Background
Richmond, Virginia is divided by the James River. The James River divides Richmond into two main sections: North of the James and South of the James. (See Appendix A) The neighborhoods that feed into George Wythe High School are those that are south of the James. These neighborhoods are off of six main streets: Hull Street, Commerce Road, Jefferson Davis Highway, Midlothian Turnpike, Broad Rock Boulevard, and Hopkins Road. These streets house the majority of my students. One of the main communities that a lot of my students come from is the Hillside Court housing complex. This community is off of Bellemeade Avenue which is off of Jefferson Davis Avenue. According to a crime index, from May 18, to June 29, 2011 there were seven assaults, two arrests, one burglary, and "other" crimes that were coded as suspicious activity. According to NBC Channel 12 News, which is Richmond's local news station, a man and his teenage daughter were shot April 15, 2011, and about two months earlier, a woman was found dead because she was caught in crossfire. 4 Since then, the local police station has increased their presence within the Hillside Court community. There are other housing communities that surround Hillside Court that share almost the same statistics for criminal activity as well. These communities feed into Wythe High School. 5
Identification with Neighborhoods
Some of the neighborhoods or streets that my students identify themselves with are the following:
- David's Garden housing community, which is also known as "across the tracks." This community is located off of Jefferson Davis Highway.
- Hillside Court housing complex is located off of Commerce Road.
- Broad Rock Boulevard
- 34 th Street
- Blackwell housing community which is located off of Jefferson Davis Avenue.
- Midlothian Village housing community, which is also known as "the ville." This housing community is located directly across from George Wythe High.
All of these communities are located south of the James River.
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