Most of you know that the children I work with are from Potomac Gardens Housing Project on Capitol Hill (the above picture is one of our boys swinging on the project's surprisingly nice playground). PG is located in the middle of a nearly completely gentrified neighborhood, and sticks out like a sore thumb. The children of PG have developed a reputation of being "no good" - committing petty, and not so petty, crimes, verbally assaulting passers-by, participating in drug and alcohol use, etc. Some of the more fed-up neighbors have decided that something needs to be done. Their solution is to march through the Gardens, in protest of its existence.
I cannot tell you how much the idea of this disturbs me. It is not that I am blind to the fact that much, if not all, of the crime is, in fact, perpetrated by residents of PG. It is also not that I think they should be given a free pass because they themselves have grown up in difficult (to say the least) circumstances. It is simply that I think this is probably THE WORST POSSIBLE way of going about solving the problem. Not only would it terrify the children, I'm fairly sure it would also incite a race riot.
Here is a link to an article about the problem: http://dcist.com/2008/05/16/neighborhood_de.php. There is no easy answer, but we NEED to work together to find a better answer that the proponents of the march have suggested. The good thing is, this whole situation has sparked some much-needed debate. There has been a great deal of talking back and forth in the yahoo group.
Here is the post that our fearless leader, Steve Park, added to the conversation a few days ago. He expresses many of my own thoughts well:
I just wanted to offer myself and our organization as a resource in this conversation. I am the Executive Director of Little Lights Urban Ministries (www.littlelights.org). We are a faith-based community organization on the hill and we've been working with children and youth from Potomac Gardens since 1998.
I realize there is a great divide between the residents outside the Gardens and the residents inside. I empathize with those of you who have been victims of a violent crime. It is a truly traumatic painful experience. I had a roommate who was held up at gunpoint and a bullet shred shatter a glass window in my daughter's bedroom.
I think with the energy and passion provoked by the anger and concern, there is a real opportunity to bring multiple parties (residents, city govt, community organizations and churches, etc.) together to commit to long-term solutions to the ills in the neighborhood. I believe there can be a win/win for the residents around PG and the law abiding majority of residents and youth in PG.
I have spent many, many hours in PG and have gotten to know many of the youth and children there. There are many youth there who now attend college: one is at Virginia Tech as an engineering major, one who attends Liberty University in VA, another student who attends Temple U, another who attends Edward Waters in Jacksonville, and many others who are doing a lot of positive things with there lives.
Three of the youth who attended our programs now wake up at 6am everyday and take the bus to Georgetown every morning to attend Duke Ellington (a respected music and arts public high school in DC) to study the arts. One student was able to gain entry into Ellington because a caring volunteer took the time to teach her guitar after-school. One of our attendees recently received a scholarship to attend St. Johns private school and others who attend Cesar Chavez right on 12th street and are thriving in a rigorous college-prep program. Another student who lives at the Gardens is now raising money to travel as a student ambassador to several cities in Europe this summer. She was selected for her exemplary grades and attitude. She happens to have a very committed mentor in her life.
A lot of children come to our tutoring and after-school program voluntarily without parents forcing them. We actually have a waiting list of kids who want to come to Bible study and church who live at the Gardens.
There are many practical things we could do to come together as a broader community to do good. There is already a lot of good going on, but it has not been enough to turn the tide. More energy, people, resources, government support, and coordination is needed.
No doubt, there are many parents/guardians who need to be held more to account, but there are also many parents working full-time or multiple jobs as well trying to just meet the most basic needs. I think marching through Potomac Gardens would do much more harm than good and hurt many people including children and youth who are trying very hard to head in the right direction. The anger should be directed at the actual criminals and perhaps some of the past injustices that helped to create urban blight in our cities.
Most of the crime and drug dealing going on at PG are not from residents who live there. They are people who live outside of PG but loiter there. There used to be security guards at each entrance, but it seems that funding has been cut and those security guards are no longer around. The lights on the property rarely seem to get changed.
I think we should advocate for some of the abandoned apartment units in PG to be turned into a community center/computer lab/arts center. Our organization would certainly be committed to helping to provide services on-site.
