Just south of 12th and Burleigh, on a block of vacant lots and beat-down houses, there's a cement patch in the street. The locals scratched initials, pictographs and messages in the concrete before it set up hard. In one corner someone scrawled the words "no love."

Perhaps the phrase "no love" laments a failed relationship. Perhaps it describes life in a neighborhood afflicted by poverty, isolation, hopelessness and fear.

Ora Lee Evans knows this neighborhood. She came here from Arkansas in 1955, at the age of 19, and she's been here ever since.

Erika Britton grew up just a few blocks from Ora Lee's house, and remembers from her childhood a safe neighborhood of extended families and working dads.

On the front steps of the house at 3015 N. 12th St., several men (including Wacheyne) shared their experiences in the grim world of the urban core.

Taiwan Anderson

Wacheyne Evans

Matthew Britton

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