Social Issues
Social problems from poverty, crime to drug addiction have plagued the area for some time. Although crime rates have dropped from the historically epic numbers of the past, East Harlem suffers from Manhattan's highest violent crime rate with 15 murders in 2011.
East Harlem has the highest concentration of shelters and facilities in Manhattan, with 8 homeless shelters, 36 drug and alcohol treatment facilities and 37 mental health treatment facilities. It also has the highest jobless rate in the entire city, as well as the city's second highest cumulative AIDS rate. The Asthma rate is also 5 times larger than national levels. The neighborhood also suffers from a high poverty rate. Union Settlement Association is one of the neighborhood's largest social service agencies, reaching more than 13,000 people annually at 17 locations throughout East Harlem, through a range of programs, including early childhood education, youth development, senior services, job training, the arts, adult education, nutrition, counseling, a farmers' market, community development, and neighborhood cultural events.
Read more about this topic: East Harlem
Famous quotes containing the words social and/or issues:
“... the idea of a classless society is ... a disastrous mirage which cannot be maintained without tyranny of the few over the many. It is even more pernicious culturally than politically, not because the monolithic state forces the party line upon its intellectuals and artists, but because it has no social patterns to reflect.”
—Agnes E. Meyer (18871970)
“The universal moments of child rearing are in fact nothing less than a confrontation with the most basic problems of living in society: a facing through ones children of all the conflicts inherent in human relationships, a clarification of issues that were unresolved in ones own growing up. The experience of child rearing not only can strengthen one as an individual but also presents the opportunity to shape human relationships of the future.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)