"Well, you gotta put your feet down and do what God's telling you to do. We gotta stop all this devil stuff and stop hating one another. All races should come together because God's getting ready to come back. That money ain't gonna mean nothing, after while. God's gonna turn it all around. They think that just because they have money, that makes them better. Money doesn't make you better." - Jerry, Portland

"Follow your dreams and stay in school." - Sandra, Russell

"We've been together for 16 years. We started up here. We met up here. I was fresh out of the penitentiary. We done moved outta here, came back here, and moved outta here. My mama live up here, now. This is us. We're in a battle, right now.

We've been railroaded by CPS. We gotta go to WHAS, this week. They're doing a story on us. I got Christopher 2X in my corner. I done talked to him for about an hour on my phone. We just went to court yesterday. We gotta go take a pee test today. They got us doing the drug screens. We've been clean for eight months.  We just now getting back, you know. We've been in this struggle together. You know what I mean? We done went through the bad and we've been through the good, but this is a reflection of our former self. It's like looking in the mirror. When we got up and used to look in the mirror, we've seen addicts and alcoholics. We don't see that, now. We see us.

Now, we're getting up and we're trudging. We're out here in the rain to go take a pee test. We just got our house. Everything is coming full circle, now. So the fact that you are out here taking a picture of us, is almost surreal. What you're seeing now, is almost due for a picture. You see what I'm saying? We've been through the storm. This is Pick Life. When you take the picture, use #PickLife. That's our motto. We got 9 kids and all of our kids have Pick Life. Two of my children got it tattooed on them. I'm very proud of that because back in the day, in Africa, that's what they did to represent their tribes. They would put their tribal name on them. Ours is Pick Life because our last name is Picken and we pick life over death. That's our choice. You know what I mean? We pick life. Hashtag Pick Life!  Plus, she's a cancer survivor, so our story is big. This picture is probably gonna make you famous because we're taking it to the top. God makes no mistakes." - James & LaShonda, Park Hill

"The best offering is to try to provide training in West Louisville, for West Louisvillians, to help incentivize them to help redevelop and to provide services for their community. Louisville is second, only to New Orleans for the largest population of shotgun dwell homes in the country. So, that vernacular is a significant cultural and affordable housing product that people can readily look at improvements on and provide incentives and train someone going into that industry, not home remodeling but home restoration. We want to them to look at preservation as an incentive to culturally preserve the character and the dignity of the community through education and workforce development. Within that, the city has provided the dollars for a 3 year period. We've gone through two years of that.

We went through the initial name of the other program, which was the Samuel Plato Academy. It was named after the black architect, Samuel Plato, that lived right down on Old Walnut, in the 2400 block. It's Muhammad Ali, now. The stories of that community have not been told. Young people do not know who Samuel Plato was. In the 1920's and 1930's, Samuel Plato was a black architect that developed and provided and built over 34 U.S. Post Offices, in the midst of Jim Crow segregation and in a very strong KKK influence in Southern Indiana and Kentucky. He fought against segregation and discrimination in everything he did in his life. So apart of that was to build the integrity of the man and his character in the body of this program, which is to provide the means so people teach themselves or be taught how to restore and preserve the culture and heritage in West Louisville and regain some of that history, character and sustainability. Samuel Plato taught himself. The schools that he went to were correspondence courses because blacks were not allowed to go to colleges in architecture and in leadership positions. His father trained him to be a carpenter and to be a trades person. So, he took all of that and built a legacy from that and we're just leveraging that.

The story of why the name changed. Things happen. You have to work through those complications. We've worked through them with the state guidance. We renamed the program to the Commonwealth Preservation Trades Program. As Fred and I looked at providing names, we thought that if we are going to look at this as sustainable model, it should be broader that just the West End. But to build from this foundation, a broader solution of preservation trade, and Commonwealth Preservation Trades provides all of that story to be told throughout Kentucky, so that every community can gain from just this foundation, here. Everyone that has pride in their community and their neighborhood can stand on that and build and sustain their community through what they learn in the program.

