Scope of the Issue
A community is a combination of social units and systems that perform the major social functions relevant to meeting the needs of all individuals. The community selected for this resource analysis is Utica, New York. Utica is a moderately-sized city with a population estimated to be roughly 62,000 people. The specific area that is going to be focused on is a smaller neighborhood of the City of Utica that is known as Cornhill. Cornhill is what has been continuously considered as Utica’s most treacherous area to reside in. Cornhill is composed of the area between Eagle Street to the Memorial Parkway and from Oneida Street to Mohawk Street. Geographically speaking, it is a rather large area that takes up a
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Gang violence is defined as a “criminal and non-political acts of violence committed by a group of people who regularly engage in criminal activity against innocent people. This term is also used to refer to the physical hostile interactions between two or more gangs. The term gang violence refers to two or more people organized to achieve a common objective who share a common identity. Gangs identify themselves with a common name or a sign…” (“Gang violence,”). There are a limited number of existing resources in Cornhill and the Utica, New York area for youthful gang members. There is one small non-profit organization, The Safe Haven, that was established for youth who were at-risk of joining a gang or currently active within a gang. It was created by a former Utica, New York youthful gang member who exited the gang lifestyle with guidance from a mentor (White, 2014). He is currently CASAC (Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor) in the State of New York (White, 2014). His wife is a forensic psychologist who assists him in running the operation (White, 2014). Together they work with at-risk inner city kids who struggle with poverty, live in hazardous neighborhoods, and experience the increasing
Homeboy Industries provides an approach to gang desistance influenced by ideas of Catholic social justice and therapeutic rehabilitation (Flores, 2016). Each year, over 10,000 former gang members seek their guidance (Homeboy Industries, 2005). By combining counseling, case management, education, vocational training, and job placement, Homeboy Industries helps former gang youth become contributing members in their families, communities, and society (Homeboy Industries, 2005). Homeboy Industries offers employment in their bakeries, cafés, silk-screening and tattoo removal studios, and landscaping and maintenance service divisions (Flores,2016).
This particular gang intervention face various barriers, but also have support agents who make the intervention possible for at problem youths. A barrier to this program
A community is defined as a local based entity with systems of formal organizations reflecting institutions, formal groups, and aggregates (Anderson and McFarlane, 2011). In order to determine the status, structure, and overall characteristics of a community, an assessment has to be made where each aspect of a community is evaluated. Each community has certain appealing characteristics, but it also has problems or issues that need to be identified and improved. The community of Tustin, a city in Orange County, California has been around since the 1900s. What
A two-pronged prevention approach has proven effective, with primary prevention strategies aimed at the community 's general population and secondary prevention strategies targeting youth between the ages of 7 and 14 who are at high risk of joining gangs. Prevention efforts undertaken by law enforcement departments around the country include: “Participating in community awareness campaigns (e.g. developing public service announcements and poster campaigns). Contacting the parents of peripheral gang members (through the mail or during personal visits) to alert them that their children are involved with a gang. Sponsoring gang hotlines to gather information and facilitate a quick response to gang-related issues. Organizing athletic events with teams of law enforcement officers and gang members. Establishing working relationships with local social service agencies. Making presentations about gangs to schools and community groups as a combined effort at prevention and information gathering. Sponsoring school-based gang and drug prevention programs (e.g. DARE and GREAT)” (Hess, 2013 p.230).
In society there is no possible way to turn every gang member into a changed person. But there is a way to lead these young teens away from that type of lifestyle. It’s through many projects and programs that are completely centered on these teens to help get them off the streets and into school to get a good education. On television they have a show where at
A community is where a group of people with many different backgrounds are united by one common thing. College and universities think putting young adults on a campus where they eat, sleep and learn together will make them become one community. Communities are made from within not from outside forces smashing people together. Florida Atlantic has many communities inside of it created by people who have the same interests in life. FAU doesn't have one set community as a whole because they are mostly characterized into different smaller groups and when brought together they form smaller cliques that don't usually interact.
