Educating in the Community

We seem to always perceive education as occuring in the classroom setting.  We fail to realize how teaching occurs in everyday life.  I think that we have to look into our communities and see how we pay attention to what is going on around us and educating ourselves about how to handle these situations.  I think of the Hollywood community of Memphis, Tennessee.  It is a community that has much pride from the residents.  For most people you would not know why the word pride would be used.  The neighborhood has many abodoned homes and no commercial retail places.  Crime tends to be high in the area and other problems also occur.  So why would I associate pride with this community?
Hollywood residents are working together to try and better the neighborhood.  The neighborhood gained its name because of the fashion stores that once were in the area.  The residents may not want that appeal anymore, but they do want to feel safe and know that their neighborhood is not seen as an eye sore to the city.  Community members have started planting community gardens and having community meetings about how to improve the neighborhood.  They are going to city officials about issues that they have.  Even though, they may not have done one huge thing, the small things continue to make a difference and is helping create a better life for all.