Neighborhood Boundaries: Orange

Our community immersion took us to Hope School, a school for homeless children located in Orange, CA. The original school was located in a chuch near the heart of Old Town Orange, and just a block away from Chapman University. The learning settings were located in spacieous rooms that were decorated with bright primary colors. Hope school was located adjacent to a YMCA that closed down but allowed them to use their gym and grounds.

Yet, everything changed when Hope School had to relocate about three miles North of its location when thei school did not pass an earthquake inspection. Now the school is located within a shopping center off of a busy street. Their vicinity contains a park and a food restaurant. The classroom boundaries are less defined because of the tight space and setting. I imagine the students' transition from the original school to its current location must have been quite a shock because of is austere setting. A school is usually meant to emit warmth and friendly surroundings, not the money-making look of a shopping center. However, the physical boundaries defined by this setting are minor. School allows us to break barriers, open the boundaries of our mind and fly away into a different world of books and knowledge. In this sense, Hope school has no boundaries. It has no boundaries because it gives the disenfranchised children of Orange County the opportunity to learn in a safe and stable environment, when everything else in their life is less than stable.

Neighborhood Boundaries: Costa Mesa

One of my most memorable moments of the community immersion was the visit to The Costa Mesa Motor Inn. It made me realize how much I take for granted within my community, especially the freedom to roam in and around my immediate community. The inn is located off a very busy street (Harbor Blvd.), which serves as a clear boundary for families with small children. The families living in the inn must have children in order to become tenants of the community, which by definition means they are placing their family unit within the vicinity of a busy street, full of fast passing cars and businesses. This is an environmental disadvantage and advantage because they have access to many businesses, but are not located in a child friendly (safe) neighborhood.

However, the boundaries of this site are much more complex than those I have ever had to experience. These families have transitioned from living on the streets, cars, and shelters to living on a stable setting that has a nice pool, nice yard and friendly staff to help them deal with the tough transition. Therefore, although the larger boundaries of the Motor Inn are not placed in an ideal community, the community within the community have provided safe boundaries for many of these families. A perfect example of this was given to us by Paul when he spoke of a family who did not venture out of their apartment for weeks. His story was beautiful because it reminded us that many of us take our four walls, our many rooms, and our safety for granted. All one had to remember in this story was that this family had transitioned from living outside, where they didn't have privacy or a place to call their own. Now they had a home, and this made all the difference.

The boundaries of this neighborhood are complex and unusual because the creators of the program have created a model that provides most resources from within the compound. Their physical boundaries may be well defined by the size of the inn; but the freedom, supplies, and peace they receive from the many resources (e.g. counseling, afterschool programming...) within the Costa Mesa Motor Inn, removes the greater boundaries of life.