Social Justice

Benny Cheng, Sydney Freiberg, Kenni Sterns

Social Justice: equal rights, equal opportunity, equal priviledge, and equal treatment for all

Social Justice issues encountered during our trip

Lack of affordable housing
Food Insecurity
Drug Abuse
Gentrification
Education Inequality

The Two Social Justice Issues We Will Elaborate On...

Housing

Food Insecurity

Housing

Historically, Louisville has been a city divided by segregation and racial redlining

This map shows the Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) neighborhood descriptions. These original guidelines were created by the federal goverment during the Great Depression to help bolster the housing market.

Green Areas: A First ClassBlue Areas: B Second ClassYellow Areas: C Third ClassRed Areas: D Fourth Class

This map shows the 2010 Census results for Jefferson County. The darker areas represent neighborhoods with higher percentages of African American residents.

Very little has changed in the past fifty years.

https://datasmart.ash.harvard.edu/news/article/map-of-the-month-redlining-louisville-1062

These pictures were taken on different streets less than 4 blocks away from each other

Community Assests

Affordable Housing and Vital Support Services | Volunteers of AmericaVolunteers of America is one of the nation's largest nonprofit providers of affordable housing. Find affordable housing for the homeless, families, elderly, veterans, and people with disabilities.

Volunteers of America

VoA works to fight social injustices, including housing inequalities, by "creating and managing low and moderate-income level housing for the homeless, families with children, the elderly, veterans and their families, and people with disabilities, including physical and mental disabilities."

Our Experience:

We were able to see firsthand the benefit this organization had on the surrouding community while we spent time with the kids living in this Emergency Shelter playing outside, playing board games, or spending time in the various playrooms.

House of Ruth

Their Goal: Provide housing and support services for people with HIV/AIDS and their families who are homeless, at risk of losing their homes, or need financial help.

Our Experience:

We spent the morning outside of the main administrative building and a few surrounding houses raking leaves and picking up sticks.
We were told that our time as volunteers was valued close to $28 / hour, meaning we allowed this organization to allocate close to $1400 of funds to other resources they provide for their clients.

Food Insecurity

Defined as "the state of being without reliable access to a sufficient quantity of affordable, nutritious food"

Western Louisville is considered both a food swamp and a food desert

Food Swamp: Where unhealthy foods are more readily available than healthy foods

Food Desert: An urban area where access to affordable, good-quality food is difficult

Community Assets

Louisville Grows

Their Goal: They want to grow healthier and greener neighborhoods. They help maintain 22 community gardens, four public orchards, a training farm, an urban reforestation initiative, and wellness education programming.

Our Experience:

We sifted soil and planted over 2,000 seeds in containers for their Seeds and Starts sale in April. These plants are sold to local communities with their own community gardens.

Dare to Care

Their Goal: A part of Feeding America, partners with nearly 300 local social service agencies, such as food pantries, shelters and emergency kitchens. They serve 13 counties surrounding Louisville and provided 19 million meals last year alone.

Our Experience:

Packed 1,510 bags full of food for the Backpack Buddy Program (sending kids home with food for the weekend)

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