Introduction
Social work is a profession that covers wide facets of the community by addressing the needs of individuals and their families, specific groups such as the elderly and children as well as the entire community as discussed by Dominelli (2009). More particularly, it is oriented to making their clients self-reliant by building of capacity through training, community enlightening and group empowerment. Additionally, the responsibilities of the professionals may target the vulnerable groups within the community to reduce the harm that may come upon them through sponsoring their educations and informing on the potential risks as well as the ways to evade them. As such, the study will analyze the outcome of a visit to a client home in the South Bronx neighborhood. Specifically, it will focus on the living conditions and investigation of the supporting data to make recommendations for the necessary intervention to upgrade the quality of life in this community.
South Bronx visit report
The area is quite contaminated, and the environment looks neglected, especially after the White left the region due to the low quality of life in this neighborhood. The area demands a thorough cleaning to reduce the health challenges. Moreover, the noise pollution is quite high due to a large number of tractors in the neighborhood and there are heavy industries buildings left by the early settlers. As such, the planning of the area looks disorganized, which portray a low economic class. It is a multi-race neighborhood with different cultures and languages ranging from White, Latino, Asians as well as Black or Americans of African descents. Likewise, the poor housing conditions, low cost of living and the prevalence of asthma as well as low quality of life indicate that majority of the residents come from low economic class. The buildings are adjacent to the highway and the routes used by tractors disposing wastes to the stations located in the neighborhood. Therefore, the noise and the air pollution have led to high cases of asthma among the children in the region. The living condition of my client was no different from those of others in the neighborhood. Walking in this neighborhood raised many questions, and it calls for immediate interventions and adequate legislation to upgrade the life of the residents.
Structural data for the South Bronx
The majority race in the area is the Latino followed by the black or the African American as shown by the table below according to the population figures released in 2013. Thus, the area is well representative of the majority races in the United States as indicated by Arvastson and Butler (2006). On the other hand, the agency that I work for specializes in the vulnerable groups such as the children affected by preventable diseases due to poor living conditions. Therefore, it concentrates on the children with asthma and obesity in South Bronx, which have affected a large number of children in the region more than other locations as observed by Awotona (2010). Additionally, owing to the high level of unemployment in this area the crime rate is quite high, which discourages small-scale investments. However, these rates are gradually decreasing, and the future of this neighborhood is looking up.
Some of the houses belong to the businesspersons who have rented them at low prices due to the low quality of life in the region. Besides, New York City Housing Authority provides housing to the low-income earners. For instance, Lower Grand Concourse was a projected aimed at improving the lighting and housing conditions of the residents of the neighborhood. However, the situation is changing, and real estate in the region is booming due to the decreasing crime rates and improved level of literacy. Therefore, the investors are buying property in the areas for development and other commercial use. Despite the fact that property development will uplift the living conditions and the rate of investments in South Bronx, the low-class residents are worried that the rent will go up, and they will not afford the cost of living shortly.
