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Poverty and education in the East End
Today’s RTD has a look the poverty/education connection in the East End:
After years of violence and a seemingly endless cycle of despair in a part of town that is home to four large public housing complexes and some of the most concentrated poverty on the East Coast, much good is happening in Richmond’s East End these days.
But change has taken decades, and there are still deep-rooted social challenges in that part of the city, particularly in schools.
[…]
The problem in the East End is that while middle-class families are moving in, the majority of school-age children live in poverty, and many come from homes where parents cannot or will not involve themselves in schools. The city school population as a whole has a poverty rate of 70 percent; in the East End, some schools are closer to 100 percent.
TAGGED: schools
So what about the parents that do care…Its one high school in the east end, one middle school…middle class people are you serious. The people already here were middle class until they brought drugs to the community to destroy IT. They decided to raise the taxes making it hard for older people who already owned their homes to pay living on fixed income. The projects, well who lives in those. Im bot sick of people speaking on this community like they lived here.
It wasnt like this always. One of the oldest black businessess in the city of richmond still exist here. our businessess thrived. all you see is the run down of what social condition has done. The city is building the city up to revitilized it now, but what about the children walking the streets with nothing to do. no neighborhood centers, schools overcrowded because the parents dont involve themselves? Really.. Wake up, its called public schools.
If the parents arent educated then you blame the kids. It takes a village, and the village failed the children. If we know what the problem is, why not create a solution. Instead of turning schools into apartments why not build a community center there, or turn it into a pre-school for under-priviledged. the children who come to learn shouldnt have to suffer because of the conditions we are faced with. Maybe people arent educated enought to care…maybe they dont care because it doesnt seem to be any hope for them…damn if you do, damn if you dont…who really makes the rules.
It’s a lot of finger pointing and bs going on around here. Factually speaking from my point of view…you want to get rid of the poor people, push them all in a hole. be done with them…so you can have it for yourselves..one thing you didnt add is how the majority of poor, people from (churchill) this neighborhood love each other, are close knit, we greet each other with love and show respect..we acknowledge the ones less fortunate..look out for the kids gone astray..the people who moved in hold their heads down, turn the other way..rude and disrepectful.dont speak when you say hello..i hear a lot of themare transacting and asking where to buy drugs.So its only a condition of who looks better doing the same bus .WE ACKNOWLEDGE GOD BY ACKNOWLEDGING AND EXCEPTING RESPONSIBILITY FOR THOSE GONE ASTRAY!!..overstood!!
Deep rooted is correct, from the demolition of fulton to the attempted genocide of this community with drugs. My older family members owned numerous businessess here, some passed away long time ago but the nursing homes were lost to the city due to the increase of taxes for properties owned for years.
Some of us have good history here, happy, wonderful memories.. Churchill is our home, those historical plaques you see on some of those houses, need to add a few because there is more history here than 1800’s or poor, run down, and despair. We had amazing times on this hill growing up..no shooting, drugs…good happy times, a community filled with people who worked, loved each other and they were middle class and poor…the schools were open for the children, not for finger pointing at the adults..Me, I went to private school, that is now a condo on Grace… because we are middle class black folk
i do agree that parents need to be concerned with the issues regarding our schools in the east end..but most people just go along with the flow…we dont stand up for whats right anymore, and thats mainly because if you’re poor..you have a different perception of things…most just take it how it is until you can do better and most of the time it doesnt..its rather sad!
people moving to the neighborhood dont send their kids to these schools anyway..maybe the elementrarys but not Martin Luther King middle (the school in the pic) or Armstrong High.
@eyes: Who is the “they” that brought the drugs and tried to commit genocide? Are you saying that an outside force brought in drugs in a pre-meditated attempt to kill the community?
Eyes: Keep speaking the truth. We’re relative newcomers (2006 to Woodville; 2008 to Oakwood/Chimbo). The same (black) family owned our current house from 1933 to 1987. Very stable, middle class folks. Who else could buy a home in the depths of the Great Depression? As a black/white couple, my husband and I have had very different experiences as we got to know our new neighbors. I could go on, but I’d be repeating a lot of what you said, just using different words. Hope you continue to post comments @chpn. We need to hear a variety of voices.