The Street Tour: San Francisco - Essay Example

04 Dec Part Introduction The Haight Ashbury tour was involved visitation of parks, town and exploration of the underlying busy environment. It is a marvelous city with exciting people and culture. The history of the city is still alive to this day, and people come here looking for love, this is the place to be that I will expound. Social class is also evidence as the city has high pace and low profiled corners. Body San Francisco is one of the oldest cities in America and it is known for its subculture in Height because of hippie culture. This was a fad in the 1960’s attachment to music and all beautiful things like flowers and influenced association to Eastern way of life. The city exhibited businesses named after the eastern culture. However, this has faded away, and new ways of life have taken place in San Francisco. Today’s anyone can buy elegant clothing from boutiques to vintage wears shops and even from second hand shops. Moreover, the city has internet cafes and modern restaurants. Haight attracts all folks, from tourist, fashioning, Neo punks and children coming to the club. People from all walks of life get a grab of their choice either in lower Haight or the upper Haight. People who come to shop have to move upward to Stanyan and Masonic while the lovers of music and nightclubbing are drawn to the lower side of Haight in Divisidero up to Webster. The city has its 1960s glory of beautiful scene in the cities corner and Buena Vister Park. Conclusion People come to Haight to enjoy their time finding love, shopping for artifacts and entertainment from children clubbing to night clubbing. Therefore, though it has changed it has adapted to the emerging needs of the people, but Haight culture still remains. Introduction Larkin Street’s Youth service was established in 1984 in to support and cater for the needs of street children. The organization braves itself as a rehabilitation centre for devastated youth of age between 12 and 24 years old. Its draws its support from private and public sectors and operates for an annual budget of about $13 millions. Youths who experience neglect, abuses, mental health challenges and drug addict, find refuge to Larkin Street Youth Service. Moreover, Larkin centre also provides other services such as literacy training to enable the youth in money management. Body Larkin’s Street Youth Service was formed by a group of San Francisco residents including church members, neighbors and business vendors. The community was concerned with the behaviors that young people were engaging in the street. The organization mobilized funds from federal agencies, private volunteer and public covers. The youth faced the danger of substance abuse, lack of home care and abused from their families. It is against this backdrop that Larkin’s was formed. Until today, the organization still serves destitute children and trains them to manage their life after the institute. Larkin’s Street has helped many young street children since it opened in 1984. Moreover, the institute now serves over 4000 destitute children every year. However, among the 4000 only 17% get access to residential programs. Fifty percent of the populous get drop in training from Haight Referral Centre, and the rest 33% were enrolled in employment or education training internships. Conclusion Larkin’s has helped a lot of young people over the last 30 years and holds meeting with alumnae now and then. It also gets in touch with its trainee for one year after they graduate from the program. The Larkin’s program has survived for all those years because of its uniqueness in counseling, case management, medical care and employment opportunities after the training. Introduction The St Anthony Foundation was established to serve the needy spiritually, emotionally and physically. The foundation geared upon helping the needy in San Francisco from abject poverty. St Anthony Foundation is guided by identified values, which help in, nurturing people into the righteous life of caring one another and being a brother to all people in the society. The institution mold character by encouraging personalized life full of gratitude. Body The communities in the street live in abject poverty, without food, shelter and means to cater for their health. However, due to the grace of God the Foundation feed all of the people who seek help in one way or another. The hungry are fed, and those without shelter are catered for while the sick get treated. The city of San Francisco has a lot of needy people and the organization has dedicated to serving them better their life. More than 10000 people spend their life in the street while 12000 families live in houses that have no kitchens. This explains the extent of poverty in San Francisco. More people keep coming on to St Anthony Foundation, but none is turned away for lack of food. The people of San Francisco have identified themselves with the values of community and gratitude. The entire guests at St Anthony are welcomed and catered for by San Francisco’s. Conclusion The virtues of healing are evident because the poor get fed and the sick have a clinic provided to meet people healthcare needs. The St. Anthony also has a Medical Clinic that serves more than 3000 patients in a year. Introduction Faithful Fools Street Ministry was established as a convergence of two Christian groups. The group came together in 1998 to form the Faithful Fools Mission to train and offer charitable in Tenderloin, San Francisco. The men behind the organization were Christian leaders who has served the community and felt the need to change the way of life of future current and future generation. The organization engages the impoverished and the well up in society through education. Through education, the organization argues that the chains that bound people in poverty will be broken only if all classes in the society are involved Faithful Fools aim to break the boundaries that divide people be it religion, wealth, class, gender, ethnicity and race while finding out what connect people. Body Faithful Fools has achieved in connecting people who would otherwise have not met due to societal stratification. It organizes spiritual journey in streets and over 3500 young people has attended so far. Faithful Fools offer a variety of programs, one it conducts educational retreat for groups, schools and individuals visiting Nicaragua and United States cities. The institution facilitates daily accompaniment, meditation, somatic experience, arts, advocacy, field education and internships. The Faithful Fools connect people with a vision of ending poverty and homelessness in San Francisco and other places of the world. Furthermore, the organization creates a bridge along where people can come together and end the gap between classes in society. According to the Faithful Fools, social change is only achievable when people solidly come together whether