Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Daily Snapshots from an Urban Community Assistance Center










It is hard to visualize what goes on in low-income communities unless you make the effort to put yourself in a position to observe the day-to-day happenings of such places.

Most Americans never really "see" the people of the inner city or their struggles to "get by."

Even though I am surrounded by this urban context every day, I miss things as well.

Not long ago, a supporting church presented me with a disposable camera and asked that I take photos of what I encounter as I work. The images on this page are just a few of the scenes captured by this little project.

Each scene tells a story all its own.













A couple of the photos are of friends who have come a long, long way.

Others catch strangers taking advantage of our process here at Central Dallas Ministries.

Each image has a hope about it, even though buried in the sadness of a typical day in the life of our neighborhood.

Especially poignant to me is the photo of the little girl and her siblings and mother who trail along after her at the entrance of our Resource Center on Haskell Avenue.

Faces of the city. Faces that matter alot.

2 comments:

simplegestures said...

Two things...
1. if you get a chance check out my posts on poverty inspired by your work at Simple Gestures
2. go to http://9rules.com/submit/ and enter your blog for a chance to join their network. It's a great chance for CDM to get more exposure

ok 3 things...
I think Austin could use a ministry like yours, and I'd like to learn more about how to make that a reality.

Larry James said...

Thanks, Carl! I visited your blog. Really powerful stuff there. Keep up the thought. . .

I also submitted the blog as you suggested.

I'd love to talk about Austin with you sometime. We've had discussions with folks there in the past. We already operate in San Antonio. Look forward to meeting you sometime.