Making a Community Greater Than a Dream

What would you imagine your community to be like? Would the walls be full of graffiti? Would the streets have constant crime and violence? Would the morning sounds be filled with wailing sirens? Or would your dream community have children laughing and playing in their front yards with beautiful clean streets and smiling neighbors? Unfortunately, my community is almost everything a dream community should not be. There is trash sprinkled on the sidewalks and weed growing between the cement blocks. Children are hardly ever seen playing outside of their homes because they are afraid of being caught at the wring place at the wrong time. Parents are struggling financially and are too caught up in trying to feed their families to notice that they are trapped in a community that can not progress. In order to overcome theses obstacles our community needs to develop programs that work to enhance the cleanliness and security of our neighborhoods to progress toward a dream community.

I had interviewed Maria Guadalupe Sandoval to see what she had to say about her community. “People are the problem,” said Mrs. Sandoval “I bought a house thinking that it was in a clean safe community-I thought wrong. There is graffiti everywhere and gangsters jumping over walls in the middle of the night.” Mrs. Sandoval was asked what she would have wanted to change about her community. She stated, “The cleanness and the attitude of the people living here because there is also disrespect coming from adults towards kids walking from school.” Mrs. Sandoval’s daughter, Elizabeth Sandoval, was also interviewed and was asked what she thought about her community. She stated, “I get scared once in a while.” She was also asked what she would change in her community and she responded, “I would make it cleaner. Why? It would be more inviting. It would feel more like home if it was clean and I would have more pride in it.” With only the first two people interviewed we already see that the main concerns in the community are the appearance as well as the security.

What would be some ways that could help our neighbors beautify the community? One way would be to develop a network within the neighbors called neighborhood watch. By doing this we can develop a better sense of community and teamwork. We could also hire more police officers and help the economy by having people earn money and contributing back to society. The problem is simple, there’s an elephant in the room and no one seems to notice. The elephant represents the appearance of the community, ignored and brushed aside. We should increase the awareness of the problem starting with our children so that they grow up creating a stronger sense of working towards a cleaner environment. They will be examples of showing that the foundation of a great community is to have teamwork.

There will obstacles for our community but through these ideas we can work to enhance the cleanliness and security of our neighborhoods and to progress toward our dream community. The image of our community should not stop us from believing we can do better. With dedication and effort, our community could become a role model for other communities reaching a safer environment.           

By Carolina