STREETWISE

The movie Streetwise is a documentary film that follows several runaway youth in the 1980s living on the streets of Seattle. Most are no older than 16, but already have made careers for themselves as pimps and prostitutes, thieves and muggers, panhandlers and dumpster divers, and doing what they can to survive.

It's fascinating to watch the teens Tonya, Munchkin, Shadow,  as they live their lives dumpster diving, turning tricks and hustling on the streets of Seattle. You watch them in their day to day lives dealing with living in abandoned motels, parents who honestly don't care that they're prostituting, and dealing with the violence of pimps and venerial disease.
So do to all these different issues that were raised in the film I had found this film a lil disturbing. All the things they went thru as teenagers, i could not really imagine what would this be like to go thru. 

Blog Crtitique #1

The blog that I have checked out and found really interesting and well done was Dinos.
His whole blog was really well done and well organized , but I have specifically looked at the information about his action project that him and his group did , and i found it very good. He gives us very good details of what was going on and how they handled their group project.
Also his other blogs are all well written and really informative I really enjoyed his blog , well done.

NICKEL AND DIMED

One of the assignments that we had to do and that I found really interesting was to read a book called Nickel and Dimed. This is a book that talks about unpleasant and awkward economic realities that are going on in America. Ehrenreich decides to work in a low paying jobs in order to show America how difficult is to survive and live a some what of a normal life off minimum wage jobs. She points out that 60 % of the America work force makes less than 10 $ an hour, probably closer to 7$. Which means that tens of millions of American toil at soul destroying jobs that pay a pittance so that middle and upper classes can live in comfort, and not have to worry about work that keeps this unequal society afloat. Her investigation of the world of dead-end work in Florida, Maine, and Minnesota is exceedingly courageous, morally and politically profound, and beautifully articulated. What is interesting are the jobs that were taken, a house cleaning person, Wal-Mart, and being a waitress. It was impossible for her to make ends meet on those incomes. Not that she did not try, but the numbers did not work out, they cannot work out, they will never work out until we as a society work out the cost of living here. Probably the most stunning was the housekeeper story, that one has the most impact of all the stories. That alone makes you realize how hard it can be for people to empathize with each other, you can just see the look on the person's face who is complaining about the service, when the service was excellent.

She use to get $2.43 and hour and plus the tips that she received , and the customers would not tip her well. The minimum wage at this present time in Florida was $7.25 an hour according to www.worldlawdirect.com. The working class experience incredible and some times inhuman circumstances just to survive. This book shows some of the terrible working conditions and the result of them in most of those workers. It shows also how the same system is designed, from my view it is not to help and assist these people. One dollar to upper class people might mean almost nothing, but for the working poor it means a whole lot more.

Seccombe , Chapter 5

After reading the chapter five of Seccombe, I strongly agree the statement she made that living and surviving welfare touches all aspects of a person's life and not just the economic realm. She discusses about interviews about Jana, and how sometimes she does not make it on just food stamps, which to me is totally understandable and can see many reasons of why not. We are all in various social standings and sadly a lot of inequalities.

For Jana day to day living and decision making its hard and a continuous battle for her. Even thou the food stamps and the money that she receives from welfare is not enough she is still grateful that she even has that. By being on welfare for a big number of people it affects them emotionally. Its hard not to be able to put a food on table for yourself and loved ones, and to worry if u going to survive or not. Working poor class face and deal with many day to day decisions that affect them. It’s a little easier for those that are single and don’t have kids, but of course it just gets harder and more difficult for those who have kids. Making decisions based on their income can cause many of people that are on welfare to be depressed.

Secoombe provides us with a lot of good examples to support her point. In this chapter a lot of good examples on how pearsons life can and is affected by economically struggles and welfare. By reading this chapter I realize how many impacts welfare really has on someone’s life. Its not easy leaving in a era where everything is available but there is shortage of money in many cases. People that are in poverty and struggles live a day to day life where they worry if they going to eat that day, while other in upper class worry which hundred thousand dollar car they going to buy. Living the life people do while on welfare is not easy even thou they are getting free money and food stamps, but the money they get can not help them a lot. It’s a minimum way of living throughout a day.

