in this blog undoubtedly influence the youth in the inner city towards a life of criminal activity and strife, there are several people and organizations that are attempting to break the cycle that has plagued our communities for decades.  The lack of education has slowly crippled the young people searching for an outlet to the harsh realities that these young people see everyday.  The absence of a father figure in the home allows for the misguided young person to then search for that strength and lost sense of structure outside of the house, typically found in gangs and their leadership.  These street gangs allow these inner city kids to fantasize about a life with not so many opportunities, but various risks that can end lives just as easy.

   In order to lessen the influence of such risk factors, schools such as Semillas Sociedad Civil, and programs such as the Green Dot educational program and Homeboy Industries have provided alternatives to a grueling lifestyle that claims the many lives of young people of color in the inner city.  The Green Dot initiative was established with the goal of changing the landscape of public education in Los Angeles through increased levels of academic intensity as well as bridging the gap between parents and the school to better inform parents on the importance of being involved.  Green Dot has established 17 charter school throughout the most needing parts of the city with the belief that having small high performing schools will give the students the individual attention they deserve, thus fostering creativity while preparing these young inner city residents for college and the life that follows.  It has shown because in comparison to other California schools, the statistics (right) speak for themselves.
http://www.greendot.org/

   Schools like Semillas Community Schools, have been recognized for teaching its students beyond the minimal standard of education, striving to reach the rigor of international educational levels.  Their curriculum focuses on integrating intellectual as well as social knowledge to create a less one dimensional type of traditional student by receiving instruction in four languages: English, Spanish, Mandarin, and Nahuatl (the indigenous language of Mexico).  With more specialized schools such as these, the inner city students become more involved because there is more engagement through what they teach as well as the people who are teaching them, creating a closer relationship between the school and the community.  This allows for more parental engagement and increased stimulation in accordance to the innovative academic protocol. 

Although there is a prevalent gang problem that started in the inner cities of this country, there have been people who have taken personal commitments to try and alleviate the problem through programs such as Homeboy Industries.  Homeboy Industries was originally “Jobs For A Future”, a program created in 1988 by Father Gregory Boyle during his time as a pastor in Boyle Heights.  It began as a jobs program offering alternatives to gang violence in one of the toughest neighborhoods in the city.  This program offered alternatives that many people in the inner city who were affected by gangs by providing such services as counseling, job placement assistance, tattoo removal and coaching in interview skills, with the goal of exposing people to positive alternatives giving hope for new beginnings.  Homeboy Industries has impacted the Los Angeles gang problem, with young people from over half of the region’s 1,100 known gangs seeking a way out. Once they become part of the community, their gang ties are no longer relevant and even mortal enemies become lifelong friends through the mission that promotes peace and progression.

   With these programs in place along with several new programs being established every day, the young people of the inner city now have things in place to provide useful information, programs, and perspective. What was once a place of great disparity and social disconnect, has the tools in place to transform the inner city and its youth into intelligent, articulate and uniquely matured individuals.  Although there are still many social factors that affect our youth, we are now that much closer to preparing for and alleviating the problem which will take time, but at least there are glimpses of hope being seen by the youth and those who do not understand the ghetto dynamic.

Gangs: Turning Innocents Into Militants

   One of the most prevalent factors for inner city youth delinquency is the heavy and persistently glorified aspect of street gangs.  Street gangs started as a method for public safety back in the days of the 1960's and 70's during the civil rights movements.  The Black Panther Party and the Brown Berets were known to utilize the structure of a "gang", but were using it for social progression and inner city assistance.  They started programs that battled youth hunger, tutoring programs for the children who needed assistance with their school work as well as an organized neighborhood assistance unit.  Since the days of standing up for the political mistreatment of people of color, these gangs were instituted to minimize the oppression handed out by the police and their intolerant allies.

   Since then, organized street gangs have left the uplifting political aspect of their mission and have become engulfed in the illicit drug trade, extortion, and fueling a mindset designed to divide and conquer the very people responsible for the happenings throughout the country and the world; themselves.  One of the stats that stands out is that from 1975 to 2000, gangs have increased from 4,481 to 30,818 with over 750,000 members in over 3,000 different jurisdictions.  Media glorification has exposed people to the negative aspects of gang life and the culture, but it is also partially responsible for the consistent increase in numbers for gang membership since the gangs were developed.

   Shows like Gangland and video games such as Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas have shed light on the various aspects of gang life ranging from murder to drug trafficking.  Even though shows like Gangland express the negative role that gangs can play, that information does not show itself until the final fifteen minutes of the show, thus celebrating the other things that encumber gang activity and gang life.  The video game openly encourages you to go out and look for rival gangs to then mutilate them as the player sees fit to gain respect in the virtual world.  These things glorify the lifestyle that many people see as an easy going life choice with many opportunities to gain the fancy cars, the respect, and whatever else society sees in relation to the positive aspects of gang culture.  Although they do show the negative connotations, much of their show is glorifying the lifestyle while giving terminology that the viewing audience (which is mainly younger people) uses.

   The culmination of such an influential entity has become a predator for impressionable, young and misguided youth throughout the inner cities of this country.  This In the inner cities of Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and New York, the mixing the constant despair with a lack of structural resources and psychological stability has guided the inner city youth into a separate sector of street militia that has transformed into an international phenomena.
   http://www.streetgangs.com/

Education Or The Lack There Of...