There have been efforts to change the life of residents in South Bronx concerning health that has previously made their living condition overly deplorable in the past. Despite the fact that the conditions are not yet at par with other regions there have been notable improvements. For instance, the health project include the New York Children's Health Project caters for the health of the homeless children in the New York City while South Bronx Health Center offers medical services to the adults, especially the elderly and the pregnant women, regardless of the paying ability as noted in the Health Disparities Conference, Wallace and Columbia University (2008). Moreover, the neighborhood is densely populated, streets are narrow, and the strenuous congestions adversely affect the transport sector. Moreover, the level and quality of education in the neighborhood is low, which has increased the level of unemployment, attributed to the low income in the region. Besides, the level of suspension is also high in the area.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_the_Bronx
Review of the visit and structural data findings
The study case of South Bronx neighbor has created comprehensive insights on the demands and the methodologies to meet the needs of the clients. The data and the impressions indicate that both the residents and the authority have a responsibility in the advancement of the living conditions and the general wellbeing. Considering that the diseases that are prevalent in the area are preventable, it calls for the implementation of appropriate measures. Firstly, the study has found that the residents have to take the initiative to make their immediate environment clean and habitable to lower the cases of asthma in the neighborhood. Similarly, Cleaning of the environment would help eliminate disease vectors such as rats and insects in the neighborhood. Moreover, they have to be more responsible for their eating habits to control the level of the lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and obesity. In the case of education, the parents have to sensitize their children to the importance of education to curb suspension and low performance. The results of these initiatives do not demand a lot of resources; they require personal efforts to accomplish. For instance, the youths should join and participate in the Bronx Teens Connection (BxTC), which is a program oriented to improve the sexual and productive health conditions of the young adults. The campaign requires the efforts of the youth, their parents, the organizing groups and agencies among other stakeholders to attain significant results, which proves the essence for cooperation by the residents. Although the program has reduced the rate of teen pregnancy, the average rate is still higher than the figure for the entire city. Therefore, the teens have a much bigger role to play than the agency working on this issue for their betterment. The parents should also engage the teens in sex educations and the personal responsibility to curb teen pregnancy. Consequently, the rate of school dropouts and suspension cases will reduce, thus, increasing the literacy levels. Additionally, the success of the program will be vital in solving similar social challenges in other areas in the country.
Secondly, the authority in schools, health facilities, as well as the New York City, has a role to play in ensuring they allocate equitable resources to the South Bronx owing to its high population and the demand for resources. More particularly, it is important to ensure that the developers, industrial and the city waste disposal operators, as well as other stakeholders in the economy of the neighborhood, comply with the environmental standards to improve the living conditions of the residents. There should also be an increase in the number of city programs about the affordable houses. For instance, the housing and the constructions authorities need to intervene and come up with strict housing development codes as well as enforcement procedures for the elimination of the substandard houses that aggravate the poor health conditions. However, it is also important to note that health department codes in relation to housing are quite limited since they cover few areas such as the plumbing and sanitation. Therefore, to actualize robust housing policies the housing and other related departments must team up to improve the welfare of the South Bronx residents as shown by Gonzalez (2004). Similarly, the policies should address the maintenance of the constructed houses to ensure that the residents are not exposed to disease agents and other conditions that may compromise their safety and health. The whole process as well the inspection activities and execution of the policies require resources. As such, the agencies and the city authority need to allocate more funds to the activities that aim to improve the welfare of the residents. Likewise, the agencies in the region should cooperate so that they pool their resources and take on one project at a time to maximize the outputs of their efforts. Besides, there is the need to offer incentives to the investors in the area to increase the employment opportunities, which will reduce the level of crime.
Finally, the social workers have to enlighten the public on the ways to deal with the challenges facing their community as well as advise them on how to get the facilities as well as stop the pollution by offering professional judgment. The most viable way for the social workers to impact on the lives of the south Bronx residents is through empowerment programs such as training and life skills as discussed by Soifer, McNeely, Costa and Pickering-Bernheim (2014). Apart from reducing the expense required to support the course in the long-term, this approach will reduce the challenges faster than other programs. The skills learnt through the social programs will help the residents in exploiting the opportunities around them to make a living. More importantly, it will make them self-reliant in solving problems rather than waiting on the government and authorities. Consequently, the community will come up with their own initiatives to improve the living standards in Bronx. Still, the increment in the number of social workers in the area is justifiable since it is populous and vast.
References
Arvastson, G., & Butler, T. (2006). Multicultural and cities. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press, University' of Copenhagen.
Awotona, A. (2010). Rebuilding' sustainable' communities' for children and their families' after disasters: A global survey. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars.
Dominelli, L. (2009). Introducing social work. Cambridge: Polity.
Gonzalez, E. D. (2004). The Bronx. New York: Columbia University Press.
Health Disparities Conference, Wallace, B. C., & Columbia University. (2008). toward equity in health: A new global approach to health disparities. New York: Springer.
Soifer, S., McNeely, J. B., Costa, C., & Pickering-Bernheim, N. (2014). Community economic development in social work. New York: Columbia University Press.
