Community Traditions and Practices
Formal traditions and practices in the Northwest Reading community primarily take place around religion. Fr. Garcia noted that a significant portion of the Northwest Reading population attends church regularly, and in turn, churches often become a center for community gathering rather than secularly organized events. (A. Garcia, personal communication, March 13, 2017).
Churches such as St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, St. Margaret’s Roman Catholic Church, Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, and Hope Lutheran Church organize many community events.
Community Attitudes
The community outlook, we have found, changes drastically in relation to both positions of power and, in part, socioeconomic status. Many of the individuals interviewed who have a positive optimistic outlook of the community hold positions of power within the neighborhood, while other residents hold more skeptical views of the community as a whole.
One aspect of this disconnect is cross-cultural. For example, Peggy Harter finds that sometimes it is very difficult to communicate with Latinos, partly because of the language barrier, but more so in terms of what she termed cultural outlook (P. Harter, personal communication, March 17, 2017).
Some of those we interviewed note that many individuals in the Northwest Reading neighborhood are pessimistic in their outlook of the community. This can be tied directly to the rise of poverty, the departure of industry, and the national trend of middle class shrinkage. It may also explain the transitory nature of the neighborhood: with people feeling their economic situation and quality of life changing very little, and with having to often times take jobs outside of the neighborhood and the city, it would seem natural that the people living in the area would look to move elsewhere. Pete Cammarano also notes that how people feel about their community is tied directly to the availability of gainful employment close-by, especially as more of the community turns to public transportation (Personal communication, March 8, 2017)
This negativity extends to the community’s outlook on the local government. The city’s high Latino population is not reflected in City Council or local government. Reading in general has had a long history of representatives who have not come from the community, in terms of being born and raised in Reading, and in terms of community involvement (B. Waples, personal communication, February 15, 2017). For example, many of the residents and local community leaders have stated that the current Mayor Wally Scott lacks presence in the local neighborhood and has not pushed for development here (R. Rodriguez, personal communication, April 3, 2017). Compounding this lack of development and the seemingly slow progression of the city out of poverty, there has also been a number of scandals in the local government. Just two years ago, then City Council President Francis Acosta resigned from his position