ABSTRACT
Caroline stepped out of the van that had taken her and several of her elderly neighbors to the grocery store. This service is part of a special city program that provides transportation services for older low-income residents who need to go to the doctor, shop for food and other necessities, and have no other or only limited means of getting around. The program has been functioning for 2 years with funds provided by a non-governmental organization. The program purchased two new vans and reimburses the city for the use of their handicapped-accessible vehicles. One has to schedule appointments a week in advance and it is not always possible to go to where one wishes. The service is a clear improvement, though, over what was available before. When she needed to go somewhere Caroline had to take taxis. For older people in Caroline’s neighborhood, transportation is a major problem that clearly affects the quality of their lives. Caroline’s daughter lives in another city in the state and cannot deal with Caroline’s daily needs. Her son is in the Army and serving in Afghanistan. His wife and two daughters live in a different state. Caroline has no car and lives in her own home in a transitional neighborhood. When she and her husband, who died 10 years ago of heart disease, moved into their house in their 20s, the neighborhood was working class and of mixed ethnicity. As a veteran, Caroline’s husband was able to obtain a VA guarantee mortgage and they bought a small but comfortable house. Most fathers of families, including Caroline’s husband, worked at a nearby window-frame manufacturing plant or at various other blue-collar jobs in the area. Twenty years ago the plant closed and Caroline’s husband lost his
job. He never worked again, and Caroline still lives on the surviving spouse’s part of his union pension and Social Security. She is barely able to afford the house even though the mortgage has been paid off. She can only do so because of special property tax provisions that have capped what she owes, and help with upkeep by members of her church. Even with their help, though, the house is in need of many repairs that will probably never be done. The plumbing and wiring are not up to code and the heating system is on its last legs. As the neighborhood has changed it has become more Hispanic and Black. Unemployment has increased and the walls are covered with gang graffiti. When she first moved into this neighborhood Caroline was not afraid to walk to the local bodega or to sit in the park with the other women in the neighborhood as they watched their children play. That has changed; Caroline no longer feels safe. A few years ago her son put bars on the windows to keep burglars from entering easily. There have been several break-ins in the neighborhood and there was a home invasion a month ago only two blocks away. There is an open drug trade in the community and individuals on Caroline’s corner stand about waiting for customers. Caroline only goes out with others, which means that if someone does not come for her she is alone and isolated. The van that takes her shopping and to the daycare center she attends are godsends. The center is several blocks away, and there is no way Caroline could walk to it. The center provides transportation to and from the facility, but there is a small fee so Caroline cannot go every day. At the center Caroline talks to old and new friends and the major topic of their conversation is crime. Despite the fact that the older adults have a lower victimization rate than younger groups, surveys of older people show that crime is their major fear, more so than medical problems, and Caroline and the other visitors to the center are no exception. The residents of the neighborhood feel trapped, and feel that nobody, including the schools or police, is doing enough to deal with crime and the unruly adolescents that roam the neighborhood. They also blame the single mothers who seem incapable of controlling their children. What they fear most is violent crime, although they are not aware of any specific violent crime against an older person in recent years. Whatever the sociological or economic explanations, the neighborhood has changed, and clearly for the worse. Physical decline and social decline have gone
hand in hand. Abandoned buildings, graffiti, broken windows, empty lots filled with trash, and more are all signs of a dying neighborhood. The physical decay feeds upon and, in turn, fuels the social decay. Over the years the neighborhood was home to different racial and ethnic groups. When Caroline and her generation are gone it is unclear who will live here. It seems unlikely that it will become the vibrant, socially integrated place that it was. Only time will tell. This chapter examines (1) the meaning of community; (2) how researchers assess neighborhood quality; (3) changing face of communities and new Hispanic destination and settlement areas; and (4) the impact of neighborhood quality and especially Hispanic enclaves on various physical and mental health outcomes, as well as what is known about the risk factors for isolation and depression.
