Alaissa discusses her reliance on public aid: "We're stuck on welfare...for one reason or another."

Dorothy indicates that when she and her children first moved into the Henry Horner Homes, the projects were safe, quiet and nice: "You could sleep with your doors open." What happened to the public housing initiative that grew out of President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society? How did these housing complexes become rat-infested, dilapidated bastions of death, drugs and destruction? How did these residences become places seemingly designed to snuff out the dreams of hope and success for those forced to live in them?

Housing, Welfare & Education: Issues of Community Neglect

Consistently, throughout both large and small cities, projects arose. Housing developments are characterized by poor maintenance; inadequate access to public transportation; poor sanitation and poor auxiliary services, such as lighting, telephone, gas; overcrowded, yet under-funded schools; erosion of small businesses and shops; and an increasing influx of and easy access to a wide array of drugs and guns. The steady erosion of basic services has led to frustration, often alienation and isolation on the parts of residents-who over the last 40 years have become progressively more black and brown-and an increasingly callous, victim-blaming analysis from the larger society.

It is in such an environment that the Collins family finds itself trapped. As Dorothy says, "It's hard living here, really hard." [Review statistics on poverty, minimum wage, and quality of public housing found in other sections of this Web site.]

As a result of these factors, the family finds itself relying on public assistance. Yet, receiving assistance requires individuals to subject themselves to demeaning and dehumanizing behavior from those dispensing goods and services-aid, childcare, healthcare, job referral and food-stamps. In addition, to receive aid, one must distance oneself from both men and the more fully elaborated forms of family. Those demeaning and disregarding styles often are internalized, as reflected in Nickcole's comment, "I am embarrassed because of welfare...[and Mom] not having a job." Her mother, similarly impacted, feels "trapped on aid" because of her children, lack of a high school diploma and little confidence.

Often in the neighborhoods where public housing projects are located, the education system fails to prepare students adequately. As Nickcole says, "There are no college-prep classes at Madonna [Catholic high school]." Yet, this school was this family's stretch to seek a better education for Nickcole and to prepare her for college. What did the school do, and what might they have done better? Without sufficient challenge, many children drop out of school, either to seek employment or to raise children.

Discussion Questions

• What impact did living in the projects have on the Collins family?
• What makes living in the projects so hard for the Collins family? If you lived in the projects, what could you do to maintain your sense of purpose and integrity?
• Dorothy, the grandmother of the Collins family, said she wished Henry Horner Homes would be torn down. What if anything, could have been done to improve the project?
• Nickcole was able to attend a "better" school, through sacrifice by her mother, the support of her mentor and encouragement of her grandmother. What impact might attending public school have potentially had on her aspirations and opportunities to seek a college education?
• What adjustments did this family have to make to handle the realities of life in the projects? How might fear about the safety of her children influence a mother's decision to work or not work?
• What obstacles did Alaissa face when she tried to get a job? Discuss the external obstacles like childcare and lacking a diploma, as well as internal issues like fear and being overwhelmed.
• What strategies might you think of to improve public housing? To improve public education? To improve public assistance?
• If the Collins family were white, what, if any, opportunities might be more available to them? Are the opportunities to "escape" the projects/inner-city more available to white families than to black families? What role, if any, does race have on the options available to the Collins family?

Resources

• US Department of Labor-Employment and Training Administration, www.doleta.gov
• National Partnership for Work and Family, (202) 986-2500