Neighborhood.....(name, identity, general demographics and community overview)

Culver City is full of life including monuments, statues, fountains, and other memorials. Some of the beautiful public art works include (can be found at culvercity.org):

The Hanging Garden-Built in 1995 by Ed Carpenter this art work is located at 9770 Culver Boulevard in the City Hall Courtyard.
The La Ballona- a piece of artwork by May Sun from 1995 that is a part of the Heritage Fountain located at 9770 Culver Boulevard in City Hall as well.
Truth or Fiction- These free-standing pillars are amazing to look at and are located at the Northeast corner of Culver Blvd. and Duquesne Ave. Built by Nobuho Nagasawa in 1995.
The Film Strip U.S.A- was built in 1981 by Natalie Krol. This stainless steel sculpture consists of film strips and was a dedication from the 1981 Salute to the Film Industry. It appears to float in a body of water located at the Veterans Memorial Complex on 4117 Overland Avenue.
The Crossed Currents- Built in 1999 by Don Merkt was a sculpture of a jug that drips water and serves as a tribute to the Native Americans at Ballona Creek. This piece of art is located at the Culver City Transportation Facility at 4343 Duquesne Avenue.

During our Community Immersion event, we explored Braddock and Sepulveda which exhibited Culver City’s beauty and life. Culver City is named after Harry Culver, a man that developed several businesses and eventually moved his company to Culver City and began to develop a “balanced residential/commercial community” (culvercity.org).

Culver City shows no signs of graffiti except for the decorative graffiti wall in the Culver City Teen Center that the center’s teens decorate every year based on their year’s theme. After visiting the Culver City Police Department, we learned that there is little crime in Culver City and residents do not fear crime because their police department has a record response time that reduces crime and puts fear in criminals. Exploring Culver City, we did not notice stray dogs roaming the streets and we did not notice bars on windows or doors, broken glass or any signs of crime which leaves us to assume that Culver City is a safe and secure neighborhood.

Demographics and the Outsider Perspective

Demographics: Sepulveda Braddock
If there was a fictional television show that could summarize, Culver City it would be a diverse version of Mayberry. The citizens all seemed to have an old fashion since of community. The citizens that my group ran into were all very friendly and diverse. The city at large seemed to thrive for arts, music and entertainment in the downtown area, home of the Mega Sony Picture Studio. The downtown area gives you a trendy since of livelihood with the center café’s, restaurants, and community festivities. We were encouraged to check out the upcoming music and wine tasting festival. An annual event the cities residents enjoys with live music, wine, entertainment and food. The heart of the city represents and old Mayberry feeling of community safety with the police force at its center. While having coffee at the corner of Sepulveda and Braddock, a police officer sat and shared coffee with a family sitting beside him. The family and the officer seemed to bridge the feeling of safety and neighborly love. The city streets were clean and the police officers took a firm hand in ensuring the city was free from tagging and defaming public property. The city caters largely to family with large parks and recreational activities. Located near Sepulveda and Braddock was a family ice skating ring where a couple can go to unwind after a long hot day for the cost of $9.00.

Socioeconomic Trends and the Outsider Prospective
The dominant ethnic group was Caucasian although there was a good indication that this trend was shifting. While visiting the teen Center located 4153 Overland Avenue the children represented a rainbow of nationalities. Our group at large started our tour at the Culver City Senior Center located at 4095 Overland Avenue the large majority of the Culver City Senior were Caucasian. The Culver City teens and younger youth were of all nationalities.
If I were an outsider moving to the city of Culver City for the first time after getting through the initial shock of being in a new place I think I would find the city had a lot to offer me. The many assets an incoming family could benefit from are: great recreation, community safety, and a since of camaraderie. Many of the community members overall have lived and grew up in the city of Culver City all their lives. Many of the Culver City residents have had some college education or higher many of them stay in their same town and community instead of venturing on to other cities. The median and average income is currently listed between sixty to 78,000 dollars per household according to <http://www.culvercity.org/planning/demographics.asp> (2009, August 31). Overall a family of two with some education would have a higher chance of sustaining their cost of living than a family with more limited resources.