There are a number of organizations who are stake-holders in Potomac Gardens. There's Capitol Hill Group Ministries, Faith Temple Church, Friends of John Tyler, etc. Most of these organizations run programs on a very limited budget, but there are quite a number of people who care about the residents who live there, especially the children and youth.
Feel free to contact me if you would like to take a visit into Potomac Gardens to meet some of the youth or volunteer at our program or if you would like to chat more on these issues. We will be actually hosting a talent show on June 21st featuring kids from PG at Mount Joy Baptist Church. Our website has more details.
For those of you who have been victims of crime, my heart goes out to you. It is terrible when people have so little regard for the well-being of others. I hope there can be healing in the midst of the pain.
With Hope,
Steve Park
I realize there is a great divide between the residents outside the Gardens and the residents inside. I empathize with those of you who have been victims of a violent crime. It is a truly traumatic painful experience. I had a roommate who was held up at gunpoint and a bullet shred shatter a glass window in my daughter's bedroom.
I think with the energy and passion provoked by the anger and concern, there is a real opportunity to bring multiple parties (residents, city govt, community organizations and churches, etc.) together to commit to long-term solutions to the ills in the neighborhood. I believe there can be a win/win for the residents around PG and the law abiding majority of residents and youth in PG.
I have spent many, many hours in PG and have gotten to know many of the youth and children there. There are many youth there who now attend college: one is at Virginia Tech as an engineering major, one who attends Liberty University in VA, another student who attends Temple U, another who attends Edward Waters in Jacksonville, and many others who are doing a lot of positive things with there lives.
Three of the youth who attended our programs now wake up at 6am everyday and take the bus to Georgetown every morning to attend Duke Ellington (a respected music and arts public high school in DC) to study the arts. One student was able to gain entry into Ellington because a caring volunteer took the time to teach her guitar after-school. One of our attendees recently received a scholarship to attend St. Johns private school and others who attend Cesar Chavez right on 12th street and are thriving in a rigorous college-prep program. Another student who lives at the Gardens is now raising money to travel as a student ambassador to several cities in Europe this summer. She was selected for her exemplary grades and attitude. She happens to have a very committed mentor in her life.
A lot of children come to our tutoring and after-school program voluntarily without parents forcing them. We actually have a waiting list of kids who want to come to Bible study and church who live at the Gardens.
There are many practical things we could do to come together as a broader community to do good. There is already a lot of good going on, but it has not been enough to turn the tide. More energy, people, resources, government support, and coordination is needed.
No doubt, there are many parents/guardians who need to be held more to account, but there are also many parents working full-time or multiple jobs as well trying to just meet the most basic needs. I think marching through Potomac Gardens would do much more harm than good and hurt many people including children and youth who are trying very hard to head in the right direction. The anger should be directed at the actual criminals and perhaps some of the past injustices that helped to create urban blight in our cities.
Most of the crime and drug dealing going on at PG are not from residents who live there. They are people who live outside of PG but loiter there. There used to be security guards at each entrance, but it seems that funding has been cut and those security guards are no longer around. The lights on the property rarely seem to get changed.
I think we should advocate for some of the abandoned apartment units in PG to be turned into a community center/computer lab/arts center. Our organization would certainly be committed to helping to provide services on-site.
There are a number of organizations who are stake-holders in Potomac Gardens. There's Capitol Hill Group Ministries, Faith Temple Church, Friends of John Tyler, etc. Most of these organizations run programs on a very limited budget, but there are quite a number of people who care about the residents who live there, especially the children and youth.
Feel free to contact me if you would like to take a visit into Potomac Gardens to meet some of the youth or volunteer at our program or if you would like to chat more on these issues. We will be actually hosting a talent show on June 21st featuring kids from PG at Mount Joy Baptist Church. Our website has more details.
For those of you who have been victims of crime, my heart goes out to you. It is terrible when people have so little regard for the well-being of others. I hope there can be healing in the midst of the pain.
With Hope,
Steve Park
Keep this situation in your prayers. If you are a member of the East Hill neighborhood, I encourage you to join the Newhilleast Yahoo Group to get involved with the conversation (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/newhilleast/).
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