Internal Development in Response to the Gentrification of Roxbury

Internal Development in Response to the Gentrification of Roxbury

Creator: Evan Comeau

The process of gentrification is synonymous with rising home values and economic development in a deteriorating area. However, in the Roxbury neighborhood of Boston, this has come at the cost of forcing predominantly minority groups from their homes and out of their communities. 81 percent of Roxbury residents, largely African-American and Latino, rent housing, meaning that the benefits of development are concentrated outside of the community that has little equity in their own homes. Northeastern University is complicit in this displacement, developing in the community while neglecting those that compose it. However, Northeastern students can make a positive impact by voicing their concerns and participating in asset-based community development. Through internal development, the benefits of economic growth will be realized by Roxbury residents, decreasing racial inequality and strengthening the community. As members of the Boston community, Northeastern students have a responsibility to seek an end to racial inequality and its corresponding injustices by advocating for an end to harmful external development and replacing it with constructive internal development.