Grove Street: Extreme Segregation

One may not truly understand Berkeley until they delve deep into its history. Berkeley has faced extreme segregation as Martin Luther King Jr. Way Street, previously known as Grove Street until 1984, divided the city. Most of the minority groups lived on the worse off end and the majority, which consisted of primarily white residents, continued to enjoy the better services and schools of the city (Chavez & Frankenberg 2009). The zoning forced minority groups and Blacks to live alongside the coast, near the ports by the Marina Bay, and away from the inner city and its amenities (Melville 1970). In fact, the extremes of the de facto segregation were seen when Lincoln School in Berkeley consisted of 97.4 percent black students and Oxford School, …show more content…
In 1968, after years of struggle, Berkeley and its schools finally began to desegregate (Chavez & Frankenberg 2009). It reorganized the way it zoned its community. Through the use of buses that transported children all across town as well as balancing out the racial proportions of students at each school, Berkeley Unified School District (BUSD) became one of the first schools to take such a huge step (Melville 1970). In addition, for the first time, parents were able to choose what school they would like their child to attend, creating a self desegregation method, and increased involvement from all members of the community (Melville 1970). However, unfortunately more than 25% of the children in the Berkeley Unified School District are still under the poverty line. Furthermore, more than 54% of these children receive free or reduced lunch (Haung & Barnidge 2016), exemplifying that students are still suffering from their ancestors’ racial disadvantages and strong former political history (Katz 2012). Therefore, it comes to our attention that many citizens are in need of …show more content…
After school programs take over and improve the quality of the school as well as are beneficial for students. According to Leos-Urbel and Wade (2015), a quantitative way to measure this truth is through 2students test scores. After school programs are usually held when students need additional assistance and the school has enough money to sustain the program (Njapa-Minyard 2010). A large majority of after school programs entail of tutoring and additional homework aid but usually do not go beyond those measures. My organization, Leadership for Aspiring Physicians, has created an afterschool program that is a bit more advanced and tailors to our communities needs. Instead of academic support, my group leaders and I provide useful resources and health information to both students and their parents alike. Low-income students often times do not receive undivided attention in their homes nor are exposed to information such as proper hygiene care, etc and my organization aims to supply all this and