My name is Valeria Monzon, I am 20 years old. I am from Colombia and I came to the USA approximately 4 years ago. In may I graduated from Fashion Design, and currently, I am working as a Fashion Design assistant in a swimwear/ready-to-wear company. I decided to go back to school because I am very young still, and I love to learn. In summer 2021 I started to study graphic design in MDC with the goal to transfer to FIU next fall to complete my Bachelor's. On the other side, I am building my clothing brand boutique, with all the knowledge of design and business that I already had. 

I am very excited about this semester!

Miami is a port city located in Florida, United States; a place highly frequented by millions of people from all over the world for tourism, food, education, housing, etc. It is classified as a global city of importance in commerce, entertainment, arts, among others. Although Miami has great benefits in its territory, it should also be mentioned that it has highly dangerous areas, where not only caution is warned, but it is recommended not to transit certain specifically.
Some of the causes of this insecurity are poverty, the sale, and consumption of hallucinogenic drugs. Miami is known as a place of entertainment, where it is not only enjoyed but many people are carried away by drug addiction, and unfortunately these cases are very common in this city. Some areas where it can be mentioned as dangerous can be, Overtown, Midtown, Little Haiti, Little Havana, etc.
In order to improve citizen security, it is urgent to confront criminal groups, there must be internal and external control by the police; clearly, this will not create an instant change, but at least it will prevent these dangerous areas from spreading throughout Miami and even causing fear when traveling on the streets.

Surratt, Hilary, et al. “Street Kids, Street Drugs, Street Crime: An Examination of Drug Use and Serious Delinquency in Miami.” Social Forces, vol. 74, no. 1, p. 359.

Louderback, Eric R., and Shouraseni Sen Roy. “Integrating Social Disorganization and Routine Activity Theories and Testing the Effectiveness of Neighbourhood Crime Watch Programs: Case Study of Miami-Dade County, 2007–15.” British Journal of Criminology, vol. 58, no. 4, Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 968–92, doi:10.1093/bjc/azx062.

A. Background: Miami is a highly frequented city by millions of people from all over the world for tourism, food, education, housing, etc. It is classified as a global city of importance in commerce, entertainment, arts, among others. Although Miami has great benefits in its territory, it should also be mentioned that it has highly dangerous areas, where not only caution is warned, but it is recommended not to transit certain specifically.

B. Thesis Statement: Miami’s dangerous zones are mainly caused by some specific places that can be known as poverty neighborhoods, drug sales, criminal groups, races, etc.

2. CONTEXT/HISTORY - TIE TO YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, COMMUNITY, OR CITY

A. First point: Poor communities increase dangerousness.

B. Second point: Although Miami is a great tourist city, there are a couple of zones that must be avoided if you are a tourist or even a Florida resident.

3. CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

A. First Point: Some of the causes of this insecurity are the sale and consumption of hallucinogenic drugs.

B. Second Point: The consequences that these types of neighborhoods could produce are:

4. POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS/COMMUNITY SERVICE-AGENCIES

A. Summary/Synthesis: To improve citizen security, it is urgent to confront criminal groups.

B. Importance of topic: Miami needs to work more in poverty neighborhoods, criminality, drug sale, and consumption, and can these affect the new generations.

C. Strong closing statement: There must be internal and external control by the police; clearly, this will not create an instant change, but at least it will prevent these dangerous areas from spreading throughout Miami and even causing fear when traveling on the streets.

Miami is a port city located in Florida, United States; a place highly frequented by millions of people from all over the world for tourism, food, education, housing, etc. It is classified as a global city of importance in commerce, entertainment, arts, among others. Although Miami has great benefits in its territory, it should also be mentioned that it has highly dangerous areas, where not only caution is warned, but it is recommended not to transit certain specifically.

It could be mentioned that poverty is one of the most important causes of danger in communities. Poverty is a situation in which it is not possible to meet the basic physical and psychological needs of a person, due to lack of resources such as food, housing, education, health care, drinking water, or electricity; The human being, not being able to have stability, seeks to resist and crime is one of these types of surviving. In addition, in these areas, there is a great variety of psychiatric and physical illnesses that generate desperate people to find a solution to this type of problem.

Another cause of this insecurity is the sale and consumption of hallucinogenic drugs. Miami is known as a place of entertainment, where it is not only enjoyed but many people are carried away by addictions such as drug addiction and unfortunately these cases are very common in this city. Areas, where they are sold or consumed, are usually very dangerous. Zones, where people are more easily to get these types of drugs, can be very dangerous, not just because of the illegal sale, but because of the “Mafia” behind it. It should be noted that Miami is a great tourist city, but there are different areas that should be avoided where they can be mentioned as dangerous, they can be, Overtown, Midtown, Little Haiti, Little Havana, etc., these places are highly known for their level of poverty, which exponentially increases crime. (Petersen, 2018)

The consequences that these types of areas can generate are premature deaths, family disintegration, economic loss, prostitution, mental problems, robberies, bribes, kidnappings, threats, addictions, etc., there have even been cases where the same tourists come to Miami to have a weekend of entertainment and end up developing behaviors, such as drug addiction, delinquency, theft, and death. (Louderback 2015)

In order to improve citizen security, it is urgent to confront criminal groups, there must be internal and external control by the police, where those areas where it is known that drug sellers are found must be completely eliminated, in addition to continuing to fight against those mafias that completely run the country. On the other hand, Miami needs to work much more in poor neighborhoods, to help each individual who does not have the possibility of surviving on their own, to generate more employment in a different way; eradicating poverty will give the next generations better opportunities; (Surratt 2018) It is clear that this will not generate an instant change, but at least it will prevent these dangerous areas from spreading throughout Miami and even causing fear when walking the streets.

Petersen, Nick, et al. “(Dis)order in the Court: Examining Neighborhood Disorder Prosecutions in Miami-Dade County.” Justice Quarterly, vol. 35, no. 7, Routledge, 2018, pp. 1250–79, doi:10.1080/07418825.2018.1523448

Surratt, Hilary, et al. “Street Kids, Street Drugs, Street Crime: An Examination of Drug Use and Serious Delinquency in Miami.” Social Forces, vol. 74, no. 1, p. 359

Louderback, Eric R., and Shouraseni Sen Roy. “Integrating Social Disorganization and Routine Activity Theories and Testing the Effectiveness of Neighbourhood Crime Watch Programs: Case Study of Miami-Dade County, 2007–15.” British Journal of Criminology, vol. 58, no. 4, Oxford University Press, 2018, pp. 968–92, doi:10.1093/bjc/azx062

My name is Valeria Monzon.

I am a Fashion Designer and currently, I am majoring in Graphic Design.

The topic I selected is the reality of some dangerous zones in Miami.

I selected this topic because it is very important to know how different zones in Miami could affect tourists or even the people that live here.

My research shows that the police and the government need to work harder against the criminality and poverty in Miami.

My thoughts about this are that Miami is an amazing city, it gives a lot of opportunities and entertainment to its visitors, but it also contains difficult places that may really affect a lot of people.

The titles of the sources I used for my talk were “(Dis)order in the Court: Examining Neighborhood Disorder Prosecutions in Miami-Dade County.” by Nick Petersen, “Street Kids, Street Drugs, Street Crime: An Examination of Drug Use and Serious Delinquency in Miami.” by Hilary Surratt, and “Integrating Social Disorganization and Routine Activity Theories and Testing the Effectiveness of Neighbourhood Crime Watch Programs: Case Study of Miami-Dade County, 2007–15.” Eric R. Louderback, and Sen Roy Shouraseni.

Does anyone have any questions for me?

Thank you for listening.