Provident living in inner cities?

[Avatar4321]

I was reading some comments by Elder Holland about the Church working with the NCAAP to being self reliance classes to certain inner cities including Baltimore and Atlanta. Anyone else heard details about this? Will they be using the current self reliant curriculum or will it be changes for more of a public presentation?

Edited July 25, 2018 by Avatar4321

[poptart]

11 hours ago, Avatar4321 said:

I was reading some comments by Elder Holland about the Church working with the NCAAP to being self reliance classes to certain inner cities including Baltimore and Atlanta. Anyone else heard details about this? Will they be using the current self reliant curriculum or will it be changes for more of a public presentation?

I'm very curious as to how this would play out, I know places like Davenport and of course Chicago have awful problems, friends and family from the quad cities always have tales to tell about how bad it is, if the church makes a dent in their problems i'd be amazed.

[Avatar4321]

Btw the title is supposed to say Provident Living. I'm blaming autocorrect

[Calm]

5 hours ago, Avatar4321 said:

Btw the title is supposed to say Provident Living. I'm blaming autocorrect

You can edit it.

[Robert F. Smith]

23 hours ago, poptart said:

I'm very curious as to how this would play out, I know places like Davenport and of course Chicago have awful problems, friends and family from the quad cities always have tales to tell about how bad it is, if the church makes a dent in their problems i'd be amazed.

There are actually some very practical ways in which to improve life in some of the worst inner city areas.  One effort has been to take whole city blocks which are filled with trash and weeds and convert them to active greenspace and gardens.  Let the community claim them as places for recreation and growing food.  Detroit is a very good candidate for that.  Vocational education is another great idea, particularly in Jr Colleges, where two years learning a trade and doing internships has a big payoff.  Drug and booze rehab centers right in the community are often very helpful as well -- and the LDS Church has better methods than most for helping people kick heir habits (as Kevin Christensen has pointed out to us on this board).

http://projectevergreen.org/resources/environmental-benefits-of-green-space/ 

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/07/20/630615148/replacing-vacant-lots-with-green-spaces-can-ease-depression-in-urban-communities 

Edited July 25, 2018 by Robert F. Smith

[Calm]

On 7/24/2018 at 6:16 AM, poptart said:

I'm very curious as to how this would play out, I know places like Davenport and of course Chicago have awful problems, friends and family from the quad cities always have tales to tell about how bad it is, if the church makes a dent in their problems i'd be amazed.

As much as possible from what I have seen of the Church's humanitarian work, the Church prefers to approach it as helping communities make dents in their own problems rather than coming in and taking over the problem solving.

[poptart]

1 hour ago, Calm said:

As much as possible from what I have seen of the Church's humanitarian work, the Church prefers to approach it as helping communities make dents in their own problems rather than coming in and taking over the problem solving.

With a lot of these communities you have families that have generations of family disfunction, that takes a lot of work to address.  You're seeing the same thing in white communities now with meth/opiate addiction.  It's scary, states like CA make it worse, medical (CA state medicaid) pays for everything so people get their opiates that way. 

[mfbukowski]

On 7/23/2018 at 5:28 PM, Avatar4321 said:

I was reading some comments by Elder Holland about the Church working with the NCAAP to being self reliance classes to certain inner cities including Baltimore and Atlanta. Anyone else heard details about this? Will they be using the current self reliant curriculum or will it be changes for more of a public presentation?

Do you know the curriculum? We co-operate with other religious groups in our stake.

What's wrong with it as is?

[Avatar4321]

7 minutes ago, mfbukowski said:

Do you know the curriculum? We co-operate with other religious groups in our stake.

What's wrong with it as is?

I rather like the cirriculum. It involves commitments to keep the Sabbath, read the scriptures, pay tithing, etc. And while they would bless all people I am curious if nonmembers would comply

[mfbukowski]

1 minute ago, Avatar4321 said:

I rather like the cirriculum. It involves commitments to keep the Sabbath, read the scriptures, pay tithing, etc. And while they would bless all people I am curious if nonmembers would comply

Ah yes, I forgot those parts- thanks

We are working with another Christian group and they approved the curriculum for their use so I wasn't thinking about that issue!  Not sure how they are handling that.

[BlueDreams]

13 hours ago, poptart said:

With a lot of these communities you have families that have generations of family disfunction, that takes a lot of work to address.  You're seeing the same thing in white communities now with meth/opiate addiction.  It's scary, states like CA make it worse, medical (CA state medicaid) pays for everything so people get their opiates that way. 

This isnt statustically accurate. The areas with highest opioid deaths (ie. Overdose) are out east and utah/NM. 

 

https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-summaries-by-state

 

with luv,

BD

[poptart]

1 hour ago, BlueDreams said:

This isnt statustically accurate. The areas with highest opioid deaths (ie. Overdose) are out east and utah/NM. 

