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The Youth Perspective Introduction Gentrification seems to be a hot issue in the agenda of many urban geographers. During the past few years, there was an overwhelming number of academic publications concerning the matter, all trying to explain some aspects of it. Unfortunately, almost all of the Geographic literature concentrates on the negative sides of gentrification, mainly to poor groups that tend to be displaced due to gentrification. We say unfortunately not because we feel the positive effects of gentrification outweigh the negative; that is left to history to record, but because gentrification has a greater effect to those that experience it and do not have a voice in what happens around them. Today's youth, tomorrow's leaders. The young members of a family or household are rarely asked to give their input on anything of importance to them. While officials “try” to created spaces for youth and accommodate their needs, the cases in which the input of young children is ever heard is definitely a one digit number. There are some programs conducted right now that try to give voice to the youth of various communities, yet the study of youth and how it is affected by gentrification is simply non-existent. We decided to utilize one of the few data sources on youth's opinions about their community to derive a simple understanding on the effects of gentrification on youth. While the original study did not have this intention, we found that we could extract valuable information to make a strong enough case, mainly that the effects of gentrification on youth are important and deserve further investigation by social scientists, especially geographers. Data Collection As mentioned earlier, the data was collected by another project, which one of us took part in. The intent of the project was to create a curriculum for youth community mapping of the area surrounding the Garfield High School. To achieve this goal, the concerns of the students were collected through a questionnaire process, and later verified and enriched by further discussion and a community walk-through. While that project is nearing an end, they are preparing a web presence (still incomplete) that can be found at http://students.washington.edu/michalis/geog463/. The data collection, as stated, was conducted in 3 phases. Unfortunately, as this was conducted as a class project for the Advance Via individual Determination (AVID) program, a lot of bias was introduced. The limited time frame of the project, as well as the limited resources available did not allow for a more unbiased data collection, yet this is planned for a summer repetition of the project. The three phases are further explained below: 1. After briefly being introduced to the members of the project, the AVID students were required to complete a questionnaire about their community. A blank base map was given to them, on which they could mark places of interest or concern. 2. On the same session the questionnaire was given to them, they had a chance to discuss their responses in smaller groups along with the project team. They were allowed to make modifications to their answers, but they were kindly requested to only add information, rather than modify or remove. 3. On a different session, the majority of the students that completed the questionnaire (18 out of 19, with the addition of one more not participating in the questionnaire or discussion) were taken on a walk through their neighborhood, based on the places they indicated in their responses. Further details were recorded, based on the numerous discussions that ensued. Data Description Due to the fact that the data used for the community mapping projected needed to be encoded to be used in a GIS application, some alterations to the data exist. While the original data are available, at the present time, we cannot access them as they are being used to create a database design. Rather, we have access to some processed data, of which I will give examples below that relate to the issue of gentrification, where they came from (source) and in response to what questions posed. Questionnaire In response to the question “Why do you believe the area you indicated is dangerous”, these responses are closely related to gentrification: 1. So expensive, so many rich white people 2. Scary white people 3. We no longer have anything to do here In response to the follow-up question “What changes would make you feel safer in this area”, the responses were: 1. No more rich people who are mean 2. I do not know what could be done 3. No change can make me feel safer Discussion Following the Questionnaire As it is hard to set this up in a formal way to present it, we will present the conversion here (names are not included to preserve the privacy of the participants). Interviewer: Many of you have indicated that one important aspect of your neighborhood is diversity. What are your feelings about the people migrating to the neighborhood? Respondent 1: We do not like them. People that come here don't belong, they don't try to integrate with us. Interviewer: Many can argue that those “more affluent” people brought with them that new Starbucks down the street. How do you feel about that? Respondent 1: We like to have more choices for food. All we can get here is fast food. We like Starbucks, and we want many more healthier food outlets in the area. Interviewer: But with major corporations coming into the area and redeveloping property, property values increase. Some of you already indicated that some of your friends had to move to Rainier Valley, as they can no longer afford to stay here. Respondent 1: Well yeah... That is bad I guess... But we still want Starbucks here. All we have is an AMPM and Ezell's (a fried chicken restaurant across school). Community Walk As it is hard to set this up in a formal way to present it, we will present another conversion here (names are not included to preserve the privacy of the participants). Interviewer: While you all indicated diversity is one of the characteristics of the Central District you cherish the most, all we can see here are houses/apartment complexes that have large gates erected to keep them away from the community. Respondent 2: They don't want to belong with us. The other day, when the alarm of my neighbor went off by accident, they accused my mom for trying to steal something from them. It's better if we don't get to hang around them. Interviewer: So the valued diversity is only towards specific people? Do you want segregation? Respondent 3: The white people are ruining the diversity of our neighborhood. When them wall themselves in their fancy homes, all they can do is create hate. As it can be seen from the above responses given by various students, the inflow of white, more affluent people affected the lives of the students at Garfield High School. While the majority of the students were African American, there were also Asian and Caucasian students among them that sometimes agreed on the statements of their classmates. Thus, the responses cannot always be related to race; rather there are more factors influencing the opinions of these school children. Unfortunately, the people that immigrated in the Central District are almost all Caucasian, which does not allow for a comparison based on the race of the incoming population. This does introduce some bias, and the way the data collection was conducted, there is no way to identify the race of the participants. It is unclear whether gentrification is the only factor affecting the opinions provided above, yet one can assume that it does play a significant role. While undoubtedly the students recognize some positive side-effects of gentrification, they also quickly indicate some negative changes to their community which can be associated with gentrification.