Insider Perspective & Neighborhood boundaries

Culver City is a community where the residents display a great deal of pride and value. Specifically, there was an attitude of pride expressed by two community members. Both of them on sperate ocassions expressed a sense of joy and pride in living there. They reported feeling safe and for this reason will remain dedicated community members. Nevertheless, each of them are employed by the city in giving back by servicing the citizens of this great community.

This city provides a plethora of services to the family, elder, disabled and youth. However, services are not limited just to memebers of Culver City but also extended to non-residents; however, at an addtional cost. Although there are no boundaries or limits to servicing other community members there are set boundaries and limits to individuals who are considered to "bring down" the standards of Culver City (i.e. gang memebers). According to the Culver City Police Deparment gang members know not to come through Culver City. Per Det. G. "they go around". Because Culver City hold to high standard of value they are strict on who is allowed in and out of their city.
-SOWK CI16- G.T.

Culver City Sepulveda & Braddock

Culver City is a city where many people would love to live. Within its five square miles of mom and pop shops and corporate chain coffee shops lies a community rich in resources for the young and old. The police station is nestled inconspicuously on a tree lined corner in a very well kept neighborhood where the crime rate barely even tips the scales; and where the graffiti is non-existent. While the back bone of the community is its close knit citizens the police can highly be considered as a major factor in regards to social control. Compared to other communities the Culver City police are highly visible in the community and exhibit their presence with pride. The constant patrolling of the neighbor hoods and major streets are definitely diversions to any person thinking of causing the slightest bit of trouble. Even the Sergeant stated that, “the gang members try to avoid coming through the city for fear of being pulled over”.
Culver City has an array of assets that are sure to engage any age group. For children there is the YMCA where a variety of classes are taught from basket ball to swimming; for middle school and high school students the city hosts a teen center which assists with counseling to summer camps. For the 20 to 40 something year olds there are galleries, an abundance of parks, outdoor cafes, unique shops, theaters and shopping. And lastly for the older population the senior center is host to seniors offering recreational classes from dancing to pool tournaments. One of the newer establishments in particular serves organic cuisine named “Green Peas” located at 4437 Sepulveda Blvd. This establishment seems cozy and casual for the healthy and food conscious diner. The clientele here were either coupled or single. It is unknown how long the establishment has been in business but from the looks of it business is doing well. The risks of this community are very well disguised or non- existent. I would venture to say that Culver City is by far one of California’s best kept secrets.

Culver City Mutual Aid

Culver City and Mutual Aid!!!!!

Culver City is family orientated and appears to be the “everybody helps everybody” type of place. After exploring the community, it was obvious that the businesses such as the Culver City teen center, police department, and senior center were willing to help one another. The Teen Center coordinator informed us that she makes an effort to go out into the community and meet with every new business owner. This shows that the availability of neighbors to each other is visible. When people in the community are in need of financial support, emotional support, information and resources, there are places they can go such as the library and the local counseling centers. There are plenty of service clubs that Culver City offers and they can be found by looking on culvercity.org. Culver City residents work together to keep their city operating properly and there are places such as the senior center, skating rinks, YMCA, and other locations where the community has the opportunity to come together and discuss their current concerns and positive aspects that are working in the community. Church is prominent in Culver City as demonstrated by the local churches and the YMCA’s Christian based practice.

Spirituality

We met with Rev. Richard Bolin, also known as, Pastor Rich from Culver-Palms United Methodist Church (UMC). Although Pastor Rich may perform pre-marriage counseling, he informed us that he would refer couples to another organization for on-going therapy. The Culver-Palms UMC works at welcoming all. "We gather as people from many nations, races and cultures to feast at God's welcome table" is part of the mission of Culver-Palms UMC.

There was plenty of evidence of diversity in Culver City. The people we met had a lot of "home town pride."

Although homelessness may be a factor in Culver City, there was no evidence of risk of homelessness during our trek around town.

