Date of Award

Fall 12-13-2024

Degree Type

Honors Thesis

Major

Politics

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Elisabeth Friedman

Abstract

As San Francisco neighborhoods are rapidly changing due to gentrification and displacing longtime residents and small businesses, the San Francisco Cultural Districts Program was established in 2018 with the goal to disrupt gentrification by prioritizing the voices of people within these disinvested neighborhoods. Through analyzing government documents, news articles, and conducting personal interviews, I am conducting a hypothesis-generating, qualitative case study on one of the cultural districts, SOMA Pilipinas. This is to determine if the San Francisco Cultural Districts Program is an effective model in giving impacted communities more of a role in decisions about how to best protect their communities from gentrification and displacement, while also having a say in how to celebrate and present each community’s culture. While still a young program, the San Francisco Cultural Districts Program is promising to be that connection between city government and the community, as each cultural district is tasked with creating a CHHESS (Cultural History, Housing and Economic Sustainability Strategy) report through feedback from community members that creates a set of goals for the cultural district to complete. Working with other established community-service organizations, the cultural districts have the opportunity to secure funding from the city to accomplish these goals. The San Francisco Cultural Districts Program can reverse the wrongs of history and provide a powerful partnership between the city and the community to protect the cultural diversity of San Francisco.

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