Here you will find a collection of stories by your neighbors, friends, acquaintances and strangers.
Here you will find a place where you can share YOUR story. This is a brave space--one that requires vulnerability, authenticity and love. This is YOUR space. Use it. Some questions to think about: --If you have moved in your life, why? --If you haven't moved, why not? --What kinds of access to resources does your house provide you? --Do you have children? How much has your children's life been influenced by where you life? --How has your life been influenced by where you live?
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NOTE: THIS STORY WAS ORIGINALLY SHARED BY NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE
Ruby's parents struggled with money, and the family was periodically homeless when she was small. The unstable environment made Ruby scared and she often acted out. Even after the family found an apartment, Ruby was still struggling. Ruby's parents could not afford a private preschool, but they wanted to help Ruby catch up to other children her age - they knew that if Ruby did not know how to behave and learn in kindergarten, she would quickly fall behind. When the family heard about Neighborhood House's Early Childhood Education program, they knew it would give Ruby the support she needed. Neighborhood House bridges the early education gap for low-income, immigrant and refugee families. Children ages 3-5 attend preschool at Neighborhood House three days each week. In between classes, Neighborhood House staff works with parents and children to increase literacy and school readiness. "When Ruby first came to school, she had trouble staying focused and behaving appropriately in the classroom," says Mike Herndon, Home Literacy Coach. "But when I did my first home visit with her family, I saw how well she could pay attention." After seeing Ruby work at home, Mike knew that positive attention from her parents and other familiar adults was a great way to motivate her. He continues to work with Ruby and her parents, and sees the whole family make improvements every week. "Ruby's only four, but if she keeps up her progress, she will be ready for kindergarten in the fall." Many studies have shown that preschool education helps children perform better in school their entire lives. Neighborhood House's Early Childhood Education program makes a big difference for kids like Ruby, who is learning the skills she will need in kindergarten and beyond.* *Name changed. A few years ago, my parents decided to move our family from the suburbs back to the city. We moved into a very upper-class neighborhood, but it was also an area that was notorious for a lot of crime. We had a gold menorah (not the one pictured) in one of the big windows. Our house was broken into in the middle of the night by smashing in the glass panel of our front door. I still remember it as one of the scariest nights of my life and both my brother and my mom have suffered from PTSD because of the event. The police never determined a suspect, though the warned my parents not to keep things that appear valuable in our windows, especially if they have a religious association. Minnesota has a fairly large jewish population and our old neighborhood in the suburbs had a huge jewish community, so I had never really been conscious of my religion before. I, personally, have a hard time believing the person who tried to get in did it because we were jewish, but it was definitely one of the first times I remember feeling overly conscious of my religion and how I presented it to other people.
I essentially grew up in two houses. My family had a home in Mendota Heights and we also had a cabin in Wisconsin. We would go to the cabin almost every weekend in the winter and spend entire summers there. This was very common for most people in my neighborhood. Mendota heights was a middle/upper class suburb and most people left on the weekends. It was kind of similar to how people go to The Cape on the East Coast. It was a huge responsibility for my parents, but we were so incredibly privileged to be able to essentially afford a space reserved specifically for leisure.
Public transportation has impacted my life in two big ways. I started working in a part time retail job my senior year of high school - however, I did not at that point nor do I now have a car. Instead of solely relying on parents and friends for rides to work, however, public transportation has offered a huge convenience factor of allowing me to get to work at a very low cost and fairly quickly.
In addition, riding public transportation has made me more comfortable in navigating my way around my city, and made me feel more confident in navigating my way around a new city or public transportation system. Although I may be incredibly reliant on my smart phone while completing this task, learning the ins and outs of different bus routes, and lingo, and learning to figure out at the last minute which bus I'll use to get home has helped me learn to go with the flow and take things as they come. The biggest privilege that my house's location gave me was the outdoors. I live in a neighborhood with very large lots, and lots of trees, animals, my parents are very active gardeners and encouraged us to play outside. We lived in a very safe place where I could rollerblade, bike, run, and ski outside and my parents didn't have to worry that anything would happen. My childhood included a lot of interactions with nature and the outdoors that some kids just don't have access to, and that is probably a big part of what made me an environmentalist and care about conservation and preservation.
My house has almost no access to public transportation. We live amongst a lot of corn fields. My mom once looked at google maps to see how long it would take to get to work on only public transportation, and the answer was 4.5 hours, compared to her 25 min. drive. Fortunately, we could bike to school (for summer practices) but we never had to.
My house is located within a pretty decent school district from my understanding, but I don't think that was ever a huge issue for my parents because they almost always planned for us to go to private schools. That being said, had I gone to public schools and not enjoyed my 'home district', my parents would have had the resources and knowledge to help me transfer to a more academically challenging HS.
My husband and I moved to Minneapolis from New York City, and we still wanted to live in the city. We rented an apartment in a hip urban center. We were still in the middle of the action and we were able to walk to nearby restaurants, stores, etc. We were on a main bus line and were spoiled by the contemporary neighborhood. After we got married we wanted to move to a house. In order to afford a nice home, we moved into the nearest suburb to Minneapolis. Our new home was one digit difference in the zip code and only 10 minutes away from our apartment. While we could still walk to a small shopping area, we had definitely moved into the suburbs. We gave up our life in suburbia but at the same time we gained a yard, a neighborhood and neighbors. The bus line was near our new home, but was not as convenient. Plus, the travel time to work was much longer and we began to rely on cars for transportation. As our family grew, it was time to move again. We bought our current home in the next suburb over – still 10 minutes away from downtown Minneapolis. Our new home has a lovely, large yard and kind, devoted neighbors. The bus line is closer to our home and there are many commuters in our neighborhood. Our home happens to be in a good school district. Some families in the neighborhood selected to live here because of the school system. However, there are many families in our neighborhood that have selected to send their children to private schools or have open enrolled in other school districts. This year our city’s existing school funding referendum came to a close and we had to vote on whether to continue providing tax dollars for school funding. The new referendum voted by a landslide even though this will mean an increase in our taxes.
We just fell in love with the uniqueness of the victorian house on 94 crocus. We weren't even looking in this neighborhood. Our kids were in private school so school district didn't matter. We truly just fell in love for no practical reason. I guess my husband's job allowed us to choose our house for what we wanted, not what we needed.
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