Objective: Contextualizing different communities within Houston and understanding their mechanisms of growth
Slogan: Parts of the Whole
Members: Stephanie Cho, Emily Jacobson, Alexia Rauen, Renata Wettermann
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Third Post:
Emily – Last month, I attended the Juneteenth celebration in the Third Ward at Project Row Houses. I had been wanting to visit the art collaborative for a while to better understand its scope and its impact on the African American community in Houston. There were surprisingly few people at the Juneteenth celebration, though I might have just arrived later than the crowds, and as expected, the vast majority were black. The African American community is important to Houston’s diverse arts and culture, but efforts to celebrate and preserve black culture are limited. Geographically, Houston is highly segregated by race, and social integration is also lacking. It would be hard to go to the Third Ward and ignore race (and its intersection with poverty). That may be one reason why so many non-black Houstonians avoid the neighborhood, even while they celebrate Houston’s rap scene or organizations like Project Row Houses from afar.
Stephanie– I’ve received a new project with the small business department of Neighborhood Centers that is specifically focusing on starting businesses in the food industry. For the hispanic community, food trucks are particularly popular for various reasons such as trending food culture and low starting capital. The issue that has arisen over and over again for these immigrants is lack of resources that are required to get licensed and begin operating by the city’s regulations. My project is to gather the resources that are available in order to diagnose and strategize what is needed in order for new food truck owners into a competitive market that puts them on a level playing field as others. So far, research shows that there is very little that helps immigrants integrate into beginning small businesses. This is a key aspect of the bigger picture of integration into the Houston community and I’m very excited to explore and learn more.
Alexia – I’ve experienced a lot of different parts of Houston in my summer here, which have really opened me up to more than just the area I’m used to around Rice. Seeing all these different parts, especially since Houston is such a widespread driving city, I struggle at times to put the pieces of them together. I find the geography of Houston both confusing and fascinating. I’ve loved seeing the different neighborhoods and the food and culture. We all share Houston, whether we’re new here or we’ve been here for quite some time. But this is certainly a city that is not stagnant and continues to grow, and in that new communities are formed. I do think that resources and common needs connect communities. We leave our houses and go out into the world for the things we need, and so we’re more likely to live close to those needs, whether emotional, social, or physical needs. This pursuit of resources as a source of location I think plays a large role in a community as well as in individual and societal integration.
Renata-I feel like the idea of integration often focuses on specific ethnic, cultural, or socioeconomic groups- at least, that’s how I usually consider it. However, I was recently introduced to the idea of how a geographic area and an entire community integrate into the surroundings. CHILDREN AT RISK is currently working on the beginnings of a project with Sharpstown High School, one of their Gold Ribbon schools that has significantly improved performance despite operating in a high-poverty area (you may remember them from the PBS documentary Dropout Nation). Listening in on these meetings has been absolutely fascinating, both in understanding the way Sharpstown HS relates to their community and the way that facilitates connection to the broader Houston community. In looking at what works and doesn’t in terms of Sharpstown’s improvement, a lot of that focused on factors outside of the school itself. Although many of the factors explaining the school’s difficulties could be tied to poverty and racial segregation, Sharpstown HS’s success has been achieved largely in spite of those factors. What has enabled Sharpstown students be successful is largely an understanding of their community’s identity and values (as evidenced by their Apollos school creed, something they take to heart in a way I’ve never seen at other schools) and the opportunity to reach out and interact with other parts of the city and the world through things like community involvement and mentorship opportunities or partnerships with businesses and universities. These strengths have permeated the neighborhood- teachers and staff report that the surrounding area is less dangerous, more successful as a result of Sharpstown HS’s outreach. It sounds so completely fundamental, but Sharpstown has helped shape my definition of integration as first and foremost resting on understanding self-identity, then involving opportunity to explore the world beyond your community.
