State of People, Institutions, and Communities
To understand the Context related to people, institutions, and communities, LPAC conducted a thorough community assessment and asset mapping. We made the following findings concerning the state of our society:
STATE OF PEOPLE, INSTITUTIONS, AND COMMUNITIES
| People |
|
ª Most children, youth, and adults do not have a clear awareness of their gifts or talents, and thus do not employ them toward personal and community development efforts.
ª Most of the children are among the lowest performing students and have few concrete academic enrichment opportunities.
ª Most teens don’t have access to or don’t know how to access high school or college/career advisement, or to character development services.
ª Many youth are engaging in violent behavior, due in large part to lack of structure or skills to respond to conflicts non-violently.
ª Many adults have few venues to strengthen their families, continue their education, or develop their character.
ª Few are engaged in community or school affairs.
ª Few assume leadership roles in their communities.
ª Most lack access to community resources that respond to their cultural, linguistic, and socio-economic realities, or don’t know how to access them.
ª Most lack affordable education-based childcare services.
ª Many have the highest high school drop out rate.
ª Many have the lowest median annual household and per capita incomes in the state.
ª At least one-third of families live at or below poverty.
ª Half of the female-headed households w/children under 18 years live at or below poverty.
ª Many households receive some form of public assistance income.
ª Nearly half of children are born into poverty.
ª The average household is larger than the city and state averages.
ª Teen pregnancy has reached epidemic proportions.
ª Gang activity is prevalent, with a high degree of recruitment. |
| Institutions |
|
ª Most of these faith-based and community-based organizations (FBO’s and CBO’s) in these states serve low-income or working class communities and peoples.
ª Most did not have established formal systems or structures.
ª Most did not have formal board, staff, or volunteer development programs.
ª Most did not have direct contact with funders
ª Most did not have fully developed program designs or implementation strategies.
ª Many have not conducted comprehensive community needs assessments.
ª Most had never engaged in joint efforts with other institutions.
ª Most have not shifted their service paradigm to a more systemic approach, where they would address the root issues and prepare service recipients to help improve their reality.
ª Most have offered informal services to provide temporary relief to individuals and families, but have operated from a traditional service delivery model with little input and involvement from service recipients. |
| Communities |
|
ª Many of these communities are confronted by complex social systems and structures that in many ways have further disenfranchised its members.
ª Their social systems and structures fail to engage members in community and personal development efforts, leaving many with unrealized potential or misplaced resentment, which continues to add to an underperforming underclass.
ª They are plagued with a high level of drugs, delinquency and dropout, etc., which has resulted in mental, spiritual and physical death among the residents.
ª Their crime indices are higher than city, state, and national averages, with robberies, assaults, burglaries, larcenies, and auto thefts being significantly higher than the averages.
ª They often have the lowest income per capita in the city and state.
ª They have undergone remarkable demographic transformations during the past two decades with the proportion of the low-income and immigrant populations increasing exponentially.
ª They have the lowest median annual household and per capita incomes.
ª After-school programs in these communities meet less than one-quarter of the need. |
STATE OF COMMUNITY PILLARS
To LPAC, the community pillars of Families, Schools, Community-Based Organizations (CBOs), and Churches (Houses of Worship) collectively make up the foundation of a healthy community.
|
SCHOOLS |
FAMILIES |
COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS |
CHURCHES |
| FAMILIES… |
| Family is the main source of most people's foundation and strength, where they learn values and ethics, and are nurtured. At the same time, many families have been places of abuse, oppression, violence, and dehumanization. ª Many are low-income Latino and African American families, with children who attend under-performing public schools. ª Many are from single-headed female households, and a large segment is living with or near addiction and/or violence. ª Some have members who have dealt with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. ª A large percentage has members who are active in gangs or street organizations. ª Also, a good amount has dealt with the foster care system, and many are led by grandparents and other guardians. |
| SCHOOLS… |
|
It is a national consensus that education in the US is in crisis. Seventeen percent (17%) of Americans do not have much confidence in public schools, particularly in urban centers. ª Most urban, and many suburban, schools lack the basic resources to provide a quality education. ª Money is being diverted from public education to private ventures or other government programs. ª Many teachers lack the proper training to address the diverse needs of the student population. ª As a result, our children are being mis-educated and the dropout rate is alarming, especially among Latinos and African Americans. ª In addition, public and parochial schools are not demanding excellence or creating partnerships with our school administrators, teachers, and parents. |
| COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATIONS… |
| Community-based organizations (CBO's) CBO's are an important part of our society because they focus on a public need that governments do not address. They are a place where people and institutions are educated and empowered to respond to community issues. ª However, CBO’s often are weakened by their dependency on public funds. ª They also have been weakened by lack of mission and vision, as well as an effective strategy. ª Most are not supported and owned economically by our communities; it is only then that they can advocate for political and economic resources that would strengthen and stabilize our communities. ª The corporate church has not developed a tradition of philanthropy (giving/ stewardship) amongst its constituencies that support community organizations; in fact, it has not taught its members to give toward building its own indigenous infrastructures. We believe it is our role to develop partnerships with CBO’s to create a better society. |
| CHURCHES… |
| Thirteen percent (13%) of Americans do not have much confidence in Christian churches, yet church is the last hope of today's world. The church has the power to be the most transformative place for individuals through the power of God. ª However, the church has struggled for years with the dichotomy separating the sacred versus the secular, and the personal versus the structural. ª Our churches, especially in the Latino community, have found it hard to respond to both those who want to save the soul and change the system. ª Those that have tried to merge the two perspectives have found tension, fear, resistance, and accusations of giving out a "watered-down" or fragmented message. ª In many ways, the church has not helped individuals embrace a personal and community development approach to life. |