On  December 5 of 2016 we had our gallery walk presentation in Mabee Ballroom. The entire Wicked Problems LLC was there and we split into two separate groups, one would walk and look at other presentations while the other presented the project to anyone that may be curious about our project. Our focus theme was how transportation effects that great amount of food insecurity that hurts many families in Austin. Due to gentrification many low income families are pushed out of the inner city and forced to move to areas that may not have chain grocery stores. Without these chain grocery stores such as Walmart and HEB, these families are lead to shop at convenience stores that tend to cost more than chains. This causes these families to be entrenched in the system of having to use food stamps or generally not being able to afford food. Our solution was to create a new route that would specifically take people in communities in the ones mentioned straight to grocery stores. While walking around I saw many group projects that had information about other topics such as crime and homelessness. We were asked to look at three individual groups, taking notes of what we liked and then creating a summary for each.

The attached image is the basic chart that describes and shows how each part of the system of our Wicked Problem can be tackled. I chose to break down each part of the systems and write separate sub points for each one. Through doing this I think you are able to get a better idea of just how many parts and factors go into changing or trying change a local wicked problem like Food Security.

The specific linked LLC course that I am in is Citizenship and Social Justice. This class has taught me about the specific stats of Austin wicked problems such as homelessness, the unemployment rate, and hunger security rates. With this information I am able to decide what areas of Austin are in most need, ultimately helping me to decide where to put my focus. This would create a more efficient project and allow me to have to more time to work on and finish my work. The other benefit of being in Social Justice is that the great amount of assigned readings expands our knowledge of certain wicked problems such as how sometimes we think there are only two possible answers to any problem when in reality there is so much middle ground.

On Monday, September 12 , we were visited at our LLC by Raul Alvarez who is a a speaker for CAN. Their goals are to represent the following ideas among the greater Austin area, “we are safe, just and engaged”, “our basic needs are met”, “we are healthy” and “we achieve our full potential”. The presentation by Alvarez was very informational about how to use use the CAN Dashboard. The info I have learned will help me to find ideas and stats on local Austin Wicked Problems that will ultimately help with the semester group project. And one last thing learned from the Seminar was that although we have great progress in over all stats, some areas and ethnic groups in the city are suffering more than others. So on the surface, all may appear better when you look into problems deeper you will find there is much work to be done.

Hello, my name is Leandro Alejandro and this will be my personal blog!

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