Counseling in the Gentrified Neighborhood: What School Counselors Should Know

Abstract

Gentrification occurs when the prevailing demographic and economic environment of an urban neighborhood changes in ways related to social class and physical renewal. Gentrification effects are both positive and negative; however, low-income residents may be disproportionately negatively affected. As neighborhoods transform, schools also change. The literature on gentrification and its impacts highlights areas where school counselors can begin to address these issues.

Capitalizing on Cultural Assets: Community Cultural Wealth and Immigrant-Origin Students

“…This understanding of cultural capital, focusing on the strengths of marginalized groups, first appeared in the school counseling literature more than a decade ago with authors describing ways school counselors could intentionally involve low-income parents in schools (Van Velsor & Orozco, 2007). Since then, school counseling scholars have applied this definition of cultural capital when developing partnerships with immigrant families from Mexico (Dotson-Blake et al, 2009), collaborating with African American families and communities (Moore-Thomas & Day-Vines, 2010), and considering the needs of students living in low-income, urban gentrified areas (Bell & Van Velsor, 2017). CCW, described below, further expands the construct of cultural capital to encompass six types of cultural resources.…”