Friday, March 27, 2009
NY TIMES: Missouri System Treats Juvenile Offenders With Lighter Hand
New York Times article on success stories of juvenile justice system in Missouri - the Missouri Model.
Friday, March 20, 2009
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Where they go and where their from:
After looking into Rikers prison history I started to focus in on the "Million Dollar block." A million dollar block is a neighborhood or block with enough imprisoned residents that one million dollars or more is being spent on prison costs. The cost of imprisonment is so high that it takes surprisingly few imprisoned residents to reach the million dollar mark, spawning the related "five million dollar block." In a million dollar block, more government resources may be spent on imprisonment than any other social or public services, raising a number of questions in extremely poor and crime-ridden neighborhoods.
The concept of the million dollar block emerged in 1998, when researchers in NYC began mapping incarcerations block by block, creating a visual representation of the number of people on watch block who were in prison. They identified a number of hot spot neighborhoods, where large numbers of former residents were in prison, and started calling them "million dollar blocks." By looking at these blocks, a number of trends of have been identified; such as a large number of citizens below the poverty level, along with a high number of minorities.
The Air Quality is Questioned in Long Island City
This diagram brakes down the CO2 emissions that are produced by the QueensBoro Bridge. This large piece of infrastructure creates a scare within the neighborhood. It also produces almost 74 tons of carbon a day, with 192,000 cars. To nutrualize this you would need over 500 trees.
This is a diagram showing the density of human traffic in relationship to Fortune.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
First step into 'Freedom', Off the Rikers Island bus
Adam Fifield, a journalist for the NY Times, reports about the first things that the formerly incarcerated people of Rikers Island are met with as they set foot off the bus in Queens Plaza, Long Island City. Fifield quotes Jennifer Wynn, author of "Inside Rikers: Stories From the World's Largest Penal Colony", "It's in the first few minutes at Queens Plaza that they make a lot of decisions that will affect the next six months to a year of their life." These few moments are the defining moments of whether the newly freed inmates will return back to their old ways. Upon getting off the bus, the men are immediately faceed with drug merchants, hustlers, prostitutes, gang activity and other temptations, which will drag them back into a life of illegal activity.
Through some interviews, the author also brings to light how important the mentalities of the guys stepping off the bus are, and how it affects the decisions that they make soon as they step off the bus.
I think that this is very important because in a our client's journey (assuming that our client, is not just the people would walk through the doors, but also any formerly incarcerated person), the point when he gets off the bus and meets a 'freedom', which is filled with illegal temptation, is probably the client's most vulnerable point. Therefore, I think that it would be a very effective point for potential clients to discover the benefits of Fortune and have the option to create a new life for themselves, as opposed to falling into the traps of their old habits.
An "Enterprise" Solution for Drug Users
This BBC article suggests a very interesting way of deterring drug users away from their drug habits. Considering a large percentage of Fortune's community are or were substance abusers, the thoughts in this article are highly relevant.
"The key issue is not the availability of drugs, but rather the problematic drug use caused by social exclusion." This takeaway reinforces the need for us to address the social environment in which Fortune operates. Therefore, bringing emphasis on how much we have to ensure that our service suggestions for Fortune will provide social support for the clients, within the physical Fortune walls, but also outside in their communities. For example, from what we have heard about the Castle, the Castle seems to have breached the physical walls and created a strong support system for clients within the neighborhood community.
The suggestion that the article brings forth is regarding business: "Studies have shown how that "taking care of business" gives motivation, meaning and structure to a drug user's day." Essentially, they suggest and give examples of success stories, of how helping drug users to start up businesses is a good distraction away from the drugs. Thus, what many drug help groups, globally, have done are provide business incubator services or business education. I think that helping people start up a business is a valid idea because it encompasses a whole set of needs, including financials, sense of ownership and pride, a passionate project, and so on.
BBC News, "Addicts need 'enterprise solution', March 24, 2002, http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1889580.stm
Friday, March 6, 2009
Queensbridge Housing Projects: A look at the largest housing projects in North America
Safe, scared, un-welcomed, and content are just a few of the feelings one can expect to experience when they walk through the streets of Long Island City, Queens. An area that is troubled with a strange paradox of new versus old, L.I.C. is a place that seems to bustle one minute with new life, while having shades of emptiness lingering in the shadows. Through an almost troubling journey through the city, I took intrigue in the Queensbridge Housing Projects located in the Northwestern part of L.I.C. The “Bridge” as most Queens natives refer to it, is the largest housing project in North America opened in 1939 with 3,142 units. The New York Housing Authority owns these projects that occupy almost 7,000 individuals. “The Bridge” brings its residents a large sense of community, yet is raided with crime. Residents here don’t know whether to feel safe or to stay locked indoors, a feeling that is all too familiar, as it proves reminiscent of the one I myself experienced in the city, which begs the question: is there a parallel between life in “the bridge” and life in L.I.C? Furthermore, is there a relationship between these projects and the Fortune Society?
In the 1950’s, it was mandated that any family in the Queensbridge housing projects with an income of over $3,000 had to move out. The majority of these people were Caucasian, leaving the projects, which was once a blend of all ethnicities and races, to have a heavily populated African-American community. It was this majority of African-American’s that caused any Caucasian family still living in the projects to leave due to uncomfortable feelings. Still, with “the bridge” populated mostly by African-American’s and Hispanics, there was a strong sense of community. Selena M. Blake, a former resident of the Queensbridge Housing Projects, wanted to bring awareness to this sense of community in her documentary Queensbridge: The Other Side. Several residents and former residents interviewed in the documentary also had a lot to say about the community noting things such as “the doors were never locked,” “black, white, Hispanic, it didn’t matter, it was great,” and “everybody got along.” An argument she raises in the film is this paradox between misery and community. If the projects are to be a place filled with crime and unsafe feelings, than what’s the explanation for the long waiting lists? which Selena attributes is due to a community feeling over families that are just in need and on the edge of poverty.
While Selena’s documentary shows a time where the projects was a safe place to raise your kids despite the crime, it still doesn’t answer why the crime is there in the first place. In fact, just recently in early February of 2009, 59 people between the ages of 17 and 68 were arrested on charges of narcotics and firearm trafficking. Councilman and chair of the Public Safety Commission, Peter Vallone Jr., noted “these types of arrest are both dangerous and difficult, but well worth the effort.” Where do these people go? We place them in jail and prisons, where they will then face a life afterwards that, as we’ve seen from the Fortune Society, isn’t as easy as the life they have in prison because there are new challenges to face in being a formerly incarcerated individual.
In another short clip of Queensbridge: The Other Side, one man gives a powerful message when he talks about how society today categorizes people as ‘project people,’ that society doesn’t see the councilman, the mothers and the fathers, they see the projects. This brings an issue very closely related to the Fortune Society in that society today categorizes formerly incarcerated individuals as just that, not John, or Joe. Selena Blake once said about her documentary, “If kids today will say 'I don't have to feel bad because I'm from the projects,' it will be worth it.” In working with Next F Project, it puts organisations like the Fortune Society in perspective; if formerly incarcerated individuals can say ‘I don’t have to feel bad because I am a formerly incarcerated individual,’ because of the Fortune Society, than I think we can all say, Fortune’s worth it.
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New York City Housing Authority, “Factsheet”, December 2, 2008.
Burger, John; Her Film Project Happens to be Her Project; New York Times, December 2005
Leonard, Paul; Drug and Gun Bust at Queensbridge Houses, Queens Chronicle, February 12, 2009
Queensbridge: The Other Side film clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSgPBRZYgWo
Sunday, March 1, 2009
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