In the suburb community of Riverside, California which is part of the Inland Empire, directly inland from Los Angles. In the southwest area of Riverside there is small sub-community. It historically was Camp Anza a World War II Army military base, the area was later decommissioned and remade into houses in 1940s as part of postwar suburbanization. Soon after an Airplane part manufacturing factory was built directly in the center of Arlanza and was in high production up until the 1980s. This was a working class suburb but as the economy changed so did the racial/ethnic diversity because of the significant increases in Hispanic families moving in due to the economic gap left behind. Now the area is now known as the …show more content…
Throughout the period of childhood and adolescence I became part my community though either the method of forced or voluntary participation of my community resources that include; parks and recreation sports, school and extracurricular actives, local boy scout organization, a community justice non-profit, and the Arlanza community garden. Seeing the different aspects of my community with the connections and relationships between us all, has only lead myself to identify with that of an open mind and open heart. Being able to witness the problems that face a community and to be able to slowly understand and learn about them, allow me to gain a better understanding of the other people’s positions in life and the reason why we need community to truly be for community. This also has allowed me to change with how I live and participate within this community and the influence I can have in order to make an …show more content…
85% of all households are family, and this has led to increased strain on the resources that these people each share and use within this community (ArlanzaCDD). The city of Riverside and San Bernardino from 1990 to the 2000s saw major increases in Hispanic populations, nearly 12%, compared to 2% and 1% growth from Asians and African Americans (Palen p137-139). Due to the increases in minority populations it has allowed, for increases in integration within community. “The Arlanza community is one that is one of the poorest areas of Riverside and yet one of the most diverse”, “Growing up in a community like this really opens your eyes to the different kinds of people in society and within your own community (Gaona)”. Due the increasing number of students and lack of funding around 50% of Riverside County residents 18-24 years old have a high school education or less (CHP). Completing high school positively affects the choice to attend and complete college which is why there needs to be even more retention programs to help people in this community that might want to attend a four year college but at least a possibility to obtain a technical certification. Instead this large group of undereducated people are being used as a source of cheap and expendable labor. People under age 20 make up close to 40% of the population in Arlanza yet