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”).
Important moment in my life is learning how to provide for myself. I used to depend on my parents to do everything. I had to get off my butt and go work for something
More and more Americans who struggle to get by are living in these marginalized, disinvested communities where jobs and educational opportunities are scarce, and an increasingly militarized police force is the primary contact residents have with government.
Getting off drugs changed my life. I was on drugs bad and i had to realize who i was. I went to rehab to get my life together and things been good ever sense.
Growing up in a violent neighborhood where gang violence would occur with fights, gun shots going off every night it was a little scary not knowing when this would end.
Seeing the police take my father way for life
I wouldn’t want people to live in my neighborhood because you have many renters in the neighborhood who don’t take care of their things. When i was driving home from work i realized that there was somebody breaking into a car as if it was their own. The neighborhood is a mess i wouldn’t allow the worst child to stay there kids fighting kids left and right , parents arguing, people dying i wouldn’t wish for my biggest enemy to stay here.