Community Immersion
SWOK 534 Policy and Practice in Social Service Organizations
Melinda Duplichan
University of Southern California- VAC, spring 2011
Professor: Wells
Community Immersion Paper: Jennings, Louisiana I. Identification and General Description of Community Choosing a community to write about for this community immersion paper was not hard, as I live in one of the most talked about cities in southern Louisiana. Jennings, Louisiana is a city located in the southern part of Louisiana about 80 miles from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the city base for Jeff Davis Parish which combined has 6 cities in the parish (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Jennings is considered a rural area with a population of 10,909 people residing in the city. According to the census bureau the city of Jennings is populated with Caucasians at 7,736, African Americans 3, 076, Asian 32 and Hispanics 101 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Jennings has two sub communities the south side of town where most of the blacks are under the poverty line and some middle class residents. Downtown is where the whites and a few blacks live, these two sides a separated by a railroad track. The founding of Jennings was a manifestation of the dynamic spirit in Americans which led them to continually seek new frontiers and new areas of economic exploitation. The story of its growth parallels that of many other Louisiana towns, but in two respects it has a claim to distinctiveness: its middle western origin and its connection with Louisiana’s oldest oil field. Jennings McComb, for whom the town was named, was a contractor of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He built the Jennings depot on a divide peculiar to southwest Louisiana (Riser, 1948). It is known that he was president of the Louisiana Western Railroad Company and had been associated with Charles Morgan in certain railroad transactions. McComb accumulated a great fortune, not from the railroad transactions. McComb accumulated a great fortune, not
Melinda Duplichan
University of Southern California- VAC, spring 2011
Professor: Wells
Community Immersion Paper: Jennings, Louisiana I. Identification and General Description of Community Choosing a community to write about for this community immersion paper was not hard, as I live in one of the most talked about cities in southern Louisiana. Jennings, Louisiana is a city located in the southern part of Louisiana about 80 miles from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It is the city base for Jeff Davis Parish which combined has 6 cities in the parish (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Jennings is considered a rural area with a population of 10,909 people residing in the city. According to the census bureau the city of Jennings is populated with Caucasians at 7,736, African Americans 3, 076, Asian 32 and Hispanics 101 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2010). Jennings has two sub communities the south side of town where most of the blacks are under the poverty line and some middle class residents. Downtown is where the whites and a few blacks live, these two sides a separated by a railroad track. The founding of Jennings was a manifestation of the dynamic spirit in Americans which led them to continually seek new frontiers and new areas of economic exploitation. The story of its growth parallels that of many other Louisiana towns, but in two respects it has a claim to distinctiveness: its middle western origin and its connection with Louisiana’s oldest oil field. Jennings McComb, for whom the town was named, was a contractor of the Southern Pacific Railroad. He built the Jennings depot on a divide peculiar to southwest Louisiana (Riser, 1948). It is known that he was president of the Louisiana Western Railroad Company and had been associated with Charles Morgan in certain railroad transactions. McComb accumulated a great fortune, not from the railroad transactions. McComb accumulated a great fortune, not
References: Jennings Daily News. (2005, December 02). Retrieved March 17, 2011, from Jennings Daily News: www.jenningsdailynews.com U.S. Census Bureau. (2010). Retrieved March 17, 2010, from Census Bureau: State and County QuickFacts.: www.quickfacts.census.gov Kettner, P. M., McMurty, S. L., & Netting, E. F. (1998). Social Work Marco Pratice, 4th edition, chapter 2. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, ic. Riser, H. L. (1948). The History of Jennings, Louisiana. Jennings , Louisiana.