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Second Post:
Alexia – I’ve found the idea of social infrastructure fascinating. Especially as a member of the Rice community, I live in a little bubble on campus. But I also communicate with the campus and explore the resources I have available to myself there. But how do other people find resources in their areas? Much of it seems word of mouth, a friend who discovered something and is passing it along. But there’s also so much access to knowledge from the internet, and an incredibly useful tool to any organization is a website. I’ve started looking at the websites of the various organizations I’m involved with. The Houston Humane Society is very straightforward, with tabs so you can view the specific animals currently available. But the general Humane Society website is much harder to navigate, I find, and more interactive, perhaps because it has a more general goal in mind. The Neighborhood Centers website is also much more interactive, and again I feel as though it’s meant to be more of an experience rather than a clear answer to a question that someone may have gone to your website to answer. The www.immigrationforgood.org website, which is specific to the part of the organization I work for, is much more specific in its ambitions. I feel as though some of the websites I’ve been looking at are meant to give you a feel for an organization (and are meant to be quite welcoming) and that others are meant to give you answers to a specific question. I’ve never really considered before how I use the internet, but now that I’m looking at these different non-profit websites, I’m interested in how this social infrastructure allows for different knowledge for those who access it. It also becomes apparent to me how much more critical community is to a new immigrant – even acquaintances are able to offer vital information on services an individual might need. There’s certainly the internet to turn to, but human connection and recommendations I feel are fundamental in one’s integration into a community. These are the kinds of social infrastructure I’ve been contemplating as I try to understand community.
Renata- Social infrastructure is definitely a topic that’s been weighing heavily on my mind lately; in addition to my LRME placement, I’m serving as an O-Week Coordinator for Baker College, and it’s a wonderful coincidence that we started the process of rooming new students just as our cohort was focusing on social infrastructure.
I feel somewhat uncreative for examining social infrastructure within the frameworks of CHILDREN AT RISK and Rice O-Week; however, in my defense both organizations are seriously focused on social infrastructure, and the successes and shortcomings of each inform my understanding of the other and social infrastructure in Houston as a whole.
Similarly to Alexia, I think that it’s a very interesting question (both at CHILDREN AT RISK and at Rice) of how people actually get connected to social resources. Both CHILDREN AT RISK and Rice First Year Programs (FYP) do an amazing job of providing information on the plethora of available social resources. CHILDREN AT RISK manages sites that guide parents’ connection with schools and evidence-based parenting programs, and they use their weekly radio show, Growing Up in America (4 pm on Mondays, 90.1, tune in!) to give updates into the latest news related to children. FYP is constantly sending updates via social media and email, and one of the O-Week Advising team’s biggest roles is connecting new students to resources across campus. One way that I think these groups could both stand to improve is in understanding who is actually accessing these connections and therefore is able to take ownership of the available social capital. To be fair, I think that there’s not a super effective quantitative way to analyze this, but the question of access vs. use is still very important. For example, Growing up in America is an amazing opportunity to learn about the newest influences on children’s lives, but most of the callers seem to be people who are already quite involved in the education sphere in a professional capacity. Likewise, even though the FYP Facebook page is chock full of useful tips from campus-wide resources and the Coordinators, but it seems like most of the people who are following the page are current students. Despite our focus on social infrastructure for this chunk of our internship, I’ll still be on the lookout for a deeper understanding of how groups that connect individuals to social resources recognize their successes and shortcomings in doing so.
Stephanie– Social Infrastructure –
For the past two years, I spent hours in Harris County Ben Taub Emergency Room discharging patients who were low income, homeless, or undocumented residents. My job was the introduce them to social services they might be eligible for. In short, we worked as social workers and acted as the connector of the services for a very specific low SES residents of Houston. Although we make the initial connection, it is often very difficult for patients who are illiterate or don’t have permanent addresses to follow through with the application process. If residents are connected to these resources then the hope is that they would have access to basic resources to make them healthier and more productive members of society.
