Me, my family, and my community values

Who Am I

Race is identified as the category of people who share a common descent and genetic origin (Kirst-Ashman, 2013, p. 66). This means that people are grouped based on physical similarities. Gender is defined as social and psychological characteristics associated with being a male or female (Kirst-Ashman, 2013, p. 66). Ethnicity is defined as the affiliation with a large group of people who have ‘ common racial, national, tribal, religious, linguistic, or cultural origin’ (Kirst-Ashman, 2013, p. 66). My name is Brianna Nowack. I am 19 years old. I am a female. My race is Caucasian. My ethnicity is mostly from European descents, I have specific ethnical roots of Irish, Dutch, and Polish. My Family I have a large family. The first person I want to talk about is my mother, Kristen Given. She is 40 years old, a female, Caucasian, and Irish, German and Dutch. Next is my father, William Nowack. He is 53 years old, male, Caucasian, and Irish and Polish. Thirdly, my step-father, Edward Given, who is 44 years old. He is a male, Caucasian, and is German, Irish, and Dutch. Finally, I have two younger brothers. Kyle and I have the same parents, he is 18, Caucasian and has Irish, Dutch, and German. My other brother Jared is my half-brother, meaning we share the same dad. He is a 13-year-old Caucasian male. He is German, Irish, and Polish.

I think some things that we share within the neighborhood that we live in are that we are a predominantly Caucasian community and that almost everyone celebrates Christmas and has decorations in their yard. Two differences between my family and the neighborhood that we live in is that the we are surrounded by an older community, with most of the families being elderly Me, My Family, and My Community Values 3 couples in their 50s or higher. Also, there are no other children that live in the development besides my brother and me. My Community Community is defined as a group of people living in the same place or having particular characteristics in common. I consider my community to be Chester County, which includes the high school I graduated from in 2017, Coatesville Area Senior High. The estimated population of Chester County is around 519, 293 people. The highest percent of people are older than 5 years old, but younger than 18. The split between male and female is basically even, with females being 51%. The dominant race is white alone, with them making up 86%, next is Hispanics (7. 6%), then African Americans (6. 3%), and then Asians (5. 6%). Community Resources Social institutions are where groups of people come together for one common purpose (Encyclopedia, 2016). Religion is a very diverse part of Chester County. There are 3 churches right by my neighborhood, alone.

One of them is called Pope John Paul II, which is Catholic and doubles as a kindergarten through 8th grade school system. There is also the Fairview Presbyterian Church, this is the church I went to when I was younger. They welcome all kinds of religions. There are also a lot of health options for people in Chester County. They have hospitals such as the Brandywine Hospital, which is a smaller hospital, and Chester County hospital. There are also a lot go OBGYN clinics and Planned Parenthoods throughout Chester County, more common in the poor and less fortunate areas. The housing situation in Chester County is extremely diverse, depending on what part of the area you live in, your housing can be completely different. There are commonly apartment complexes near universities, townhouses in low-income places like Coatesville, and if you live in the farmland area, you have ranch style homes. There are many elementary schools in Chester County, for example in the Coatesville Area School District alone there are 6 elementary schools, they eventually funnel into one high school, Coatesville Area Senior High.

There is also a choice of community college or state schools in Chester County. There is a branch of the Delaware County Community College or West Chester University. There are also a lot of recreational activities in the Chester County area, including a YMCA, across the street from two elementary schools and a middle school. There are also plenty of recreational leagues that younger kids can join like Caln Little League or Coatesville Kid Raiders, which are baseball, softball, and football leagues for kids to focus their time on. Values The six core professional values of social work are listed as service, social justice, dignity and worth of the person, importance of human relationships, integrity, and competence (Kirst-Ashman, 2013). I think that the most important value to me is social justice. I have always believed in fighting to make sure that everyone has equal rights, from different genders to different races. Especially in our society now, women still do not get paid as much as men. Women get paid 80 cents for every dollar a man makes. (Jannenga, 2018). I think it is most important to fight for these rights to make sure everyone gets a fair shot at all positions in the work place and are not confined to one role because of their gender or race. It is important to speak up for people who feel like they cannot do so for themselves. Social Issues and Values The social issue I am discussing came into major focus around the world when I was in my freshmen year of high school.

The article I am using for reference is the NBC10 article from September 23rd, 2013. This was a prominent issue in my life, as well as other kids at my school, parents, and teachers. In 2013, the superintendent of Coatesville Area Senior High, as well as the athletic director were accused of sending racist text messages back and forth, some even about students (Lattanzio, 2013). This shocked the community because we as a district and high school have always prided ourselves on our diversity. There was found to be over 100-transcript pages worth of sexist language and racist slurs being used, particularly the N-word. This affected the whole community because it left many people heartbroken that this man was watching over their kids and other school districts started to look down to us and this show of racism encouraged them to also be hateful towards our school’s population. The two men eventually resigned from their jobs and faced criminal charges that would stick with the school district’s reputation long after they were gone.