"Growing up in the West End, I definitely appreciated the community being close. All of my friends and family were here, so it was nothing to be with them. I grew in the church in the West End, King Solomon Missionary Baptist Church, which I still consider my church home and my Pastor is still close. I remember running the streets, not in a bad way, but running the streets as a young teenager and hanging out with my best friends. I used to hang out with my older brother and sister's friends, all the time. I went to school, church, and home, all in the same area. The best advise that I could give somebody, living in the West End, would be to be proud of where you come from. When you see the West End and you hear about it, it's all bad, it's all negative. You got people, like you two, that have built a home and raised a family in the West End. We need more people like that to celebrate and to bring more people together. One bad apple doesn't spoil the whole bunch. I hate to hear people at my job talk about West of 9th St. They think that if you come down here and someone looks at you wrong, you're going to get shot up. That's not the case, at all. Yes, it's things that happen down here, but there's stuff that happens in the East End and Middletown. We're not the only ones that have to deal with crime and things like that. We're also trying to build up our community. We need people to support. We need people, here, to support the West End. Being a native of the West End, I still support the West End. If you are outside of the West End, broaden your horizons. Don't be so closed minded to what takes place down here. Everything down here is not bad. As you can see, the Russell neighborhood is coming up. They're trying to build some things at Shawnee Park, too. Even though NuLu is on the other side of 9th Street, it's still downtown. Let's celebrate that. Learn about it. Teach others about it. You know somebody that lives down here. If you don't, you know somebody that knows somebody, that lives down here and trying to make something happen. Support that. " - Brittany, California