Redeemer Community Partnership is a nonprofit, Christian community development corporation that builds better neighborhoods in South Los Angeles by creating safe, healthy, opportunity-rich communities where children, youth and their families thrive.
Drug addiction. Unemployment. Gang violence. Overcrowded homes. Low test scores.Police brutality. Prostitution. Homelessness. Torn-up sidewalks. Burglaries. Teen pregnancy. Alcohol abuse. Domestic violence. Hopelessness. ]
All are familiar problems in urban communities like ours. Below are some specific experiences our friends and neighbors have shared:
Two teenaged intruders led my 10-year-old son around the house and forced him, under the threat of violence, to point out where valuables were located. The break-in happened in broad daylight while I was with a neighbor across the street.
I was raped twice during the time I was sleeping in the park.
My school told me I didn’t have enough credits to graduate because I got an “F” in English. My whole English class failed that semester because our teacher left unexpectedly. The substitute teacher we had never assigned any work so the school said we couldn’t get credit for that class.
I was walking to pick up my sister from the middle school she attends. Suddenly, a group of young men surrounded me. They threw me onto the ground and started to punch and kick me.
Our church group was leading basketball and soccer camps for about 40 children in the local park. Suddenly we found ourselves surrounded by men, young and old, all wearing overt gang attire. We knocked on the door of the recreation center building but the staff would not open it. So we left our equipment behind and walked the children as quickly as we could to a church down the street.
I have to steer my wheelchair into the street because the sidewalks near my house are too torn up. This makes it a frightening experience to go grocery shopping, to visit a friend or to attend church.
My daughter didn’t understand her homework and I couldn’t help her because my English is not good enough. So I went to the local grocery store and started asking passers-by if they would be willing to help us.
After hearing gunshots in front of my apartment I was the first to reach the scene of a drive-by shooting. I called 911 and followed the operator’s instructions to slow the victim’s bleeding. It was early afternoon and the streets were full of children walking home from school. The victim died there on the sidewalk.