Seccombe , Chapter 4

In chapter four Seccombe discusses the welfare system and the way that is keeping some individuals who are on it from moving upward to a better economic status. The argument that she is trying to show us here is if the welfare system is making individuals in a way lazy, where as long as they are on welfare they don’t try as hard to find a job kind a take advantage of welfare, or discourages those individuals from working by taking the benefits away from them the minute the welfare system. To me welfare is offered to people of need, because today a lot of people need it do to our economy. Do to our economy crises and continuously rising of living expenses even the minimum wage is no longer providing decent living. People are loosing their jobs on daily bases so they need that welfare to have some real sours of income to survive. I think need for welfare these days is needed badly for a lot of families, seniors, people with health issues , and anyone else who is not able to be able to provides basic needs to live. Therefore, I really don’t think that welfare is making other people lazy in any way. I believe that everyone would like a decent job that pays well and guarantees food on the table by the end of the day. I think the system is what needs to be changed where people are going to have a job that pays them enough to live , and where they going to have healthcare.

National Runaway Switchboard

On Thursday March 18th we had a speaker in class that have talked about National Runaway Switchboard . Their mission is to help keep United States runaways at risk youth safe and keep them of the streets. National Runaway Switchboard is just a referring program, they are there to talk to you and offer you help , like finding  safe place to sleep. Their main point is for the runaway to open open to them, to find out as much information as possible and to try to calm them down.

The speaker was pretty interesting when she was presenting the material. She had us do couple of different worksheets that i thought were also interesting and helpful to understand some stuff better. She also showed as an old movie that represents National Runaway Switchboard, it was a bit out dated but was still interesting to see how this kids are trying to figure out a way to survive on the streets. 

Blog Crtitique #2

The second blog that I have checked was from Jennifer. The blog was a bit different then the first one I looked it. There were no pictures or any videos on the page, it was pretty plain. Although it was plain but the blog eateries were well written. The blogs were easy to read and very well organized. The blog was very relevant to material that we are covering in class.Good job Jennifer.

Blog Crtitique #1

The first blog that I looked at was Iselas. I liked her layout a lot and it was well organized blog. All of her assignments were up to date and were very well written. Blogs are very easy to read, and they are all clearly marked with titles and dates. She had covered a lot of information on all assignments. The content of the blog was very relevant to the class. She did a good job on everything.

Poverty in the Philadelphia

Philadelphia has a population of 1.5 million people. As of now in Philadelphia 200,000 people live in poverty. Unemployment rate in Philadelphia is 7.2 % which is higher 1.5% then national rate. One in four people are at risk of hunger in Philadelphia. There are approximately 4000 homeless people on any given day,500 of those people living on the streets, and rest 3,500 men, women and children who live in shelters. Last year City's Office of Emergency Shelter and Services served 14,986 homeless people. Out of that number 9,468 were adults without children, 2,011 were heads of households and 3,507 were children. Children and families constitute approximately a third of the shelter population of any given night. Families entering shelters were single parent household, 86 % of these were female headed and 14% male headed.Approximately 20 % of the single individuals and 13 % of families are chronically homeless meaning that they are homeless for more then one year.

STATISTICS HOW CHILDREN BECAME HOMELESS

15% FOSTER HOMES

44.9 % PARENTS WHO DRANK HEAVILY

20.5% PARENTS WHO USED DRUGS

11.3% SUBJECTED TO CHILD ABUSE INVESTIGATORS

28.1% BEING MOLESTED

MAYOR'S REPORT:

ON THE STREETS : 500 HOMELESS PEOPLE SINGLE ADULTS

EMERGENCY SHELTERS : 2155 SINGLE ADULTS, 1504 PEOPLE IN FAMILIES

TRANSITIONAL HOUSING: 393 SINGLE ADUTLS, 1746 PEOPLE IN FAMILIES

AGE DISTRIBUTION IN SHELTER:

18 - 25 9%

26 - 45 49%

46 - 65 40%

65 + 3%

RACE DISTRIBUTION IN SHELTER:
African Americans 80%
Latino/a 6%
White 13%
Asian 1%
Other 3%

The reason why I think any of the cities not just Philadelphia does not provide homeless people with enough, better and more comprehensive services is because its the minority that they have to deal with. I personally think that minority people are not taken seriously and that bigger and stronger parties don't care about the minority. Other reason is that the minority is usually people of color, Hispanics, and other people that came from other countries. If they were all white Americans, i don't think this would be an issue at all.

