Florence-Firestone is an unincorporated area in the South L.A. region of Los Angeles County. Florence-Firestone has an estimated population of 60,154 with the dominant ethnicities being Latino (86.1%), Black (12.8 %) White 0.8% and Other (0.3%) (Maps.latimes.com, 2016). Florence-Firestone has high percentages of ethnic minorities and also has a high crime rate. Most of the community concerns amongst the interviewees had to do with some sort of crime being involved. According to the Los Angeles Times (latimes) crime map, within the past six months there has been 302 violent crimes and 683 property crimes. These statics prove that crime is a big issue in this community, ironically some residents do not feel any sense of fear about their community,
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Campos is seventy years old and has lived in the Florence–Firestone area for forty years of his life. One thing that makes him proud to live in this area is the relationships he has built with his neighbors for over thirty years. He has been a homeowner for over thirty years, aside from owning his home, he also owns a 12 unit apartment complex in the area. Mr. Campos has seen how the Florence –Firestone area has gradually developed over time, he mentioned how twenty years ago gang violence was at all-time high. He experienced racial discrimination when he first came to the United States. However, he and his wife did manage to raise five kids without any of them turning to drugs or gangs. Mr. Campos is always actively trying to keep young kids from joining gangs, sometimes mentoring them and letting them know that gang banging will either result in death or jail time. One thing that he mentioned and that he would like for a change to occur is for road bumps to be put on the streets because the cars drive at a ridiculously high speed. As Mr. Campos said “these cars drive up and down the street as if it was a …show more content…
Ms. Solis is very active in her local church. She has been going to St. Malachy Catholic Church for the past twenty plus years. Ms. Solis also has been teaching catechism class for the past ten years. She is a strong advocate for the church; she frequently encourages parents to bring their kids to mass on Sundays. Gloria believes that the church community is such a tight knit community, “I feel very blessed that fellow church members unite to try and help troubled families by often offering free food and clothing every Sunday morning at church”. One of her concerns about the community is graffiti and how people outside of her community are quick to associate South L.A. with graffiti and gangs. Ms. Solis believes that most the young kids that she has seen with her own two eyes tagging walls are lacking attention from their parents. As a result, the troubled youth often join gangs and abuse drugs. Ms. Solis states “We as a community need to come together and encourage each other as parents to pay more attention to our kids because parents often are too busy with work that they forget they have
Campos is seventy years old and has lived in the Florence–Firestone area for forty years of his life. One thing that makes him proud to live in this area is the relationships he has built with his neighbors for over thirty years. He has been a homeowner for over thirty years, aside from owning his home, he also owns a 12 unit apartment complex in the area. Mr. Campos has seen how the Florence –Firestone area has gradually developed over time, he mentioned how twenty years ago gang violence was at all-time high. He experienced racial discrimination when he first came to the United States. However, he and his wife did manage to raise five kids without any of them turning to drugs or gangs. Mr. Campos is always actively trying to keep young kids from joining gangs, sometimes mentoring them and letting them know that gang banging will either result in death or jail time. One thing that he mentioned and that he would like for a change to occur is for road bumps to be put on the streets because the cars drive at a ridiculously high speed. As Mr. Campos said “these cars drive up and down the street as if it was a …show more content…
Ms. Solis is very active in her local church. She has been going to St. Malachy Catholic Church for the past twenty plus years. Ms. Solis also has been teaching catechism class for the past ten years. She is a strong advocate for the church; she frequently encourages parents to bring their kids to mass on Sundays. Gloria believes that the church community is such a tight knit community, “I feel very blessed that fellow church members unite to try and help troubled families by often offering free food and clothing every Sunday morning at church”. One of her concerns about the community is graffiti and how people outside of her community are quick to associate South L.A. with graffiti and gangs. Ms. Solis believes that most the young kids that she has seen with her own two eyes tagging walls are lacking attention from their parents. As a result, the troubled youth often join gangs and abuse drugs. Ms. Solis states “We as a community need to come together and encourage each other as parents to pay more attention to our kids because parents often are too busy with work that they forget they have