Analyzing Neighbourhood Community in Fremont California - Essay Example

Neighborhood Report In Fremont, California, IACF (Indo-American Community Federation) operates as a non-profit making organization for the benefit of the public. The organization encourages active participation of the indo-American community in various activities of the mainstream community. Such an endeavor aids in uniting the various diverse communities residing at Fremont. Similarly FCSN (Friends of Children with Special Needs) is also a non-profit making organization for providing life skills and support to physically and mentally challenge children and their families. CRIL (community resources for independent Living) was initiated to provide equip disabled individuals with teaching skills so as to empower them with a life skill and enable them o participate in the larger community. ( Wikipedia. (last modified 17:09, 7 September 2006).Fremont) The neighbourhood community choosesen for the purpose of study is Mission San Jose a place in Fremont California.Fermont came to be established with the merger of five communities, namely Irvington, Mission San Jose, Centerville and Niels. Fermont and its adjoining cities were earlier called as Wasington Township. Fremont is situated towards the southeast of San Fransisco Bay area. According to a 2005 census it houses a population of 210,158. The city has a diverse demography with a large Afgani population and other Asian ethnic communities like Indians, chinese and Tiwanese. These people are mostly concentrated to th e district of Mission San Jose. .( Wikipedia. (last modified 17:09, 7 September 2006).Fremont) Large parts of the Afghani population are refugees who had fled from Afghanistan following the Soviet invasion. Geographically Fremont is located 37°32′35″N, 121°58′58″W (37.542943, -121.982786) GR1. The United States Census Bureau report that the entire area of the city is 225.6 km² (87.1 mi²). Out of this land about 11.97% is waterIn the city about 5.4% of the entire population and 3.6% of the total number of families were below the poverty line. Mission San Jose is at the feet of the Rolling hills of Fremont. In this district more than fifty percent of the populations are Asian. The high school in the locality is Mission San Jose High School. In this area the average income of the family as of the 2005 census was more than $114, 595. .( Wikipedia. (last modified 17:09, 7 September 2006).Fremont) The community here is affluent and upwardly mobile. In the Forbes magazine which listed the five hundred affluent communities Mission San Jose was at the rank of three hundred and nine. The local community has a lot of upwardly mobile families with professionals who favor good education. In 2001 there was an endeavor made by the Asian American community to disaffiliate themselves from the Fremont unified School district. This gave rise to racial tension growing in both the camps and thus the effort was dropped. Thus the affluent community at present endeavourer to raise the standards of the public schools and Fremont’s public school are considered the best in the whole of California. The Ohlone College is located just a bloke from Mission San Jose. It has a student capacity of 12, 000.There are various reputed universities located in Fremont. There are also schools for the deaf and the blind. Thus in terms of education and specialization in a particular field the avenues in Fremont are many. My family history in Mission San Jose of Fremont dates back to the time of the founding father Fermin de Lasuen in 1797 when the Mission San Jose came into being. After the 1834 the influence of the Missionaries faded away slowly after the enactment of secularization by the Mexican government. At the time of the great Gold Rust the township developed and expanded very fast. When the 1868 earth quake ruined the outbuildings of the Mission the community was mostly into agriculture. Fremont can boast of giving rise to many notable personalities like Olympic skater Kristi Yamaguchi Actress Julie Pinson, grew up in Fremont as did Baseball Hall of Fame pitcher Dennis Eckersley, politician Emcee Lynx who were born or brought up here , as well as M.C. Hammer the Rap star and Christian minister resided in Fremont at his prime musical time, grew up in the Irvington district of Fremont. .( Wikipedia. (last modified 17:09, 7 September 2006).Fremont) In this community it was found the Asian parents exceeded the African American and the Latin American in terms of the level of education. Despite this fact the Asians were most comfortable while using their mother tongue. The Latin families ere found to have the largest population of people relying on Public schools and education, followed by Asian and African Americans. It can be seen in this community that only about a half Asians enroll their children in pre-schools, while two thirds of the African American enroll their children to pre-schools. The number of pre-schoolers enrolled by Latino American parents is less then that of the Asian Americans. It is evident that all the three groups, namely the African, Asian and Latino American communities have distinct soci-economic and educational conditions. There is distinction in the communities regarding the level of expertise in English language and distinct understanding of the role of pre-schools as well as that of public education. The various ethnic communities’ attach great expectation to their children. They have a very pragmatic and practical expectation from public school and expect their children to be a college graduate at least if not better. In our community I have found from friends of the above three community mentioned that the unavailability of inexpensive and reasonable accommodation and better quality of public education is acutely felt. They would like their children to have a better life then them and this they seen as a possibility only with the availability of good quality education (even in public schools). Quality education at the elementary level will enable them to aspire and achieve higher education, followed by better and paying jobs and thus a better standard of living. In most cases the African and Asian people do not considered the standard of public education as being good. (New American Media.GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Multilingual Poll of Latino, Asian and African American Parents Reveals High Educational Aspirations for Their Children and Strong Support for Early Education, Methodology.) There is no unity of opinion