Critical Reflection #4: The Canal in Context
What?
Name of organization you work with: Catholic Charities | Canal Family Support Kids Club
Stated mission of the organization: The primary goal of Canal Family Support Kids Club is to increase literacy and reading comprehension in order to close the educational achievement gap between high-achieving students and those who are falling behind.
What are the programs/services provided? Kids Club provides targeted reading intervention, educational assistance and enrichment activities that support the cultural, physical, social and cognitive development.
What is the targeted issue(s)? Literacy and the educational opportunity gap.
What is the target population? 120 at-risk youth in grades 1–5.
What are some identified qualities/qualifications for people to be part of the program/services? The majority of children served come from families who are struggling with poverty, limited English skills, and/or marginalized legal status.
What is the composition of the county’s population? Marin County is 72% white, 15% Latino, 5.6% Asian, 2.5% black, .2% Pacific Islander, .5% other, and 3% two or more.
What is the percentage of your community organization’s target population in relation to the county’s population as a whole? The San Rafael Canal neighborhood has 12,000 residents in 2.5 square miles. 60% of residents are foreign born. The population is primarily Latino (76%) and Asian (8%). The median annual earnings was $21,000 in 2012 — the lowest in Marin County.
So What?
What are some discrepancies/differences between your engagement community and the general Marin county community in terms of privilege and access to resources? Human Development Index (HDI) 0–10 Scale
Sample of Marin Census Tract
Ross
Health: 9.16 | Education: 9.93 | Income: 10.0 | Total: 9.70
Tiburon: Bel Aire
Health: 7.63 | Education: 10.0 |Income: 10.0 | Total: 9.21
San Rafael: Glenwood, Peacock Gap
Health: 6.53 | Education: 9.74 | Income: 10.0 | Total: 8.76
San Rafael: Canal
Health: 6.03 | Education: 0.86 | Income: 2.65 | Total: 3.18
Any findings on the history of how the discrepancies/differences came to be? According to a KQED news article I found, the Canal was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s as apartments for young couples and new college graduates, but it transformed into an almost entirely immigrant-based industrial and residential neighborhood very quickly over the course of 25 years. After the Vietnam war, refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia fled to California, many of whom came to the Canal for low-end job opportunities. During the 1980s, civil war in Guatemala and El Salvador led to an influx of refugees to the area, changing the demographics once again.
Is there anything in your findings that is emotionally charged, or could potentially cause resentment and/or harm in certain populations? I think one of the most perturbing findings of the HDI chart is that although Glenwood, Peacock Gap, and the Canal are all neighborhoods in San Rafael, the Canal still has drastically lower education scores than those other two neighborhoods. I would assume that having children grow up within one or two miles of each other but having dramatically fewer educational opportunities must cause a lot of anxiety and low self esteem issues in the the underprivileged students.
Now What?
According to the panelists at the Make Marin Count event, what are some of the key issues related to Census 2020 in Marin County? For every person not counted by the census, there is a loss of about $2,000 in funding per person per year for 10 years. Marin County is at risk for an undercount in the Census of 2020 because approximately 7% of Marin County’s population live in a hard to count community. Hard to count populations include low-income families, the homeless, individuals with low English language proficiency, undocumented immigrants, mobile individuals such as college students, and the elderly. The hard to count populations may also be struggling with the current political climate, which has created an elevated sense of fear/mistrust of the government which hinders people from wanting to respond. Another potential issue is that the Census Bureau is urging households to submit their responses via the internet, which not everyone has access to. Lastly, the Census Bureau is struggling with a lack of resources, including a $200 million shortfall since 2012.
What are some solutions offered by the panelists? The panelists emphasized bringing back the humanity of the census, making sure everyone knows that they count as an individual, and that they can use this opportunity to take back some of the power by making their voice heard. They encouraged us to talk to people within our community, educate them on why the census matters, and clarify some of the confusing aspects of the census (like the citizenship question).
How would these same issues impact the community/organization you are working with this semester? These issues impact the Kids Club in the Canal because the results of the census allocate demographic and political power. The censuses determines allocation of the 435 members of the House of Representatives, determines how district lines are drawn, and assists civil and business leaders in devising solutions. The Canal is a vulnerable community because it is considered a high hard to count population. An undercount could result in an undercount the loss of billions of dollars in Medicaid, SNAP, and Medicare resources as well as a congressional seat — resources that the Canal communities heavily rely on.