poor or rich. Conclusion Unlike many other organizations, Faithful Fools none only train its members, but also recruit creative thinker, listeners, readers, poets, artists, and painter. Part 2 Summary Introduction San Francisco is a beautiful city with parks and nature walk corners. The city has grown ad change from what it used to be in the 1990s. There are booming businesses in the entertainment joints and the shopping malls. However, the city has many other activities that go on behind the scene. The city host two groups of people, the rich and the destitute. This is a significant fact that only two groups of people lives in this city, the street impoverished people and the wealthy that live in the suburbs of the town. Body The latter reside and operate entertainment business in the lower side of the city where violence is the order of the day. Gunshots are usually heard during the night. According to Jason an informer that we met at Tenderloin, criminal activities are always are always high, and police earn extra stipend to guard businesses. This side of the city is prone to mannerism of drug trafficking, prostitution, violence and homelessness. The availability of theatres seduces people to illegal activities. The situation of the eastern part of the city explains establishment of Larkin’s Street Youth Service. The situation are so dire that if the street children are neglected the community will turn from awful to worse. The establishment of Larkin’s street Youth Service is to inspire the youth from the wayward of the street and to the glory of self achievement. The illegal trafficking of children into prostitution risk the sheer life that community is supposed to protect. The upper part of the city comprises the shopping malls for the rich. These are the only those well up people who can afford to spend money on luxury goods. The city host most of the richest and this may explain the high rate of crime. The difference in the way of life between the poor and the rich prompt the disadvantaged to try to break the economic gap through crime. However, according to Faithful Fools Street Ministry social change can only happen when both the lower class and the upper class come together and find out ways of addressing poverty and inequality. To achieve this Faithful Fools Ministry engages in educational retreat for both the rich and the poor groups and individuals. Moreover, they offer daily accompaniment for people living in the streets hotels and even in residential areas. The poor live in abject poverty, and they fall prey of economic and social distress. Therefore, to relieve them from post traumatic stress problem, the Faithful Fools offers meditation four times in a week. A visit to SAGE program centre revealed the extent of rehabilitation of sexually afflicted children and adults. The centre was established to prevent human trafficking and sexual exploitation. The SAGE center provides education to people involved sexual exploitation to enable the victim heals and embrace a new live. According to Jadma Noronha an informer at SAGE centre there has been anti sex and human trafficking legislation, but people has a different meaning of what trafficking entails. Therefore, cases of rape, sexual exploitation and human trafficking go unreported. In order to end these deviant behaviors, the people of San Francisco need to be educated and informed that human trafficking and illegal sex malpractice are unlawful. Organization such as Larkin Street may best deal with those that fall within the age bracket of between 12 and 24 years. In the city with it behind the elegant boutiques lie unlicensed Massage Parlors. These are premises where people receive Massages to release muscle pressure. However, the businesses do not meet the safety and health conditions as set out by the law. The visit drew as to Dyanna Quizon and Katy tang. They informed us that the Massage Parlors were engaging in prostitution, and this led the government to cease their operations. Nevertheless, the businesses have reemerged and are working without licenses. Tenderloin has only a handful of registered Parlor, but there is as many as 150 operating without regulations of the health department. The negative and illegal activities are as a result of high level of poverty in San Francisco. The St. Anthony Foundation is evidence to attest that poverty is prevalent in San Francisco. The formation of Larkin’s centre was geared to correct all the anomalies the poverty burden people. Poverty put strain to individual and families. When life becomes intolerable, sometimes parents abandon their children or the kids move away from home in search for food. The number of street children increases and so do crime as they try to find a livelihood. Young boys take on crime related activities while girls pursue prostitution to find earn incomes to cater for their needs. However, the older individuals get advantage of the younger one and use them as a sex slave or are sold to other people for labor or sex exploitation. Therefore, the genesis of organization like St. Anthony is to feed the hungry children, look after their health and then feed their spiritual needs. This is the only way to move out people from the street, and from bondage of poverty through training and support services. Spiritual healing assists the street children to awaken their faith and foster a healthy live free from social evils and suffering. The community is also called to identify with the needy and by sharing with other people help to bring healing to all. St. Anthony also encourages the value of personalism and thereby ensuring that all people are treated with respect and dignity. People should not be looked upon because of their status in the society but rather as individuals capable of doing according to everyone ability. Conclusion The street tour and the material provided underscore how the society is until today. Poverty has a direct effect of making people engage in deviant behaviors because society pressure and expectation on a person. The norms require that a person should live a virtuous life within a family set up. However, when this is not the case people establish a subculture that fits their identities. The street gang can, therefore, be said to be a subculture with its rule, norms and regulations that all members must adhere to so as to survive. According to Marx, society is characterized by the proletariat and bourgeois. The rich comprises the owners of capital and proletariat presents the poor who supply labor to the bourgeois production. Moreover, he said that conflict was inevitable given the disparity in resource ownership (Rummel). Therefore, crime is just, but a means to break to move from one status to another. Work Cited Rummel, R. Understanding Conflict and War: Vol. 3: Conflict In Perspective. Web Hawaii Education. Web. 04 Dec. 2013. < http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/CIP.CHAP5.HTM>. Read More