Theresa Mitchell

URB 200 Social Justice

Thursday, October 7th, 2021

What is Gentrification

Gentrification is a process when wealthy people move into low-income urban areas, including predominantly black neighborhoods. In NYC, urban communities experience gentrification more rapidly than ever. Real estate developers make these neighborhoods, like Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, more attractive for high-income residents. As a Brooklynite, I witnessed several changes in my community: high-rise buildings, high-end department stores, organic supermarkets, restaurants with sidewalk cafes, greener parks, and public spaces. Gentrification has a socio-economic impact on working-class families and their children. Long term, low-income tenants must pay higher living expenses to survive. Socially, racial equality and classification also contribute to gentrification. In the article Gentrification and Urban Children’s Well Being, authors Diana Formoso, Rachel N. Weber, and Marc S Atkins explored how urban renewal impacts Low-Income families. Education is the primary concern that impacts poorer families in gentrified neighborhoods.

Education plays a crucial role in supporting working families in gentrified communities. Specialized charter schools are essential for young people. Poor children who gain acceptance into these institutions will thrive academically. They gain insight into progressive learning, including STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering & Math), literacy, college readiness, vocational training, arts, and humanities. Wealthy families gain the first advantage in entering their children into charter schools. They can financially support these institutions, which elevates quality education for their kids. Young people can take coding or software development tech classes, which significantly increase their math skills, vocabulary, and literacy. Also, it teaches kids problem-solving skills that are not only essential in academia but life. Without grants and private donations, it would be impossible for youth to gain access to these initiatives. Sadly, low-income families don’t have the power to support charter schools financially. Disadvantage parents must apply their child into a school lottery to gain admittance into a specialized educational program. Only a tiny fraction of blacks, Hispanics, or other racial groups in urban communities are selected to join through this lottery system. Gentrification impacts child psychology. Young people of color feel inferior to their white counterparts. They missed out on better opportunities for quality education. In the article Gentrification, and Urban Children’s Well Being, Formoso, Weber, and Atkins talked about how urban renewal impacts child psychology and the determination to create public policy to avoid missed opportunities among families of color:

“A focus on the mechanisms through which gentrification impacts poor children can inform public policy and community interventions and may identify missed opportunities to maximize the benefits and minimize the risks of gentrification for low-income families,” (pg 397)

These authors strongly believe that gentrification within the school system can encourage mentoring relationships among students of color. They created a diagram on page 397 of how this procedure enhances community support but questions cultural diversity socially and economically. These writers break down different stages of this process: Institutional Resources, Intergenerational Closure, Reciprocated Exchange, Informal Social Control, Multiple Transitions, and Quality Hosts of Relationships. Institutional Resources concentrate on fiscal support for learning institutions like charter schools, which mentioned earlier, young families of color are at a disadvantage. This scenario answers the question, “Will cultural diversity be a barrier to participation for some families?” (pg. 397). Atkins, Webber, and Formoso also believed that Institutional Resources contribute to risky school decision-making involving recruitment based on, “Depopulation or competition for slots,” (pg. 397). When the youth of color join specialized charter schools, they collaborate with mentors who believe in them. These wealthy mentors can teach diverse students life lessons that will transcend them into adulthood. High school seniors are encouraged to seek internship and seasonal employment opportunities to gain entry-level experiences. Teachers of color who look like them in the classroom are more likely to thrive academically. It gives black and brown kids hope that their hostile living environment is temporary, not permanent.

Parental support is crucial to child psychology and development. Low-income parents support their child’s education through homework help, peer mentoring, and getting involved in PTA meetings or activities to support their growth. As their offspring, these parents are angry about the risks of institutional resources within urban schools. Missed opportunities of not making it into school lotteries cause them to evaluate other places for their children to learn. Low-income families are not able to afford private schools. They turn to specialized charter schools for their offspring to thrive academically, socially, and culturally. When their child is not selected, it frustrates parents enough to form a group to protest against educational inequality involving classism and racism. The article Gentrification and Urban Children’s Wellbeing highlights this concern through Reciprocated Exchange, which families or communities share with each other, “info on child-centered resources,” (pg. 397) that benefits child development. Webber, Atkins, and Formoso feared that sharing resources may not satisfy all families. Socially, not every community member will share this information. Misinformation or concealment within gentrified communities prevents parents from rising higher. Parents are stuck with placing their children in a non-specialized school that’s failing and not prospering.  It’s up to my community and me to join organizations or participate in town hall meetings to spread knowledge about child-centered resources to disadvantaged families.

Education within gentrified neighborhoods needs to be equal and not discriminatory. As a Crown Heights resident, I see a class divide between low-income and wealthy residents. Affluent tenants should stop being too selfish and share their knowledge or expertise with disadvantaged families. They have the power to help their community thrive if they listen to people’s needs. Active listening can determine their ability to help individually or collaboratively through group mentorship or guidance. Families of color have the right to a quality education that’s not racist or classist. The article Gentrification and Urban Children’s Well Being reminds readers that lack of resources and support are the root cause of academic failure among youth in gentrified communities. 

Work Cited

Formoso, Diana, et al. “Gentrification and Urban Children’s Well-Being: Tipping the Scales from

   Problems to Promise.” American Journal of Community Psychology, vol. 46, no. 3-4, 2010,

   pp.395–412. Springer, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-010-9348-3.