Change for the Better

Growing up in the heart of the Fillmore, in San Francisco, California, the neighborhood I lived in was really run down and where police sirens seemed to be frequent as Muni or the bus line. My neighborhood was considered to be ghetto and dangerous. There is a park right next to my complex where you would see homeless people living there, and it was very unsanitary. Also, there was chipped paint everywhere and you would feel unsafe just walking to the corner store. Although there may be a bunch of negative aspects, it is where I am from, and I believe there could be changes that can be made for the better.

I am who I am despite the neighborhood I lived in because I always kept a positive attitude. At the age of fourteen I was working at an after school program, where I mentored youth from elementary to middle school while being on the basketball team at Galileo High School. Although I was in a bad neighborhood, I did not let negative influences affect me. I think over the past couple years my neighborhood has undergone gentrification. There was a stretch when I was younger, where my family and I had to stay with my grandparents because the apartment complex I stayed at went under renovation. As you can see, on the above picture, that is how my complex looks like today. There is no longer any chipped paint, a new playground, and even added another building in the complex for the local community to use. On Octavia street, which is not too far from where I live is proof of gentrification. They have added a more community friendly park and even added trees. The bottom line is that my neighborhood is making changes for the better, which is good.