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.” Explore 50 responses below, selected at random. Which stories capture your attention? (Some responses were transcribed by youth volunteers.) To learn more about the storyteller and how they interpreted their response, click “Zoom In.”
Life after school- Kene
When I was growing up I was always home alone. My mom worked 6 days a week from about 10am to 10pm so I was normally by myself. Sometimes some of the bad kids from the neighborhood would come around and I would pretend I wasn’t home because if I opened the door and they knew I was alone, then they would likely come into my house and take or do whatever they wanted.
America
Learning English was important to me .I had to learn and learn fast cause it’s a lot going on around boynton. I came to America when I was 17 and things was different.
Sports (Story #181)
Playing sports was a important moment in my life.It kept me off the streets and focused on something. Most of my friends was in the streets and now they dead or in jail .
Growing up in boynton-Devonte white
I dont really have a important moment in life but i can tell you how it is growing up in my neighborhood. Things was pretty calm back in the days everyone was civilized.Now you got all these young people around here killing each other
Nurse -Devonte white
Important moment in my life was going through nursing school. I always wanted to be a nurse and i made it into reality
WE love it
Everybody is friendly
Differences
Everybody needs to have a place to live and everybody needs to get along. Out here where i live now there’s a mixed races but mostly Mexicans even though we have different cultures and beliefs were all able to come together and have a great time.
Work for it
Buying my first house was a important moment in my life. Everything I got I had to work for it.nobody won’t give you anything around here.
Go get it (Story #128)
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 .
Helping hand- Kene
One morning I got up and went running and as I was running I seen this person struggling to get stuff out the car, and so I had a feeling in my gut to help out so I ran towards the person and asked can I land a hand with those, and so the person let me helped and as soon as I was done helping , she rewarded me with a beverage and ever since that me and that person became good friends, it’s a very good thing to help people in the neighborhood no matter what it is.
Hardship
Growing up in the projects poor , there wasn’t much in my community .
Make something out of it
Living around here isn’t really as bad as people make it seem. Yes there’s drugs and murders and bad things going on but if you are focused on a goal u should have a good outcome. Many people make it out the hood that’s why I push my kids to be something in life.
Good community (Story #458)
I agree with the previous person. You can’t base how the neighborhood is off of one moment. Not all moments are good and not all of them are bad. From the Boynton I know we have our ups and downs but we will always be a good community.
The neighborhood of renters
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.
Resilience comes at a cost
Working with a single mother who had become homeless in a neighborhood that she was raised in to find resources was very difficult. She didn’t want to be judged, labeled, or marginalized. But living now in the same neighborhood she once thrived in, gave her a new perspective as she realized the severe resource scarcity she was facing with 2 young children. Her story made me realize that life can happen to anyone and anytime and having access to resources in your own neighborhood can truly make an impact in how you bounce back from a traumatic event in your…
L I F E
In 2011, child poverty reached record high levels, with 16.7 million children living in food insecure households, about 35% more than 2007 levels. A 2013 UNICEF report ranked the U.S. as having the second highest relative child poverty rates in the developed world.According to a 2016 study by the Urban Institute, teenagers in low income communities are often forced to join gangs, save school lunches, sell drugs or exchange sexual favors because they cannot afford food.
Be smarter
Something that was important in my life while I was growing up ? Let see well when I was in grade school I was always bad in school never really listened to the teachers I only did the things I did cause my friends was laughing and made them laugh I don’t know if I was a class clown or something that just made people laugh but when I always got out of school I used to see these group of man. And they had guns and drugs on them and I asked…
Growing up in Boynton Beach (Story #326)
Growing up in Boynton Beach in 1963 it was very tough for a young black person and racism was very strong in Boynton Beach
Diverse
It’s uneventful because it’s quite, peaceful and with lovely people.
Violence (Story #609)
Gun violence
1963’s Boynton
Growing up In Boynton Beach in 1963 it was very tough for a young black person segregation and racism was still in affect and the civil rights were still going on
All about bridges
When i was younger early 20s i moved to Boynton Beach from South Carolina and me and my sister had kids. It was really rough trying to do everything we was aware of any sources to help us we didn’t know about things like bridges and that would’ve been very useful. As i got older i knew about bridges Best thing of my life
Dead Delray (Story #0)
The world is just corrupted. This is crazy the direction we’re going right now, I can’t say nothing good. They want to fight, they want to hurt each other. Not Delray, Boca, Boynton, no good is left around anymore. People don’t help each other anymore, everyone is like crabs.
The PK dike
Going fishing
Working for the US Sugar Co-Operation
Born in 1947, started working when I was 15 years old. Most important thing I experienced coming up is due to workforce-the sugar cane. I got older, getting a job with us sugar-I worked for 35 years. It was hard, very hard work but you had to make a living somehow. I also picked spring beans but the harvesters took the work away. I grew up in lake harbor and they bussed us to school. Quiet waters used to be lake shore high school and we were bussed from the camps in lake…
A helping hand
I moved here from Haiti with my grandmother. I was kicked out at 16. Luckily I had friend to help me with money and a job.
