I'm now working on tracking how and when the media talks about gun violence using an application called Meltwater. The idea is to be able to reframe how gun violence is discussed to create more productive conversations that stimulate change.
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I finished up some maps comparing the communities that will be targeted with SAFE Act funds and the city's arrest rates per year. I have also begun using a tool called Meltwater to monitor how the media is representing gun violence in Chicago.
I continued gathering data and making graphs around shooting and gun access. I also had a call with a member of the LA City Economic and Workforce Development who sent me a bunch of budgets from which to gather information about transitional job spending.
I began making graphs of some of the data that I have been collecting and started delving into other areas of the research such as police shootings/homicides and access to firearms.
Call with Melissa, Grace, and Charlotte discussing structure for next year.
I continued to collect information, mostly surrounding mental health services and transitional employment for citizens returning from incarceration. We moved into a new office and I finally have my own desk!
This week I realized that my narrative project would have to be put on hold for a bit while I looked into Chicago narratives first. Instead, I looked into some differences in SSI spending, police complaints, and murder clearance rates.
I've continued to collect data on public spending but now we have hired outside researchers to do most of the leg work. My role has shifted to trying to pass the SAFE Act which would appropriate $150 million (possibly from marijuana legalization) towards spending that would curb gun violence. I am spending time now trying to collect narratives from people in Bed-Stuy and Brownsville NYC.
So far I have done a lot of research to try and understand spending on police and housing in Chicago in comparison with NYC and LA. I also went to a meeting with two community organizations in North Lawndale, another with the CRED staff, and two with the entire Emerson Collective.
It was hard leaving my classes in the final weeks of working in the schools. The kids and I had grown surprisingly close over the course of the year/semester through all the jokes and learning moments. I also began training the incoming site leaders via google hangout.