   Education is a fundamental and key aspect to any society with hopes of prosperity and ascendancy.  In the inner city areas, schools are often meagerly funded and the lack of resources are evident. Frank Marrero, a 4th and 5th grade teacher in the Los Angeles School District wrote an article about the "crisis" going on in inner-city education that was published in Motion Magazine.  He started off by asking the students how they would describe their settings and they named 3 things: their neighborhood, their school and their home.  When the students described their settings, they all had common themes: gunfire, shootings, and death.  That is compiled with the lack of educational resources that include lack of pencils, paper, and even paper towels.  When it comes to curriculum, students are supposed to learn about how explorers discovered the New World, founded colonies, declared independence, fought the Revolutionary War, wrote the Constitution and established democracy.  It was also said that since the state tests focused more on some subjects rather than others, they were discouraged from teaching what was not being tested.  When education does not serve the purpose for which it has been established, the youth are at a disadvantage and they then lose the structure that they could not find at home and really lose connectivity, thus the increase in dropout and truancy rates.  At my school, we had pencils with no erasers, books that were extremely outdated as well as constantly being torn or rattled with graffiti.  Some of the teachers were very good and helpful, but I vividly recall my teachers telling the students, "We get paid whether you learn or not."  Another thing that sticks out to me was the fact that when I compared my schooling to those who were fortunate enough to attend a better school was the protocol for damage control.  We had similar things like the fire drill, the earthquake drill, and what to do if someone broke into the school.  But the one thing that we had in the inner city that they didn't have was drive by drills; which was a set of rules to follow in case of a drive by shooting.

   The education system has been put into place to instill discipline, creativity and structure.  When they can no longer serve, the students will lose the connection to the importance of education and will then focus that curiosity, passion, and intelligence on their surroundings; which are the urban inner city.  As someone who came from the inner city and directly experienced all of the things expressed in this blog and more, the lack of resources definitely makes going to school less interesting and more like a chore. 

A Single Mother's Struggles: Transcended

   When discussing the possible things that can happen in life that youth have no real control over is the presence of a father or father figure and the possible effects that it can have.  The University of London did a study on the effects of not having a positive male role model and the effects it would have on the youth that had to watch with little control of the situation, and the study said that single mothers were twice as likely to be in financial hardship, despite being twice as likely to be in full-time employment in comparison to their married counterparts.  It was also found that single mothers are more likely to be onset of depression and experience "chronic episodes" due to the psychological and psychosocial stresses of being a single mother living in the inner city while trying to provide the best opportunity for their children.  A joint study by the Universities of Utah and Illinois at Chicago had a slightly different point of view.  Those studies suggested that while a single parent household does have its challenges, boys in single-mother families were at greater risk for developing behavior problems than boys in two-parent families.  The risks that came with being a single mother were offset by having structured family environment, as well as a disciplinary strategy that allowed for some degree of self government, and the positive involvement of a male family member.  The only flaw in that argument is that since the single parent is more than likely to be employed full-time, the youth doesn't see the parent as much, thus the disciplinary structure withers away slowly due to inconsistent physical presence.  Once the structure and discipline are diminished, the youth will then attempt to find that discipline and cohesiveness outside of the home.

   This plays an important role due to the fact that everything that the mother goes through, the child actively sees.  Based on the love that a child has for their mother, different thoughts circle through these young people's minds and leaves them wanting to help to relieve the pain as quickly as possible; which is one of the reasons why the inner city youth tend to be criminally oriented because many of them are merely trying to better their situations, not knowing that it is hurting them in the long run.  In the inner city, most if not all areas are in constant despair and the youth are exposed daily to drugs and drug abuse, violence and a social negligence that comes with this type of environment. 

UL Study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9122302
UIC Study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1467-8624.1998.tb06222.x/abstract

The Risk Factors Overview

   Welcome to my blog.  In my blog I will be extensively examining the correlation between inner city youth and their surroundings to help explain why some of these people are criminally involved, less educated, or psychologically scarred.  These happenings are downplayed and are barely beginning to get the recognition that they deserve in order to get more people involved towards the goal of inspiring youth to choose another path. 

   There are several different reasons for why youth in urban and impoverished areas are more likely to participate in illicit activity.  A few of the reasons for youth delinquency can be tied to the lack of community assistance; the heavy influence of gang activity through media glorification and everyday experiences the youth witness, the absence of a father or father figure in the household as well as the outdated educational system that plagues the impoverished areas of the United States in general.  For example, the lack of education loses the attention of the students, thus devaluing what these young people do.  Gangs provide an alternative sense of of brotherhood and the things that entail gaining respect dictate the desensitization and acceptance to become a delinquent.  The lack of a father in the household mixed with the mother working or dealing with daily life struggles lessens the structure that a young man needs, thus leaving them more impressionable and vulnerable to peer pressure.

 
   When mixing these specific variables with the everyday lack of resources, it influences people to want to take those resources they cannot attain.  These reasons coincide to Robert Sapolsky's Sick of Poverty article in which he explains the difference of being poor and feeling poor, but many of the youth have to deal with both.  Not only will this blog give the negative factors that influence such behavior, but will also provide programs that different organizations and individuals are doing to undo this phenomena.

 
   Depending on the level of income that someone has, it heavily dictates their social nourishment as well as physical health and this leads to youth delinquency.  For this, the factors will be evaluated, questioned, and validated. 
 
   I have come from and have extensively seen these factors in play which is why I specifically feel that this blog will have valuable insight and bring perspective that many studies have not been entirely addressed.