TY - JOUR
T1 - Whitest City in America
T2 - A Smaller Black Community's Experience of Gentrification, Displacement, and Aging in Place
AU - Croff, Raina
AU - Hedmann, Monique
AU - Barnes, Lisa L.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America. All rights reserved.
PY - 2021/12/1
Y1 - 2021/12/1
N2 - Background and Objectives: The influx of people with higher socioeconomic status into large Black communities is well documented; less is known regarding smaller, aging Black communities. Older Black adults in Portland, Oregon, among America's fastest gentrifying cities with the smallest metropolitan Black population, discussed barriers to healthy aging. Perspectives centered on the experience of gentrification, displacement, and its impact on social microsystems, place security, and aging in place. Research Design and Methods: One-time focus groups engaged 41 Black adults aged at least 45. A demographic survey included residence area/duration. Discussions were thematically coded. Ecological Systems Theory guided interpretation. Results: The majority of participants resided within gentrifying historically Black neighborhoods (89.2%), were aged at least 65 (54.6%), and lived in their neighborhood for at least 21 years (24.3%). Emergent discussion themes were rise and fall of Black ownership, displacement, race-related stress, and financial burden. Gentrification contributed to the dismantling of Black property ownership curated over generations, increased financial burden, and threatened place security. Physical displacement strained social networks, diminishing intergenerational neighborhood ties that supported aging in place. Cultural and physical displacement weakened the sense of social cohesion and belonging and induced race-related stressful interactions with new residents within original and relocation neighborhoods. Discussion and Implications: Gentrification in the Pacific Northwest echoes national trends, uprooting critical close-proximity social networks and deteriorating motivation to engage in neighborhood-based social activity. Smaller, aging Black communities may be particularly vulnerable to these effects, which critically affect aging in place. Data inform researchers and policymakers to better understand how gentrification affects smaller, aging Black communities.
AB - Background and Objectives: The influx of people with higher socioeconomic status into large Black communities is well documented; less is known regarding smaller, aging Black communities. Older Black adults in Portland, Oregon, among America's fastest gentrifying cities with the smallest metropolitan Black population, discussed barriers to healthy aging. Perspectives centered on the experience of gentrification, displacement, and its impact on social microsystems, place security, and aging in place. Research Design and Methods: One-time focus groups engaged 41 Black adults aged at least 45. A demographic survey included residence area/duration. Discussions were thematically coded. Ecological Systems Theory guided interpretation. Results: The majority of participants resided within gentrifying historically Black neighborhoods (89.2%), were aged at least 65 (54.6%), and lived in their neighborhood for at least 21 years (24.3%). Emergent discussion themes were rise and fall of Black ownership, displacement, race-related stress, and financial burden. Gentrification contributed to the dismantling of Black property ownership curated over generations, increased financial burden, and threatened place security. Physical displacement strained social networks, diminishing intergenerational neighborhood ties that supported aging in place. Cultural and physical displacement weakened the sense of social cohesion and belonging and induced race-related stressful interactions with new residents within original and relocation neighborhoods. Discussion and Implications: Gentrification in the Pacific Northwest echoes national trends, uprooting critical close-proximity social networks and deteriorating motivation to engage in neighborhood-based social activity. Smaller, aging Black communities may be particularly vulnerable to these effects, which critically affect aging in place. Data inform researchers and policymakers to better understand how gentrification affects smaller, aging Black communities.
KW - African American
KW - Ecological Systems Theory
KW - Neighborhood change
KW - Place security
KW - Social cohesion
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U2 - 10.1093/geront/gnab041
DO - 10.1093/geront/gnab041
M3 - Article
C2 - 33772304
AN - SCOPUS:85121044187
SN - 0016-9013
VL - 61
SP - 1254
EP - 1265
JO - Gerontologist
JF - Gerontologist
IS - 8
ER -