Jim Bell

                                                                       Jim Bell

   Jim is one of the community hero’s I interviewed, he was born in Syracuse, New York some personal challenges he faced was that he had to stand up for himself as he was growing up ,and at one point in his life he got into the wrong path ,due to his father passing away and a year later his mother getting really sick. He says his childhood was very chaotic. We asked him what was his biggest regret and his answer was “ losing myself in my early 20’s and like getting into lots of trouble,” .this explains alot and shows how he moved forward and left that behind although it was hard he made it through and shows how he became a better person after that. He says he would still like to accomplish being an LCSW (licensed ,clinical ,social, worker).but says his real success is doing what he does now.

  

“I think it is the vessel to social mobility ,without education you are not going to get far anywhere” as he tells us what he thinks about education. Jim thinks education is very important in life, because he didn't really do good in school he says he didn't take high school seriously,”cps is a mess a real mess i don't know how you can justify two million dollar deficit in a public school system i don't know how you can justify shutting down schools in the manner that they do.”this was jim explaining how cps is now. he also thinks that its not fair for only some schools to have access to music classes or art classes.

  He works with at risk youth. He just wants to be a positive figure , and figure out what it is the youth wants to do other than what they're doing now.” so i just help students youth, broaden their horizon and think outside of there like on block radius .” was another thing jim says he does. jim tells us that his most interesting experience in this line of work was when he had went to the south side for a summer program, and saw how they were separated by class. That was pretty shocking to him.one thing he would like to achieve in his career is to be executive director of his own branch of bill and also have or be part of a private practice. he would also like to do more clinical work, “breaking the stigma of mental illness” he believes people should talk more about it and start feeling better about that situation, to not be ashamed.

   Next, He thinks opportunity would change violence and racism “its all about opportunity giving people an idea ok ,i can do something .and you know, make it.” i agree with jim, because if you put your mind into something you want to do, you can accomplish it. he also thinks one kid can make a difference ,”there’s not one world theres only six or seven billion understandings of the world ,so if you can change one person's mind about something, you would in fact change the whole system.”

   

He explains to us that a hero in his eyes is where “they go above and beyond ,they take no for an answer ,they do things for the good of the people, there selfless they don't do it for there own ego, and they are those who will see somebody who just needs some help up and they go and help them up when nobody will .”As a kid he looked up to his uncle tom, his dad passed away and saw tom as a second dad, he describes him as “ wild and crazy like me so thats like why i kind of looked up to him because he was always doing like cool stuff.” jim says if he had the chance to change the world it would be for everyone, he would get rid of the monetary that we have.it seems that after all that jim has been through he managed to move on and make a difference in our community .