Palm Beach County residents were asked:
Please tell us about an important moment in your life that would help someone understand what it’s like living in your neighborhood.
The stories and micro-narratives they submitted (as part of the We Are Here SenseMaker project) are listed below. Click ZOOM IN to learn more about the community member and how they interpreted their submission. NOTE: Some stories were partially transcribed by volunteers who shortened the narratives and referred to the storytellers in the third person (e.g., “her experience was” instead of “my experience was”).
An important moment in my life is when my son graduated. He used to always be in trouble and up to no good. By him graduated it shows that people can change and that Boynton is not all bad.
Although the impact of living in high-poverty neighborhoods has been well documented, it’s hard to fully explain the toll it takes on a person’s body and soul. Frustration over high prices, high bills, and high unemployment rates is worsened by the bane of many a poor community—the local drug economy. Dealing drugs was the neighborhood summer job program. And for many young neighbors who were expelled from school (because administrators are more likely to punish black students than provide more holistic help), the drug trade was less an alternative than an inevitability.
In my community was all good but the high school was out of control because the students thought they could just run around wild getting girls pregnant , selling drugs and more things The kids now should stay inside the school And become some body
I believe basketball was a important moment for me . It changed my life so many ways. It taught me things i can also use in life
Going fishing