“We Are Here” Stories (List View)

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”).


Sep 14, 2018

Choose the right friends

Well growing up in the city of lake worth was bad for me I did drugs at the age of 16 cause my friend put me. On it my story is going to teach you about. How to choose the right friends
Sep 17, 2018

The Child Who Looked Different

When growing up I was mixed with African American and Chinese . I would get picked on very often especially when my Chinese mother would drop me off to school. Many kids would question me if I were to claim to be African American like my father. All the kids I grew up with would pick on me and my facial features that favored my mother. Which also made me a very guard child because I didn’t like when people would question my ethnicity even to this day.
Sep 18, 2018

My Missing Sister

Well the neighborhood I lived in was kind of small and my little sister who has special needs went missing only for a few hours. She was gone for about 3-4 hours she was 13 at the time. I went around my entire neighborhood looking for my sister with my mother. After, knocking door to door about 10 members of my community decide to help me and my mom search for my sister. One of the neighbors that was helping us search for her found here at a near by park.
Sep 19, 2018

In my community

We came closest to integration in 1988, when nearly half of all African-American children attended majority white schools. Since then, districts have been casting off federal court orders like rusted shackles. The result, a Government Accountability Office report found in the spring of 2016, the number of African American and Hispanic students attending segregated schools is rapidly growing.
Mar 4, 2019

Good and Bad

Growing up round violence. Family Orientation around the community and motivation.
Nov 16, 2018

My brothers -Devonte white

Coming up i had a lot of brothers so i can say they was important to me. They protected me and always made sure i was straight. I don’t really know where i would be without them.