At Neighborhood Centers, a huge new project that is underway is the municipal ID project. Last week, there was a community forum with members of LGBTQ, undocumented, and elderly people from the local community to discuss how a new ID card for those that cannot get driver’s licenses or city IDs could benefit from social resources such as libraries and health clinics. Currently, residents without IDs are not able to access many cultural resources that help integrate them into the culture. In this way, connecting users of social resources to providers may take the form of providing a publically accepted forms of identification for those that do not feel like they belong in the community. I have realized that there is a real stigma and fear that prevents individuals from accessing services that they are eligible for. Furthermore, I’m interested in how social infrastructure and human capital can be strengthened through more collaborative efforts of providers across multi-agencies and sectors.
Emily –
When considering the social infrastructure available to certain populations in Houston, I wanted to learn more about what services and programs were available to the homeless. In 2015, the Coalition for the Homeless identified 4,609 total homeless people in Houston. There are a number of local non-profit organizations that provide shelter and services to the homeless population. The Harris County Mental Health Jail Diversion Program works closely with SEARCH, which provides services to many of their clients who are or have been homeless. They help connect people to employment opportunities and healthcare, provided by Healthcare for the Homeless – Houston (HHH). Until recently, SEARCH was located in Midtown near the McGowen METRORail Station, but they just moved to a new facility near Minute Maid Park. I went there for a work meeting, and there were a number of homeless people in the lobby drinking coffee and waiting to meet with SEARCH employees. All of these organizations work closely together as a network of homelessness services in Houston. The Beacon is a shelter in the center of downtown that provides 400 free meals to homeless people every day, and has showers and laundry facilities that their clients can use. They also provide free legal services and work with HHH to provide health care.
All of these non-profits are part of the Houston/Harris County Continuum of Care (CoC), which creates an improved homeless service system that meets the needs of various sub-populations, such as veterans or youth. Additionally, many people living on the streets have untreated mental health problems and substance use problems. Among all of these service providers, there is an emphasis on restoring dignity and self-respect to the population. Between 2011 and 2015, the number of homeless individuals in Houston decreased by 46%, which indicates that efforts by non-profit service providers and by the City of Houston have been successful.
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First Post:
For our first experience delving into the diversity and integration of Houston (or lack
thereof), we decided to focus on the physical resources that can bind communities or
keep them apart. Some of this naturally centered around concepts that came up in our
work, but our research methods ranged from reflection to frantic Googling to riding a
bike. Here are our thoughts on the role of physical infrastructure in shaping Houston
communities.
Alexia – Since I’m working at a large community center, and our office often appears
more central than the welcome center, I’ve been noticing how people will often come in
looking for something else. Some are looking for the tax center or the location of their
children’s day camp. But the vast majority of them are looking for the medical clinic
found in the welcome center. Living so close to the medical center and having an easy to
access health center on Rice’s campus, I’m often cognizant of how easy it is for me to
receive the medical care I might need. Health care is such a necessary resource, and it
really makes me reflect on the constant debate for cheaper and more accessible health
care in the U.S. I’ve also been reflecting on education access. With the U.S. requiring all
your documents (even if your birth certificate is in another language due to where you
were born, it needs to be translated) as well as your interview to become a citizen in
English, I’ve been exposed to the difficulties posed by illiteracy. I know that people are
illiterate and I know that people don’t have health care, but by being directly exposed to
it, I truly value the role of the non-profits that are trying to address these problems and
navigate the dangerous role that money plays in controlling what we can and cannot do.
Emily – I chose to research food deserts in Houston in order to understand what
populations and geographic areas are most affected by them. Grocery stores that supply
healthy foods are physical resources that are not equally accessible to all social groups,
especially in Houston. I compared maps of the distribution of grocery stores in Houston
with maps displaying race and ethnicity of the population. Many low-income, black and
Hispanic communities in Houston have limited access to grocery stores that sell healthy
food, though Hispanic neighborhoods seem to have more grocery stores than black
neighborhoods. In general, there are many grocery stores in the areas of Houston where
White people with higher incomes live. Predominantly Asian neighborhoods also have
access to a substantial number of grocery stores, many of which are specialty grocery
stores. Ethnic enclaves Chinatown and Hillcroft have a number of Asian grocery stores
as well as supermarkets, like Fiesta and Kroger. When looking at predominantly Black
neighborhoods, such as the Fifth Ward and the Third Ward, there are very few grocery
stores, and people with limited transportation options would have to buy less healthy
food at corner stores (often called “food marts”) or from fast food restaurants. These
findings are not surprising, but they highlight the importance of equitably distributing
physical resources like grocery stores.
