Communities and Parenting

Before you roll your eyes and groan over yet another post about parenting, let me tell you that this post isn't what you think. It's actually about the role parenting, fatherhood in particular, play in community building. There is no doubt that a two-parent family is the backbone of a strong community. I could go on to recite all the statistics about how it leads better grades, fewer teen pregnancies, less kids on drugs, et cetera ad infinitum. The Los Angeles Times published an article in the Sunday edition February 18, 2013 about a support group, Project Fatherhood that works with young fathers in the Jordan Downs community. (http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-jordan-downs-20130217,0,544954.story) The goal of this group is to enable young men to become the person most of the young did not have growing up, a good father. Project Fatherhood was part of a support group package offered by the Los Angeles Housing Authority and facilitated by a $50,000 grant from the nonprofit Children's Institue. What began as a loose affiliation has now grown into a regional network of men and their children. Project Fatherhood has become part of the Jordan Downs community. They meet regularly and share their stories and offer support. Sometimes, an intervention is necessary. Like any support group, Project Fatherhood works if the participant wants to work it. This means showing up for regular meetings, taking responsibility for the lives they've created, working on communication skills, learning to make better choices, and so on. What does this have to do with the proposed rehabilitation of Jordan Downs? Stronger families mean stronger communities. When a community is strong, it is empowered to take its fate into its own hands. The proposed rehabilitation of Jordan Downs has the potential to seriously de-stabilize the community through displacement and dispersal. What is presented here is an opportunity for the men, young and older, to take charge of their community by providing a source of stability in the lives of their children. They can teach them to take pride in where they live and who they are. This is something that gentrification cannot do. While the efforts of Project Fatherhood may not stave off the effects of the proposed makeover, it has the ability to instill a stronger sense of community in the current residents and create the type place anyone would consider living in. When you have a strong sense of family it spills over into the way you look at the place you live. A parent's natural inclination is to provide a safe, clean, secure place to live. This is hard to do in a community infested with drug dealers and gangs. The dealers and gang members are symptomatic of the larger issue of economic hardship. Poverty and the subsequent dependency on social welfare programs lead to desperate measures which can result in catastrophic consequences. This why Project Fatherhood is necessary in places like Jordan Downs. It sponsors training classes which enable the participants to learn a skill that gives them a means to support themselves and their families instead of (re)turning to a life of crime. When this occurs, you have begin to have a place that is secure and stable. This, in turn leads to community building. People begin to look around and see what needs fixing and cleaning. Gentrification from within, what an idea. What the future holds for Jordan Downs is unknown but if more groups like Project Fatherhood take hold, the future could look promising.