Creating Safe Parks (Yazmin Villar)

Creating safe parks in our community

What is civic engagement?

• "Civic engagement means working to make a difference in the civic life of our communities and developing the combination of knowledge, skills, values and motivation to make that difference. It means promoting the quality of life in a community, through both political and non-political processes." https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/ref/college/collegespecial2/coll_aascu_defi.html?pagewanted=all
• "Civic engagement includes both paid and unpaid forms of political activism, environmentalism, and community and national service."                     
• https://youth.gov/youth-topics/civic-engagement-and-volunteering

             My own definition

• Civic engagement to me means engaging with your community and finding the problem that is going on. It means hearing opinions and looking for resources in how to make a change. It also means seeing how the change that one is making is going to benefit the residents in the community. 

Not having enough safe parks in my neighborhood is an issue that directly affects me because I work with children and I see how not having access to a park can be problematic. It can become an issue in the sense that children are not getting enough leisure time, physical activity, and are not socializing as much. With these being the factors there are more factors that can be created within time.

    I chose this issue because I live in a low socioeconomic community in where there is only about  4 local parks. Not only is there a small amount of parks in my neighborhood, but they are not accessible for children. They are not accessible for children because the majority of the times the parks are surrounded by substance abuse users or people who are homeless. There is not enough funding so there is no staff that can monitor the park or create activities for the children and youth. Having safety issues, makes it hard for a parent to take their children to the park or even letting them go on their own. The parks that are in my neighborhood are pretty much walking distance to the locals, but that is not the issue, it is the safety that lacks.

    Another issue about the parks in my community is that the ones that are considered to be safe, are not accessible to some of the families due to the fees that they charge. A lot of the times, the recreational activities that are available for the kids, do not work with the parents schedule because they have to work. Some of the times, depending on the sport that a child is in, requires them to buy a uniform. Having to buy uniforms or other materials can increase stress to parents if they are already having a difficult time financially. A lot of the times, these children are coming from a single-headed household, so they do not have a lot of financial support. In the article, “The Disappearing Youth Discount: Does It Matter?”, they talk about how there are not enough opportunities for leisure for the youth and how having only one parent in the household pays a big part in their life too.  They mentioned, “In 2010, 23 percent of children lived in female-headed families, but the table shows that children in such families accounted for 53.5 percent of all children” (73). This shows that a lot of the youth growing in a low socio-economic area are living with only one parent, which shows that there is not enough leisure time for the child.

Dealing with the lack of resources plays a big part on the child’s development. It can create many unfortunate decision making for the child. A child or  youth who does not have any parental support, mentors, or a park to play in can lead to many consequences down the road. For instance, it can lead to joining a gang, becoming pregnant, or becoming a drug user. All of these factors are possible depending on how one’s lifestyle is. One may try to prevent joining a gang, but it can become difficult when that is the only support network that they are getting. In the article “Crime, Physical Activity and Outdoor Recreation Among Latino Adolescents in Chicago” they mention how a lot of the times children are not safe in their local parks or at their school grounds at night even if they are not part of any gang. Many of the times there can be gangs that intimidate others or they can be having an altercation with other gangs. There is no space for safety for the children that are non-gang members. On their study they found, “Results confirmed the hypothesis that Latino adolescents who expressed greater fear of crime also reported engaging in significantly less PA (physical activity) and outdoor recreation” (pg 543). Overall, safety is an issue and it is something that needs to be addressed. The lack of safe parks results in children not getting enough physical activity and are prone to look for other leisure activities. If there is nothing for them to do they are prone to hang out with the wrong crowd.

Creating parks is important for a community for many reasons. One reason would be that there is a place where the communities citizens could gather around and interact with each other. It is also a place where children could be involved in physical activities and be in shape. Parks can also beautify a community by all of the greenery it would have to offer. There should be a change in the community in having more parks and also making sure the parks are maintained clean and safe. There are two very small parks in the community but it seems as if people do not really go to the parks, so it may mean that there is something missing. Sometimes the reason for the people living in the community won’t attend the parks is because they believe the parks are not very safe.

No Picture Available

I agree with you 100% because not only will it bring the community closer, but it will also bring families together. It’ll keep kids away from violence, and keep them focused on the sports and activities at the recreational centers.

Work Cited

Crompton, John L. “The Disappearing Youth Discount: Does It Matter?” Parks & Recreation,

vol. 49, no. 8, Aug. 2014, pp. 73–74. EBSCOhost,

mimas.calstatela.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a

9h&AN=97392866&site=ehost-live.

Shinew, Kimberly J., et al. “Crime, Physical Activity and Outdoor Recreation Among Latino

Adolescents in Chicago.” Preventive Medicine: An International Journal Devoted to

Practice and Theory, vol. 57, no. 5, Nov. 2013, pp. 541–544. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2013.07.008.