Building community in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood

Autor: Bertumen, Kassie D. (Kassie Lyn Dumlao)
Jazyk: angličtina
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Druh dokumentu: Diplomová práce
Popis: Thesis: M.C.P., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2015.
Cataloged from PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 146-157).
Trauma Informed Community Building (TICB) is a new approach to community development that utilizes a "trauma" lens when engaging with communities that have been negatively impacted by concentrations of poverty and crime, social isolation and economic disinvestment. TICB first acknowledges the adverse effects persistent trauma has on individuals and communities and how these effects challenge "traditional" community building strategies. The practice involves a set of intentional strategies at every level of the social-ecological model-individual, interpersonal, community and system-to reduce the amount of chaos and stressors in individuals' lives, to build social cohesion among neighbors and institutions and to foster community resiliency over time. By implementing these strategies, the authors hypothesize individuals will increase their 'readiness for change,' which, in turn, lays the foundation and support for effective program and service delivery and sustainable individual and community change. They argue these two outcomes are critical when working with "trauma-impacted" communities that are undergoing any kind of major transition and disruptions-i.e., housing redevelopment and/or relocation. TICB was created by BRIDGE Housing Corporation (BRIDGE), a nonprofit affordable housing developer in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, based off of its six years of community building experience in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, as part of the master redevelopment of Potrero Terrace-Annex public housing under San Francisco's HOPE SF initiative. In this thesis, I utilize the case study methodology and mixed-method techniques to explore what it means to approach community building with a "trauma" lens. I explore the evolution, implementation and early impacts of TICB at Potrero Terrace-Annex and I assess the value of TICB's framework as a whole and key lessons learned and challenges. Specifically, I examine the extent to which BRIDGE's community building activities have positively impacted the social dynamics of the economically- and socially-diverse North and South side Potrero Hill communities, increased public housing residents' civic participation and capacity, and helped transform systems, namely democratic processes and public education. I conclude with recommendations to inform policy, practice and future research.
by Kassie D. Bertumen.
M.C.P.
Databáze: Networked Digital Library of Theses & Dissertations