Good luck to you too. BTW, have you heard of a program called Reach One to Teach One? I may not have the name exactly right, but the program was set up to identify high risk kids, those in drug homes, or using drugs themselves. It provided a mentoring/counseling component to actually teach kids other alternatives. I just recently heard of this program, and was saddened it had been disbanded here. Do you know any details as to why, and how it was working. I thought (from what I heard) that this was a great idea. I asked the person who told me about it what was the youngest age they had had. I think they said a 10 or 11 year old that had been smoking pot with their parents since about age 8. I am all for finding ways to better our communities, even though I may not agree with EVERYTHING!

It sounds like you have all your bases covered. Good luck with all that.

southfan,

When you did your dissertation, was that based on book research or actually “going into the streets,” so to speak? I am just curious, because I have feeling statistics are different from the reality I see daily. This isn’t just about projects, it is everywhere, every race, every color. There are people living in rural areas, in trailers, neighborhoods that are selling drugs too. But there are also plenty of people that would be considered low-income by the government standard that do not sell drugs, who go to a job every day, and follow the law. Back to my earlier opinion of being a choice.

What did people do in the days before welfare and government aide? They provided for themselves, doing manual labor, or they starved. If some of these programs were cut, I think it would be interesting to see the outcome.

There are plenty of education options for low income-it’s called a Pell Grant. Way more options for the low income, refuse to get off their behind and get a job, than for people who do actually work their tails off everyday to support the government give me programs.

You are right about the garage apartments, etc. I do believe you have to want to do better though. There are people who pull themselves out of a project mentality every day. I see plenty of people who are low income who are furthering their education. And I applaud that. But I also see plenty of able bodied people who would rather sit on their porch with a beer at 900am, or hang around on street corners in their Polo duds, doing who knows what. Jobs are available. True may not be what we want, but you gotta start somewhere. I will also point out that Alabama Village actually backs up to Chickasaw. I wouldn’t be quick to jump to the conclusion that Chickasaw is drug or crime free. I also wouldn’t be quick to use that same conclusion on Midtown. I can name places all over Midtown where drugs are “known.”

But I do agree something needs to be done. But I don’t buy the project mentality that this is all they know, so therefore it’s our fault they aren’t doing better.

I have worked in Social Services since 1991, completed my DSW in 1995 and did my dissertation on poverty, drug addiction and treatment options. I am not sure that simply wanting to do better is the criteria for being able to climb out of poverty. If that is all you are around, it’s not easy to come up with a new plan, there are no education options and you have no dream. Since you mention Springhill, I will point out that there are a surprising number of people who live in carriage houses/garages, small apartments and along the fringes. If they had drug traffic coming through their front yards, residents would scream for law enforcement to DO something about it. It is not tolerated. It’s not accepted in Chickasaw either. The mid-town area of Mobile seems to have pushed that population farther to the edges as well. How have they done that, yet other areas are abandoned to crime?

As a home health nurse, I see low income families throughout the county, yes including the “projects.” I will say some “projects” are nicer than others. For instance the old Bessemar projects have been renovated, and are very cute houses/apartments. Gulf Village right next to Alabama Village, has some newer units, and they are renovating some of the older units. I don’t think putting low income families in Springhill is going to solve the problem. You have to want to do better, to do better. But, drugs aren’t necessarily just a low income problem, though it does seem more prevalent-see forum discussion Who’s Helping Who. Like I said, as a community health nurse, I see it all.

Congregating low income families into projects just never seemed to work. There are some countries that have been successful, not many. Personally, I believe it would be better to disperse and mix income levels.  In researching positive, low income housing situations, it seems that strict qualifications, adherence to the rules and clear policies in regard to removal of problem residents makes it work. The housing in Chickasaw seems nice and clean. I wonder how they do it. Are there other areas in Mobile that work, are safe and have public transportation available?

I know what congregate means, I just wasn’t sure how it related to this. If you mean that there are too many people living in one house, then isn’t that a choice? Or did you mean something else?
If low income is a problem, or maybe in this case “no income"-other than drug money-isn’t that also a choice?

Congregate means to collect into a group or croud.