 

https://www.drugabuse.gov/drugs-abuse/opioids/opioid-summaries-by-state

 

with luv,

BD

That much I knew, I just cited CA because I used to pay medical claims all along the west coast, rural areas in the midwest are awful.  I used to know a chief of the local fire department, he always said motel 6 was one of the most common places they'd find people making meth.  I'm torn, not a fan of drugs but people are going to get high on one thing or another.  You have cities like San Fran that just hand needles out like Candy and well, now they're everywhere.  It's been a while, but my guess is a lot of Midwestern cities/states still use jail for mental/drug rehab because the people out there still have the screw the poor/mentally ill attitude.  TBH I have no idea, but when I hear things from my cousin that his mullato grandkids and black daughter in law still get pop bottles thrown at em in states like Oklahoma and Iowa, well I have to wonder how the least of these are treated. 

Drug abuse is like crime, until some things are changed in the states it's not going away.  There are people trying to fix the problem but there are a lot more who just want to be detached from it, that only works as long as you can isolate yourselves from it.  Theory I have about drug abuse, in the right enviroment it can be like a virus.  I had friends growing up who lived in the rich part of town, were latch key kids like me except their parents had money and were functional alcoholics so they could afford the drugs poor kids like me couldn't.  They'd usually start with pot, work their way up to psychadelics and then coke/who knows what.  By the time I finished my 1st bachelors I had no patience left for their nonsense, I figured if I could work my way through school they could straighten themselves out, they had access to resources I didn't.  Sadly, the DUI's/drug charges started taking their toll and that was, well, that.  Point is, now they're ruined just like the poor kids I knew growing up were and now that many of em have kids now guess what?  Good chance they'll end up druggies just like their parents.  I rant, I grew up around a lot of this stuff and don't see it getting any better.

Edited July 26, 2018 by poptart

[Rain]

 

23 hours ago, Calm said:

As much as possible from what I have seen of the Church's humanitarian work, the Church prefers to approach it as helping communities make dents in their own problems rather than coming in and taking over the problem solving.

 

22 hours ago, poptart said:

With a lot of these communities you have families that have generations of family disfunction, that takes a lot of work to address.  You're seeing the same thing in white communities now with meth/opiate addiction.  It's scary, states like CA make it worse, medical (CA state medicaid) pays for everything so people get their opiates that way. 

Yes, what I have seen is where the church calls someone either from within the community or as missionaries to see what is working there. When they find those things they give support to them. Then they find the things that are missing and fill in those spots. 

This way the church learns things from local people that really work and then shares it with other areas where they may work as well, all the while strengthening the organizations and people already there. 

 

Edited July 26, 2018 by Rain

[poptart]

2 minutes ago, Rain said:

 

 

Yes, what I have seen is where the church calls someone either from withing the community or as missionaries to see what is working there. When they find those things they give support to them. Then they find the things that are missing and fill in those spots. 

This way the church learns things from local people that really work and then shares it with other area where they may work as well all the while strengthening the organizations and people already there. 

 

That would explain things, one guy I know from WA still calls me from time to time, he works in the community quite a bit, he struggles with how the state keeps making cuts to funding for the poor and what the LDS church can/can't/won't do.  You know, it's a scary thing within his old ward you would hear more and more about "elect" families having one or more kids falling to the way side and being ruined by drugs.  I had one from a roommate, not sure if his parents went to the same ward my friend did but he was barely 30, a meth/heroin addict, rap sheet a mile long and a looooong list of mental problems. 

[Rain]

7 hours ago, poptart said:

That would explain things, one guy I know from WA still calls me from time to time, he works in the community quite a bit, he struggles with how the state keeps making cuts to funding for the poor and what the LDS church can/can't/won't do.  You know, it's a scary thing within his old ward you would hear more and more about "elect" families having one or more kids falling to the way side and being ruined by drugs.  I had one from a roommate, not sure if his parents went to the same ward my friend did but he was barely 30, a meth/heroin addict, rap sheet a mile long and a looooong list of mental problems. 

I'm a little confused. I explain how the church is encouraging things that ARE working and you respond that what I said explains what you are seeing and then describe how it is NOT working?

[poptart]

2 hours ago, Rain said:

I'm a little confused. I explain how the church is encouraging things that ARE working and you respond that what I said explains what you are seeing and then describe how it is NOT working?

Ops, didn't mean for it to come out that way, should have worded it better.  In my friends case, he does make a huge impact, it's just that in his area the need is huge and it affects everyone, even those in his ward.  If he wasn't doing what he did?  Oh yeah a lot of people would feel it, esp. the immigrants/women fleeing domestic abuse.  So, in a round about, poorly worded way I'm totally agreeing with you, sorry for the confusion.