JOURNEYS FROM PADS TO HOPE ACTION PROJECT

Group 2

Group members: Zlatan, Michael, Ernesto, Timothy

My group choose to work at Journey from PADS to Hope because it deals with everything that homelessness is. It deals with the front desk which you just register the clients and front desk coordinators which you bring in clients, retriever files, answer phones. Another is kitchen coordinators which you heat and serve/plan meals. Third, clothing closet coordinators which consists of sorting/organizing and you shelve clothing. Fourth, food pantry coordinators. Here you stock and organize shelves and assure levels. Fifth, volunteer coordinators and here you coordinate schedules/tasks and train volunteers. Lastly, community ambassadors and here you present Journeys at fairs, community events, etc. In this program we will be taking care of families that are homeless and in poverty.

The shelters are open from October 1^st until April 30^th. There are five shifts that we could go and do volunteer work at so it shouldn’t be a problem with date or time management. The first shift is the setup shift which starts at 6am. This shift you ready sleeping area (set up pads, linens, receive food donations), se up facility, prepare serving area and registration desk, monitor parking lot(s), and set up dining area. The shift after that is the first shift which starts from 6:30 till 11pm. Here you would provide food as assigned and prepared by volunteers, register guests, assist with serving dinner, make guests feel welcome, monitor all areas and secure doors at 9:00pm (trips to car and smoking breaks must be accompanied by male volunteer). The second shift starts from 11pm till 3am. Here you maintain intake desk, admit approved late arrivals, prepare lunches (site specific), and monitor all site areas hourly. The third shift starts from 3 till 7am. Here you would do the same things as in second shift but you would awaken guests and prepare breakfast. The fourth shift is the clean-up which starts 6 till 7am.Journey from Pads to Hope assists women, men, and families in northwest suburban Cook County. They assist people who have become or are at risk of becoming homeless. They also provide homeless people with clothing and food closets. Some sites also provide case management and mental health treatment.Each of us will go to different locations so we all can get different experience and picture of volunteering.

Kimberley States

On Thursday February, 25th we had a speaker that went thru a lot in her life. Forty years old Kimberley States and mother of two kids stayed on streets for twenty six years . Her presentation was very entertaining and educative. She had a really harsh life, which in a way she choose to go down that path. She came from a good family, but in early age choose to take her own way down the path. She went from being a good person to abusing different kind of drugs, lived on the streets, became a prostitute, and spent some time in jail. Kimberley has been 5 times in prison,she served for 10 years in jail. Thru many years she had serious drug problem. It took Kimberley twenty six year to realize that she is better then being a drug abuser and spending her life in jail and streets. Last time she did in jail she realize that she needs to change her life to better. She had stooped using drugs and other things that she did in past. She is a changed women that is taking care of her self and her family.

Kimberley had talked about how bad it gets when you are living on the streets. Back at the time when she started living on the streets the times was better then now. Random people would give them money and there was not as many homeless people as of now. Now do to recession that is going on in this country a lot of people are loosing their jobs and saving every penny they have. More people are becoming homeless, and less people are giving their change to homeless. She also talked about life in prison. Guards and officers in prisons did not treat them in any respectful way. She made a picture of how jail system really works, and how some of them are not really following the rules. Although her presentation was very good and it showed us that people can change if they want to .

So You Think I Drive a Cadillac? Chapter 2

In Chapter two Seccombe's "So You Think I Drive a Cadillac?" deals with individualism. It focuses on finding explanation as to why poverty and welfare use exists. The argument against Individual perspective in this chapter is what I found very interesting. The fact that it deals with those who feel that the individual should be responsible for their financial situations and achievements through out life. Opportunities are presented for everyone in their life; they just have to find a right path in life and work hard on it. Seccombes argues that people who receive welfare should be able to improve their economic situation easily. For some people it is not that easy to overcome the poverty especially with the lack of jobs we have. Seccombe also argues that is not that easy to leave welfare system if you are a single mother and have to take care of the kids. Its hard for them to find a job because of the time issue, who would then take care of their kids while they are working. So, for them its understandable why they are on welfare. Younger people with more opportunities should not take advantage of welfare. People that are able of making their own money should look for their opportunities in life.