Pray for the best
Me having kids is an important moment. Everybody in Boynton knows what it’s like having to raise your kids. Worrying when they put if they safe or in trouble. All we do is pray for the best lives for our child.
Good of bad
Growing up in Boynton Beach my family and i were close he had a nice relationship because my grandma would never allow anything else we stuck together and it was all love. We lived on “the hill” and there was a lot going on fighting. Violence. But there was also good times.
Elizabeth Alice Green story
Back than many people didn’t know what to think because their was so many different things going around in our community and we didn’t know what to do so many people just hope that it would make our community great and some bad .slavery back than would be the caused for all what bad things in our community that is still today .our community didn’t changed .
Protection-Rickia
See me i was the man of the house my father wasn’t there he was a coward and we are from boynton but we moved to the other side this was a little bit less than what i had expected and i would do things a man supposed to do in the house to make sure my mom and my sisters were ok and in around the 90s i started selling drugs i had my own house by this time but not to far from my mom and sisters. I remember her calling me late at night saying they were…
Living in the Glades
Graduating from high school and keeping contact with everyone.
Love (Story #490)
When I first found love I know many people may not trust a lot of people in this world but if you just take one time out your life to get to know some one you will have an awesome day that day getting to know some one is building you a bond slowly and slowly many my be depressed but you can take the sad ness away
Safety
The infrastructure
The Fundraiser
I am very close to everyone in my community. I’ve been battling pneumonia and leukemia for many years now and my insurance stop paying for a lot of my hospital funds.My Neighbors and community as a whole raised money for me. They raised at least $78,000 to help me pay my hospital bills.
Extra items- laroderick richardson
My neighborhood is normal we have parties the kids always playing. With each other a story is that a new person moved in and we had a party and invited him and he came and brought soda and cake and pizza we did not know he will bring all that stuff but he did
Important moment interview
Live in Jefferson manor and grand parents owned store in Delray. 4th generation and moved into grandparents old home. Loss job recently but thank God was able to keep the house, worked and traveled a lot professionally.
Kitalicious
I came to this town in 7th grade from Riviera. I meshed better with the kids here than in Rivera. There was a big difference from school to school. If iI had stayed in Rivera I do not think that I would be the same person I am today. I know myself better because I moved here.
Don’t Give Up Hope
Growing up in a poor community. Pakhoke was a large work camp. The community raised the children. My mother did farm work. There was no violence. We were taught principles to work for what we want and … We were raised in the church. We love Pahokee, but now it’s sad to see what Pahokee has become as the jobs have moved out. There are broken families, not enough food to eat, not enough guidance for the younger generation. We need to work to enjoy life and earn what we get. There are few kids to have the opportunity to…
Bright Futures
One 4th of July we had a family gathering at the park. We were having a great time with each other. My niece was playing in the play ground and started offering if others would want to join, strangers at that. This showed me that kids now a days are warm headed and caring. The future is bright.
Tour de Oakmont
My son learned how to bike recently. They Tour de France was taking place, which motivated him to try once again. We live at the end of a cul de sac and I ran around with him, holding his bike seat, as he peddled and worked to find his balance. Without planning it, he took off down the street, unassisted with me running behind him. That afternoon, we probably covered close to three miles – he peddled and navigated the street to the main road and down to the park while I ran along side or way behind yelling for…
Do better
My neighborhood hood was terrible and we loved quick when we realized someone died every week. We didn’t like it and wasn’t what we were used to i was scared to sleep there.
Agriculture
Fields
Don’t be one
Well boynton wasn’t the same in 1967 there were street gangs street violence drug lords and kids dying
Preparation
Going off to college, and meeting others from other neighborhood and making connections. My community prepared me for this.
Stay away
Many people may not know things that happen during the past In Rivera I used to do things I regret this community was terrifying and horrible life wasn’t always good for those who did bad but god thing I prayed to god And changed my ways around glad to see these young gentlemen and ladies be successful hope they keep doing what they have to do And stay out of trouble
Sadness
Seeing kids in a wheelchair while young.
Delray my community- Kene
I learned that there’s a lot about Delray that I didn’t know, but found out that Delray has a lot of history and is broken down and built based on the history of it. I enjoy taking guest and family members around showing them historical monuments, giving the history of it, and telling them what it’s like living there. It’s amazing how many opportunities are given to people living there.
Living in my community
Neighborhoods with poor quality housing, few resources, and unsafe conditions impose stress, which can lead to depression. The stress imposed by adverse neighborhoods increases depression above and beyond the effects of the individual’s own personal stressors, such as poverty and negative events within the family or work-place.
Getting to Know Jupiter
I decided to move to Jupiter three years ago. I didn’t know much about it before but had so much to learn. So many people move to Jupiter and Palm Beach County from out of the state, I learned especially from the northeast. I sought to get to know the community, the good and the bad. I just wonder if the people moving down here do as well?
Education (Story #613)
Going to school here
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