Why can't we see the beauty in what we have, within the body of our community and want to preserve it and want to restore it? That's the incentive, that's the goal and direction that we want to instill in people who come into the program. The overall goal is to get as many people in the West End interested, so that they can start controlling their own destinies, being their own boss and recreating quality product, to fill the homes in the West End, again. That's overall goal." - James, Russell

"It's what connects me to preservation and that way preservation connects me to the past. I like going into a building and seeing something that I can replicate or I repair. You go in and you see a piece, no matter what it is, an architectural piece, and you touch it and think that 'Some guy, 150 years ago built this originally with hands like mine and I'm going to go in and build another one or try to repair what this guy did'. That connects me to the past. A lot of this stuff is old technology. We incorporate new technology and old technology to make something look like it did 150 years ago. You recapture the old building. You can build a new building to look like an old building but that charm is not there. There's nothing you can do to give it that ambiance and that charm. The charm is in the old building, and the lives that touched that old building and the lives that the building touched. You can't replace that. I love preservation, that's why I do it.

There are many contractors in the area but there are very few contractors that can do what we do, because they don't know how. It's not that they couldn't do it, they just don't have the knowledge to do it. So instead of trying to repair something, to make it what it once was, they just gut everything out and remodel. We teach people what to look for and how to assess something. We go inside and have an assessment there, too. What can we do without gutting everything out and fix it? A lot of people have this idea that it's going to cost so much to fix it and just tear it out and put new in it. If you're not buying the material to put the new material in, you're not spending as much money. You may be spending more in your labor, but if you're a home owner and doing it yourself, you're not worried about the labor. So if you preserve something, you don't have all of that extra money to go into materials, you already have the materials that already exist in the house." Fred, Russell

"We need more activities for kids my age. I'm 18 but we still need stuff for people my age, like a movie theater, skating rink, something fun. They give us all of these Family Dollars. We need more stuff to do because we have to go far out and stuff. 

When people try to talk bad about the West End, I try to tell them that it's not bad. It's not violence everyday, it's violence everywhere. I just stand up for the West End. I feel like we get talked about the most, down here, but we have the least. I don't see what they expect, when the resources aren't here." - Sivonne, Parkland

"Right here in the West, we need more stuff for the kids, more jobs, and we gotta work on some of these houses." - Bud & Trig, Portland 

"Listen to old people. They know what they're talking about and they have been here long enough. Listen to old people, they have all the wisdom." - Omney, Shawnee

"I done lived down here my whole life. This is my comfort zone. I'm not gonna lie, I tried to live everywhere else but I'm more comfortable here. Growing up in the West was fun! Young people don't know, but right on that corner was an amusement park. You would walk down this street and it was the Dude Ranch. We had something to do. It was something to do everyday. We had the skating rink on the corner and now we have nothing to do. When we was coming up. We made fun, like four square and shooting basketball. Now, there's nothing. We need resources. 

When we moved out here, it was all white. I lived down on 42nd and it was all white. They killed our dog within a week. Let's see, we started on 22nd Street but when that riot hit, we moved. We moved. I remember the day of the riot. I came home and my mother came and told me that we were packing and moving. They burned everything. 

I was there when busing started. I tell young people that they don't know how good they got it. There was places downtown that we couldn't go in. I enjoy it, now, except the violence. You get so used to it, now. It don't even phase people because it's a normal thing. If you don't hear gunshots, that's a good day. That is a good day. 

How to fix the violence? Not more police but economics. When we came down here, we had a Winn-Dixie, a drug store, and a bakery. We didn't have to travel. You just had to walk down an alley, turn a corner and you there. The grocery stores were on the corner. There was a hardware store right down there. You didn't have to go far for nothing. Everything was in the community. " - Darnell, Shawnee

"The last time the metro budget came out, there was a $20 million surplus. Out of that surplus, zero amount of money went to the West End, to deal with its problems with youth violence and lack of economic development. Now, if this is a compassionate city and there's a $20 million surplus and the highest crime rate is in the black community, it would make sense to tap into some of that money. The mayor said no. It's about political power and who represents your best interest and Louisville doesn't get it.

