The Issues we are Facing

I was recently assigned a project to write about the key problems that affect my community. I was to get this information from a key community leader. The only problem was I didn’t know who to pick. After research it seemed to me as if almost anyone that left their house was in one way or another, a “community leader”. So when it came down to finally picking who I was going to focus my article on I chose Shelia Bourgoyne. Shelia is 43 years old, a mother and a student. She is also an active member of the community. When I was talking with her she said that the main three problems that the community is facing are vacant homes, an increasing homeless population and an education deficit.
The first issue she mentioned was vacant homes. She said that this is a concern to the community for many reasons. One of the concerns is who is going to take care of these homes? What happens if someone were to loot the house for copper pipes and the gas was still on? Another concern is that vacant houses also offer a place for illegal activity to take place which endangers the community.
The second issue that she discussed with me was the increasing amount of homeless individuals. This issue goes almost hand in hand with the increasing amount of vacant homes. As the amount of people that are homeless increase the resources that are available to those individual become harder to come by. Families must try and find ways to feed their children and provide a roof over their head after their house is foreclosed on. When it is hard for these families to meet their basic needs other important aspects of life such as gaining an education seem to lose importance.
The third issue that Shelia told me about was the educational deficit in our community. Not only has is there a money deficit in the educational system that will not be fixed for another six, seven years but a money deficit is causing an educational deficit. Teachers want raises, technology and resources such as books need to be updated and with a lack of money these needs are hard to meet. This leaves students with an education that is not nearly as good as they should be getting.
These issues are all present throughout the community and things are being done to try and make the problems diminish. Through programs such as CAER a community food shelf and fundraisers at local schools individuals all over the community are trying to come together and make our community and world a better place.