Stephanie– So far from what I have observed from speaking with the staff at
Neighborhood Centers and what I’ve experienced in person in immigrant and refugee
communities is their exclusivity. Neighborhood centers are all located in geographical
regions close to immigrant communities that are already established. For most of the
families entering Houston right now, they settle where there are already established
communities of their culture. There are several apartment complexes filled with almost
all refugee families of specific regions. Here, families create a cultural and ethnic
community similar to their own back home. In the evening time, all of the children play
outside together and the mothers speak in their native tongue to each other. While it is
more common to see an Nepalese child playing with a child from Thailand, it is very rare
to see a white or black child playing with the immigrant family. In addition, I found that
the areas in which immigrant communities form are areas of more affordable housing
and easier access to jobs such as construction work and manual labor. I’ve been
wondering about what immigrants’ and refugees’ think about “integration into the
community” and what that would look like for them.
As part of my internship, I’ve been compiling pros/cons list of the national initiative
“Welcoming America,” a campaign to make our cities more welcoming for immigrants
through easier access to resources and surveys that collect the opinion of immigrants on
what they think are needed in their cities. Although Houston is in the process of
gathering support for this campaign, it will be a great way to answer my questions of
what resources are high priority for immigrants and what ideal integration looks like for
them.
Renata- I’ve been enjoying my ~30 minute commute from Rice to the CHILDREN AT
RISK office near 59 on Wesleyan. At the same time, this space feels too familiar for Rice
students. As we were starting to discuss physical infrastructure, I realized that I’d need
an opportunity to examine this place that I take for granted in a new way. My office and
the surrounding area is pretty darn nice, but at the same time, CHILDREN AT RISK puts
a large emphasis on access for all Texans to opportunities to increase child wellbeing.
They’re not a direct provider, so it’s not a huge issue, but the contrast definitely got me
thinking about the ties between geographic and socioeconomic population distribution.
So is it possible for people from different areas of the city to travel between different
neighborhoods? Specifically, how can this be done without a car-is it even an option for
people who may not have access to those kind of physical resources?
Thus, I embarked on a fun little experiment: during the week, I decided to make it to
work using three different forms of transportation. The first two days were easy- I
chickened out and used the beginning of the week to simply drive. Part of it was
necessity. I had a giant meeting on Monday at 8 AM, so I was worried about the
possibility of being late. However, driving to work per usual was still an experience worth
mentioning, as the traffic alone indicates the popularity of this method of transit for the
affluent individuals who live and work there. Day 3 was where it got interesting. Taking
the bus to work was a definite possibility, but it required a lot of something that’s quite
lacking in the professional world: time. I don’t have to be at work until 8 AM, yet with a 20
minute bus ride, a 36 minute bus ride, and a 10 minute walk, I had to leave around 6:45.
The most fascinating part was taking a look at who was on the bus- still mostly working
people, but those wearing scrubs and service industry as opposed to the suits and
business casual wear that you see in passing cars. Finally, I made a less than ideal
choice and rode my bike to work on Day 4. Although more reliable and economical than
public transit, there were undoubtedly the biggest drawbacks to this method (read: sweat
is not professional). It was also slightly terrifying, largely owing to Houston drivers’
inattentiveness to bicycles and the degradation of sidewalks.
In the end, what this experience came down to is the notion that physical infrastructure
in Houston is not conducive to movement between geographically distributed
socioeconomic communities. How can we expect to form an integrated and cohesive city
when people from different backgrounds can’t even get from Point A to Point B? In a city
where cars are king, the role of public transit and physical infrastructure most keenly
impacts the poor and the powerless, something to consider if the end goal is integration
and community building.