The East End has small strong neighborhood associations, they get it. They control their board members. The West End does not. It doesn't control anything, but gets controlled. Proof of that, look at the Wal-Mart deal. Why didn't the Wal-Mart deal go down? It wasn't because of the people in the West End, on the street corner. It was East End liberals, who own and operate jobs with justice, trying to play the union card on Wal-Mart. Now, we're starving for jobs and they're coming down here, trying to tell us what's good for us. Intelligent people need to defend their neighborhoods. Look they're giving the West End away. 

To reverse all of that, it's with political power and education." - Eddie, Russell

"This is my son, right here. I lost him in March. He was 22. Shit's hard out here, bruh. It gets real out here." - Critter, Parkland

"We all we got. Everybody needs to stay positive and do the right things and hope that it spreads around. With all these killings and all that, we just got to come together. If we wanna move forward, we all got to come together." - Woo & Brandon, Shawnee

"A relationship is like this. You find a partner and you bring them up in places that they need to be brought up and you knock up them in places that need to be knocked down. You do it together, as each other, as one. It's not 'I got this and you don't'. It's either we got it or we don't got it.

So, everything you do, you have to keep in mind that you're not just one person, you are two. So, it's not just you looking out for yourself. As a man, you're supposed to nurture your woman. You're supposed to make sure that she has everything that she needs. That's where you come in as two." - Brandon & Jess, California

"If my life was an album, the title would probably be 'The Struggle'. It's a lot. It's real out here. When you ain't got no where to crash at and no where to stay, it's real. Shit, I might as well say 'The Struggle' until I bounce back. 

My struggle, right now? I got a lot of them. I can't even talk, I don't know. I'm dealing with a lot, right now. I'm dealing with this court shit. I gotta find somewhere to stay every night. I gotta get a new job and shit. I don't know, man, it's crazy. That's why I'm out here, now. You know what I'm sayin'? I don't know. It's just been fucked up in the last two weeks. I can't be down. If you're down, that's down on your life. It's a point to be down, but there's no point. You might as well stand tall and do what you gotta do. 

Stay in school. That's true shit. Do what you do because that shit gets real. I didn't listen, myself. If you ain't out here, don't be out here. There's no point. Stay in school." - Lil Rollie, Russell

"My youngest son was murdered in Savannah, Georgia. My oldest son is in the penitentiary and won't get out until he's 42. So, I got at least 17 more years before I can see him. But that's what happens when a male grows up without a father. My sons were 3 and 4 when me and their mother broke up. I went back to Chicago and she stayed in Savannah. I lost my kids to the system, one in the penitentiary and the other one is dead.

You gotta look at why people go through trials and tribulations. I can't blame it all on me, but I know that part of it is my fault. I know there's other kids out here that don't have have fathers and stuff. I might go to a baseball game with some kids from my church. I can't make it up to my sons, but I can possibly save another boy's life just by spending time with them. 

Where you live doesn't matter. It's about you. I can walk through here and not have a problem in the world. Nobody messes with me. If you stay trying to live like God wants you to live, your life will be so much better. 

I got $76 in my pocket and you know what I'm getting ready to do? I do this every morning, I walk from here to my job. That's at Floyd and Breckenridge. Every time I walk to work, I put my Tarc money, that's $1.75, and put it in the jar." - Will, Shawnee

"They're wanting to take everything away. We've been out here striking for six weeks. Go ahead and take a picture of us and tell them that they're rotten. ." - USW Local Union Members, Park Hill

"I was born here. We left here in '44, went to the Bronx and never came back. Then I came back here for a family reunion. My dad had to encouraging me to go to a family reunion. So, I came back in '85 and I said, 'I've never seen so much grass and trees in my life,'. We didn't have any trees in the Bronx. It was all concrete and steel. I lived on the 30th floor, paying $1,000 a month for a one-bedroom. Then I came here. You people have it good. You see those houses? We'd kill for a house like that.

We came up during the rock and roll era. You know, it was right after jazz. We had the Coltrane people, Louis Armstrong, and all that. That came along in '55. Now, we have hip-hop. I don't like, I hate it. You go back to Al Green. It's not Al Green. You know what I'm talking about when I say Al Green. Oh man! They disrespect the black woman, the earth. We used to call black women the earth. You know? Now, we're disrespecting them and calling them everything but a child of God. Back in the days, with rock and roll, we talked about guys loving their woman.