A community is a place where people around supposed to be able to live and thrive together. When one thinks of a community, the image that most likely is visualized is one of a place where each person lives harmoniously with all the other members of that community. While this may be the typical image of a community, it is not the realistic view. In reality communities can share both good and bad aspects. In Place Matters: Metropolitics for the Twenty-First Century Peter Dreier, John Mollenkopf, and Todd Swanstrom make the argument that the place a person lives ultimately matters over all else; the place which a person lives effects the choices that that he/she makes and determines his/her ability to obtain a
According to Stanhope and Lancaster (2008) defines a community as: “A social group determined by geographic boundaries and/or common values and interests. Its members know and interact with one another. It functions within a particular social structure and exhibits and creates norms, values, and social institutions” (World Health Organization [WHO], 1974, pg. 7).
Gang involvement and its associated violent crime have become a rapidly growing problem for the United States. Generally, gangs consist of young people of the same ethnic, racial, and economic background. Usually of a low socio-economic status, these gangs engage in illegal money making activities and intimidate their neighborhoods and rival gangs with violent crimes and victimization. Gang members exemplify a high value for group loyalty and sacrifice.
behind their classmates in school and do not try. A study shows that less than
A community is a group of people who live in the same area, interact with each other, and share certain norms and values. A community is defined as a locality-based entity, composed of systems of formal organizations reflecting societal institutions, informal groups, and aggregates that are interdependent and whose function or expressed intent is to meet a wide variety of collective needs (Stanhope & Lancaster, 2012).
The overall theme of the study depicts overall “mechanisms and processes that result in the spread and escalation of gang violence” (Pope, Lovell & Brandl, 2001, p. 160). This was achieved by the author by directing his studies on ‘contagion as an aspect of collective behavior that produces expressive gang violence” researchers of this study did this by focusing on “contagion as an aspect of collective behavior that produces expressive gang violence (Pope, Lovell & Brandl, 2001, p. 161). ‘Contagion’ is defined as ‘subsequent acts of violence caused by an initial act; such acts typically take the form of retaliation” (Pope, Lovell & Brandl, 2001, p. 163). These gang related acts can take the form of games, fights, meeting and sometimes homicide. It can also be said that all gang behavior is committed as a group. It then follows that this behavior can safely be categorized as ‘collective’ or grouped behavior. Often times a designated
Gangs are becoming prevalent in today’s society and within our schools. More and more young people are turning to gangs in an attempt to escape their everyday lives and the future, which they perceive as dismal and bleak. They are initially attracted to the prestige and cash flow, which is glamorized by the street gang. Many gangs are actively involved in criminal misconduct, such as drug and gun trafficking, burglaries and homicides. However, street gangs are not just a criminal justice issue, but a social problem, which is triggered by poverty, peer pressure, boredom, despair and lacking a sense of belonging.
Pulaski is a small village with a small population. You might have heard small murmurs of the town over the news because of five feet of snow, or due to an increase of salmon swimming upstream. Most of its income comes from the annual salmon run that attracts thousands of fisherman to the river where the fishing is easy. Most people outside Central New York has never heard of Pulaski, unless they are fishermen. Even now in Utica, not even an hour and a half away, the village seems to not exist in people’s minds. I have to relate its position to in between Watertown and Syracuse. My graduating class was around 80 kids, not even enough people to fill a movie theater. Who would have thought that this small school had the ability to represent New York in the national Independence Day parade in Washington D.C.? I certainly did not.
A community is an area of group of people who has and share things in common. A community may be large or a small population. “According to Stanhope and Lancaster (2016) “A community is defined as a locality-based entity composed of systems of formal organizations reflecting societal institutions, informal groups, and aggregates that are interdependent and whose function or expressed intent is to meet a wide variety of collective needs” (p.230). The World Health Organization (2004) viewed a community as a group of people who lives in a geographical area and often share characteristic of membership; beliefs, values and norms.