August 29, 2009 - Group 2 - Washington and Corinth

Culver City Teen Center is a recreation and community service institution, which is in 4153 Overland Avenue. It provides a free drop-in program for residents and students attending Culver City Middle School and High School, who are from 11 years old to 18 years old.
During school year, the Teen Center is open on Monday till Friday, from 2:00 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. It closes on days when school is not open during summer, winter and spring breaks and most holidays. However, there would be many programs for teenagers to take part in, including UCLA Bruin Corps Tutorial Program, Homework Assistance, Youth Making Changes Program, Crafts and Games, State of the Art Computer Lab, Game Room, Youth Employment Services & Career Guidance, Community Service, Service Learning Opportunities, Sports, Special Events & Field Trips and T.V. & Lounge. In this summer, there was a special program called Summer Youth Employment Program. It provided the chance for young people, who are between the ages of 14-20 years old, to earn money with on-the-job training working in various City of Culver City departments.
In the Teen Center, there are many rooms for the members to do activities, such as the beautiful playground, the billiards room, the dinning room, the TV room and the kitchen which provides the opportunity to practice the housekeeping ability of the teenagers. The kitchen also has the space for children to do crafts.
Helping children to understand the mixture of culture is a core of the activities in Teen Center. On the wall of the TV room, there is a large world map, which can help children to know the locations of happening news on the television. It also can let children understand the different world of their own.
They have different kinds of classes offered to children. They charge for all the classes but if a children come from a low income family, the fees will be cut down.
All the children come from different background, different from each other in family income, religious, color, etc.
"To work with a child, a social worker must to be a smart one and know how to make fun with little things"



Culver City, CA is relatively peaceful and quiet city. On our visit to the neighborhood on the corner of Washington Blvd and Corinth (DMV), we were able to notice similarities and contrasts to what we saw on our first day at Culver City. There weren’t any statues, monuments, or fountains in the part of town. The neighborhood was made up with mostly small businesses. The type of business that was most prevalent was Dentistry; there seemed to be two dental offices on every corner! We saw auto body shops and auto insurance vendors. Not surprising, since the DMW office seemed to be the main attraction. The neighborhood was mainly residential with quite a few apartments (there were a lot for rent). When we were walking around trying to find preschools, we noticed a Christian (perhaps Catholic) school. The neighborhood seems to be relatively calm and quiet. Although there were any apparent signs of gang activity ( i.e. graffiti), this area seemed to be less wealthy than what I saw in downtown Culver City on Thursday.
There are two bus lines that run through Culver City, The Culver City bus and the Santa Monica Blue bus. People of lower income and young people seem to be the main people who ride the bus. Everyone was really nice and willing to help with outside questions. An important part of this area was the library. We saw people of all ages using the facilities very respectfully. There was actually a group of people waiting to get in before it even opened. We were able to get very useful information about the neighborhood and what specific public services Culver City has to offer. We found flyers for preschools, WIC program, and Venice Family Clinic. They pretty much had information on anything you needed. The fact that they have computers with internet access is a plus as well. Many people cannot afford computers so the library offers free internet access, where residents/guests can research about more of Culver City’s services.
Walking around there wasn’t a lot of hustle and bustle. It wasn’t as touristy as downtown Culver City. Everyone pretty much kept to themselves and ran their Saturday morning errands. Adjacent to where we were, bigger retail stores were available. Interestingly, I didn’t see one cop car driving by. However, the traffic control was felt through the presence of cameras at certain intersections. Once again, not as much as downtown. Culver City is very well-maintained. It seems that the residents do pride themselves in what Culver City stands for and what their community has to offer.

Our group scenario began with a 52 year old widower by the name of Joseph who resides in Culver City. Newly single, he is struggling to overcome many of life’s adversaries. For one, he is overweight and feels lonely inside the house his wife and him used to share. After finally deciding to meet with a social worker he has set the following goals: Schedule a 6 month weight management program kick started with $50 worth of fruits and vegetables, find an affordable condominium. In addition to these lifestyle changes he will also be expanding his creative horizons by taking theatre and dance classes at West LA College. Finally he wants to revamp his look so he is getting his favorite suit laundered at the community dry-cleaners for his date tonight (Yikes!).