regarding the reason behind the state of public schools. The parents of these ethnic communities are united in the fact that a school whether public or other wise should prepare the child adequately in order to graduate successfully to college. Some of the reasons behind the failing standard of school are thought to be lack of proper fund allocation and financial resource. A very low proportion of people in the ethnic community have confidence in the public school system regarding its preparatory role for college courses. (New American Media.GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Multilingual Poll of Latino, Asian and African American Parents Reveals High Educational Aspirations for Their Children and Strong Support for Early Education, Methodology.) Although $700 has been approved by the California voters for health services of the mentally ill. However not a single Bay area country has addressed the interest of the 24% of the Asian in this region. The problems concerning the mental welfare of the Asian youths gave not been studied properly but there have real life instances of this. There needs to be extensive and comprehensive studies regarding the number of school drop out, their mental state as students described to school counselor, the rate of teen pregnancy, racial bullying or discrimination parental pressure leading to cheating in academics, and the availability of public or private insurances as well as the number of rejection of patients due to lack of insurance. In California a 2003 study reported that number of unemployed Asian persons became double in contrast to the decreased unemployment among California’s. The necessity to complete the process of naturalization is often very crucial for many Asian immigrants. In recognition of these needs government grants were earlier sanctioned. Anti-immigration emotions have lead to decrease in grants being sanctioned and more recently, in 2004-2005, to a total stoppage of grants. Many Ethnic communities including the Asian have a concealed problem, namely domestic violence. In the recent time Blue Shield of California Foundation has provided a grant to Asian Pacific Fund, the purpose of empowering and strengthening domestic violence organizations.( Asia Pacific Funds. 2004-2006. Description of Recent Grants. ) In my opinion Ethic communities along with the Asian communities need to be considered from a culturally empathetic and sensitive perspective regarding funding for health. Many people in various ethnic communities aspire for a better standard of life for their children and seek better education for them. In the absence of adequate recourses they have to resort to public educations. Thus the standard of public education should be raised so that students are properly trained to graduate for higher education. The two thosand census report puts the figure of 203,413 as the Fremont city’s population . The city comprises of 52,201 of families and 68,237 of households. households, and families residing in the city. The city has a population density of 1,024.1/km² (2,652.3/mi²) with 69,452 housing units found in an average density of 349.7/km² (905.6/mi²). The city has a very diverse racial population of 47.67% of White, Asian comprising of 36.95%, with 3.10% of African American population, 0.52% of Native American, 0.40% of Pacific Islander, 11.35% from other races and about 13.47% of people from Latinoor Hispanic of any race. Fremont has the greatest population of Afgans in the whole of USA.According to the 2000 census out of the total number of houseolds 40.2% had children who were under the age of eighteen and resided with the household. 62.7% were couples who were married and who were residing together. The househods had a average mebership of two to three. The average age of the city’s population was thirty four years. The average household income was $76,579.( Wikipedia. (last modified 17:09, 7 September 2006).Fremont) The 2005 census estimates that the household population of California is about 35,278,768. Fifty four percent of people were found to be residing in households. Thirty one percent were householders while 17.9% were the spouses of the householders. 31.7% of the 40% of relatives in the household who were not spouses were children. It was estimated that there were 12.1 million of households in the city of California while the average size of the household was found to be 2.92. It was found that from the population of people of twenty five years or above eighty percent was high school graduates and about thirty percent were graduates in some discipline. The people of foreign origin in the California city were found to be 9,611,356.( United States Census2010 2005 American Community Survey) Out of this population fifty seven were not yet citizens America while forty three were now citizens of America. The census data of 2005 in the city of California provides merely statistical data. The data shows eight percent of the people of twenty years or above as having high school graduates, but it does not present a clear picture as to how educational accomplishment is spread through out the various ethnic groups in the community. The large proportions of people who do not yet have a US citizenship need to be given special grants that enable them to have a secure life. Reference United States Census2010 2005 American Community Survey. Selected Social Characteristics: California. U censusBureau.. Online data retrieved on 11th July 2006, available at www.census.gov/acs/www/Area%20sheets/Area%20sheet%20US.doc Asia Pacific Funds. 2004-2006. Description of Recent Grants. Online data retrieved on 11th July 2006, available at.http://www.asianpacificfund.org/grants/recent.shtml New American Media.GREAT EXPECTATIONS: Multilingual Poll of Latino, Asian and African American Parents Reveals High Educational Aspirations for Their Children and Strong Support for Early Education, Methodology. Pacific News Service. Online data retrieved on 11th July 2006, available at http://news.newamericamedia.org/news/view_custom.html?custom_page_id=315 Wikipedia. (last modified 17:09, 7 September 2006).Fremont, California. Online data retrieved on 11th July 2006, available at. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fremont,_California Appendix Group Latinos African Americans Asians Affordable housing 25% 24% 23% Quality of public education 23% 26% 24% Illegal immigration 14% 11% 8% Economy and unemployment 11% 11% 7% Access to health care 9% 8% 8% Traffic congestion 6% 6% 18% Public safety 4% 9% 5% Read More