A Picture says a Thousand Words
and then some........
(A Story of the Future for this Ex-Crack House in South Phoenix)
On the first day of our exploration in South Phoenix, the group that I had been traveling with accidentally stumbled upon this house at the corner of 7thSt and Roeser. Initially, I wondered why in this neighborhood, in the middle of a deserted corner in south phoenix would there be a house in renovation. What are they thinking? Kimberly Dodson-Smith; one of the members of our group, and I decided to go in and see what was happening with this home.
Upon entering the home, Kimberly and I introduced our selves to the gentleman at the desk, we explained about our class in Anthropology, that we were from ASU West and about our study of South Phoenix. The gentleman introduced himself as being with the Teen Outreach Academy. He then began telling us about the history of this particular home and about it's future. He told us that this home was previously a "crack house" and that the youth from the academy were in the process of renovating this home, in order to provide a group home for male "at risk youth." The "at risk" youth would be assigned by the juvenile courts to live in the facility, receive schooling, counseling, and attend group programs to help in changing their addictions and/or criminal behaviors
Currently the organization which bought the home has a facility for adults and juveniles; however, for many reasons they felt a need to have a separate facility for youth. The Teen Outreach Academy currently offers a 12 month residential program for drug addicts which has a strong emphasis on The Lord. Additionally, they have out patient counseling and drug prevention groups.