When a guy went to a girl's house, he'd have on his alligator shoes, a good suit and his hat cocked to the side. The girls' eyes would be popping out! Those girls, man, could make biscuits that you wouldn't believe. Man, with butter on top of them, they could cook! Now, girls burn water! That don't make no sense!

When I met the Lord, he saved my life. I haven't always been a goodie two shoes all my life. People used to see me coming and they knew I wanted to smoke up that smoke, you know what I'm talking about? Man, I smoked weed like a steam engine. But the Lord put a cheap gene in me. I would not buy it and give my money to the white man, not even to the black man. Friends on my block would see me coming and they would go the other way. They'd be like, 'Nah, he ain't smokin up my stuff, today!'. It left me. Cigarettes left me. Vodka and orange juice left me. Now, all I do is go bowling, roller skating, and go to Kentucky Kingdom. Kids would look at me like I'm a dinosaur on skates. I'm 77 years old. I love it. " - Mr. War, Shawnee

"Happiest moment of my life? Damn, that's a tough one because I've had so many happy moments. I'm gonna go with graduating high school. That was a major goal that I really wanted to accomplish and I actually did it. That was one the happiest days of my life. I made my mother and father proud.

A long time dream I have for myself is to be able to provide and take care of my family. That's it. I want to be super successful to where we don't have to worry about anything, no more. I grew up worrying about shit, a lot. I just want to be that person to change all of that by being able to provide and take care of my family. That'll be a long time goal for me.

With life you have ups and downs. You're gonna have good days and bad days. So, I accept the challenges. What you do with the challenges is what makes you afterwards. I feel like you can throw anything my way and I can overcome it. I've been overcoming a lot of shit so it's only making me stronger." - Faruq, Russell

"Stay mentally focused. I'm easy going, I don't let nothing bother me. I just met you, we stopping and I'm coolin' with you. I'm easy going. I appreciate life. Appreciate the small things." - Montez, Portland

"I got married about a year ago and it's not going so hot. My lil husband is abusive and things. So, I got this job and it was going good. Then he came and made me quit my job. He's not working, so that leaves me to come to places like this to get food and clothes.

I was born in the West End but I wasn't raised in the West End. Coming back was a little different. As a kid, growing up in the West End was fun. We used to run around in the streets and play. We would get in fights but the next day, we were friends. It was rough but it seemed like there was a lot of love. These days, it doesn't seem like there's anywhere. In the West End, it seems like the love is gone. 

If my life was an album, it would be called 'The Storm That Never Ends' because my whole life has been a bunch of storms. I mean, I've gotten through them. Let's see, my mother passed away when I was two. My dad left us at a foster home and we stayed there until I was four. Then we went to a family member and I had a lot of physical, mental, and sexual abuse that happened to me. Since the age of two, my life has been one big storm. My God and my three kids keeps me positive. I have my moments but when I get to that point where I'm going to do something stupid, God's like, 'Hey, now!'. Plus, I have a love for people. Like if I do something crazy, I may not be able to help the next person who is going through a storm and give them a smile or a hug.

My long time dream is to be able to provide for my children. I also want to be able to be a service to other people  and I want my music heard." - Brittany & Kevin, Park Hill

"If my life was an album the title would be 'Cold Nights'. A lot of people don't understand the struggles. A lot of people from different races don't understand what we go through. I went through a lot of stuff in life. I remember cold nights and not having nothing to eat. I wasn't able to do things that I wanted to do, because it was a struggle. Everything's a lesson. " - Vashaun (center), Shawnee

"I look at life like hurdles. It's always going to be hurdles, but you gotta keep jumpin' them. You gotta keep going. Don't let nothing hold you back. You gotta go out here and get it. That's what I'm trying to do and I'm not going to let nobody stop me. You know what I'm sayin'? I've done the bad and I've done the good. I'm gonna do the good. I got two kids, now. I'm trying to be a good example, so that's all I do." - Larry (far right), Shawnee

J'Shaun (far left), Shawnee