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”).
I was raised in a time that war was all too comfortable and it seemed everyone around me was in a frinzy. I learned how to dance with the songs in my head to help me get through those times.
An important day in my life was when I first got out of prison Life wasn’t always great for me and it wasn’t always good but when I went down that bad road and had the wrong friends I was in and out of jail I was selling drugs Things was just bad for me don’t need you guys making the same mistake I made
Going fishing
I would say maturity was important for me. Because I had to grow up and learn life. Everything was giving to me so at one point I had to go get it .
It is often said that efforts to fight poverty have failed. Surveys suggest only 5% of Americans think that anti-poverty programmes have had a big impact; 47% say they have had no impact or a negative one.