On our community immersion we first explored the numerous resources within the senior center and other non-profit organizations. Obviously the senior center would be a perfect match for our friend as it offers numerous services he can utilize since the entrance age is 50 years old. Furthermore the fitness center inside would be a great way to meet his weight loss goal as personal trainers are available. The fees for the fitness center range from $65 semi-annually to $120 annually and the center is also conveniently open seven days a week. He can also manage his food intake using one of two personalized healthy weight loss programs. The first is Jenny Craig which serves both men and women within the surrounding urban areas. Prices and duration vary according to individual needs and targets those who are at high risk for diabetes and health problems. The second option is offered by Wayne Douglas of Elite Health Foods who incorporates medical history and current lifestyle into a nutrition fitness and weight loss program. He also offers advice as well as natural supplements for life’s other problems such as hormone balance and erectile dysfunction. Simultaneously he can balance and maintain his weight loss by becoming a club member at the nearby Ralphs supermarket and sticking to a strict nutritious diet.

With regards to housing, the Culver City senior center offers a Housing Alternatives Support Program which matches older adults to possible roommates since he wishes to move into a smaller place. He has found an available condominium for $1,500 per month in gated community which also conveniently has a gym. Finally in order to complete his transition he has decided to enroll in bereavement classes at the senior center and once healed take more advantage of the Culver City dating scene which includes date.com.

As future social workers, we have found that Culver City is a community that prides itself on the wealth of resources it offers to its residents of all ages. It’s a beautiful city that offers its members the opportunity to share the physical and internal values of the community.

Group 3 - Sepulveda and Braddock

Emily and Jose have been married for 5 years and are beginning to become distant. While every couple has an argument or two , they are arguing more and more, yet they want to make their relationship work. They are both employed, but consider themselves in the lower-income bracket and due to the recession, have had their hours cut and must now find a less expensive place to live. Additionally, they would like to enhance their relationship through activities that they could do together for fun. Also, Emily is a devout Methodist, which at time has caused some tension in the relationship, thus she has not attended service in quite some time. She would like to resume attending and would really enjoy sharing her experiences of her religion with her husband. Lastly, the one common bond they seem to have between one another is their 5 year old dog named, Scruffy. Scruffy was a wedding gift and it seems that lately he is the only thing that makes them laugh. however, Scuffy has been fatigued and ill lately, which has also caused blame between the two.


Couples/Marriage Counseling
The Didi Hirsch center is located on 4760 South Sepulveda Boulevard in Culver city. The center is conveniently located next to a Methodist church and the YMCA the couple will soon attend along with their potentially new apartment. Here Jose and Emily can be referred to one of the centers Family and Marriage councilors. They might also find help at the LA counseling services center on 8632 S. Sepulveda Blvd. #200 Culver City, which is not too far out of their way. If they cannot find what they are looking for here the Methodist church can also refer them to other couples couseling group that they work with.


Local Facilities in Culver City
Culver city currently supports the Self sufficient Family program which is not an agency but a resource for families struggling to pay rent.
Housing/Homeless:
There is the Culver City winter shelter which provides beds for 310 people during the months of December and March. This is not a walk in location so you must meet their buses at the corner of Westminster and pacific avenue between 4:45pm and 6: 15pm.
The Saint Joseph Center is not in Culver City but in Venice which is not very far. You can easily take the 33/333 bus and it will take you there. This center not only provides food and housing services for homeless and senior it also provides family services and money management programs. For general information you can call them at 310-396-6468 or visit them at 204 Hampton Drive ,Venice, California 90291-8633.

The beyond shelter helps find and keep low income housing for those who seem to have a problem finding continuous housing. The main headquarters is in L.A. but they serve Culver city as well. They also provide family services and have centers all over L.A. county. Their information: Beyond Shelter,1200 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 600, Los Angeles, CA 90017, telephone number: (213) 252-0772,(213) 480-0846 (fax)

Seniors

Culver city Senior and Social Services Division has a Senior Center on 4095 Overland Avenue which provides services for Seniors as well as people with disabilities. Right across the street is the Parks and Recreation Youth Center which provides services for Children and Youth. These services are local and can be easily walked or a short bus trip away. Although the senior center provides free transportation for the senior members the youth would have to walk, get a ride or take a bus. For more information please call: 310-253-6729.

Family and Youth

The Parks and Recreation division in culver city is located 4117 Overland Avenue and they provide many free and low cost services for families and youth, everything from summer camp to mommy and me swimming. For more information please call 310-253-6622.