David Charles (STRIVE)

At STRIVE we seek grassroots engagement and solutions. Many of the challenges experienced in Pottstown can be traced back to citizens’ lack of community connection. STRIVE has hosted a series of community-wide meetings where residents expressed the lack of connection as a contributing factor to challenges faced in our community and in our schools.

The ill-effects of disconnection are evident in the deterioration of neighborhoods, increased crime rates, increased family dysfunction, the lack of living-wage jobs, limitations to the social determinants of health, and most profoundly in the struggles of youth in our schools.

Fortunately, we have the power to turn this around. Research indicates that a positive relationship with another person can reverse the negative impacts of disconnection.