Welcome to  Defying Gentrification,  Crafting  Liberation. This is the revamped and revised version of the newsletter formerly known as The Black Urbanist Weekly. Here, we now are committed to Defying Gentrification. We also believe in doing so with joy, so that’s where the crafting, the literal crafting comes from. Over the next few weeks, we will be launching our new mission and fellowship and ambassador programs and you’ll be hearing from me and others a lot to talk about what that means. But first, an invitation for you to come on the journey with us.

All I’ve ever wanted was to live in a city. I blame Sesame Street because they always made it look cool. I  also blame insect bites, humidity, and the smells of kerosene heaters that I experienced in my youth visiting my grandparents at their rural North Carolina homes.

It was a running family joke on my mom’s side, that I would stand by the screen door at my grandparents, as soon as they said they were ready to go, waiting for my parents to stop gabbing at their siblings, because I had to get back to Greensboro.

Fast forward to around 2013, I managed to not only get back to Greensboro, but here I was living it up downtown and in 2015, my local activism had me tagged as a “next Greensboro Four”

But deep inside, my spirit felt unsettled. I would drive around in my Honda Accord wishing that I could just use a bikeshare system like everyone else. I had even started my “adult” blog in the first place to demand that we get more trains in Greensboro into our beautiful, recently restored downtown depot. And of course, visits to Atlanta and DC, half-day drives on I-85/I-95 showed me that once I got there, I could park the car and ride to all of the things I would want: parks, malls, amusement parks even.

In the spring of 2015, after none of my day jobs in Greensboro really stuck, I got the opportunity to move to Kansas City,  Missouri, and become the  Communication and Membership Manager for BikeWalkKC. It was so much fun learning about a new city and managing marketing for a growing bike network and bikeshare system.

However, a new cloud appeared. Depression.

No matter that I had all these options for transportation and a great job, something was up. It took me dumping everything in Kansas City, moving to DC, and then realizing I was still going through the same things to realize that no matter what, I was still, depressed.

And as much as I love talking about urbanism with all the minds that come to the table about it, gentrification was still affecting my life. If I wanted to heal, thanks to the economic forces around me,  I would have to let go of some things I learned about urbanism.

Oh and then we had a pandemic too.  And during that time,  I got to practice some healing modalities and sit with what we’ve been taught about urban planning and what I as a Black queer feminist know about how gentrification makes some of those things very, very different and even difficult.

So, here I am in 2024. I have a loving partner who loves joy-riding and promoting transit just as much as I do. So much so, that it’s her actual day job.  And we live in one of the best neighborhoods in DC, despite attempts for folks like us to be erased from it. I’ve reclaimed my lifelong hobby of sewing and crocheting because I have that kind of time and space. I can drive AND take public transportation.

And I want you to not just come on this ride with me but understand why it’s imperative as planners and other professionals to understand that whatever we do, we need to be planning with people first. And for people like me who want city living, but have barriers to overcome, I want you to know there’s a space for you to do so, that loves and affirms and wants you in the public square, right where you belong.

So, I invite you to watch the recap of my launch webinar, Six Ways to Defy Gentrification.

And if you didn’t have time to watch, I’m so excited to tell you that it’s so simple to defy gentrification.

You can defy gentrification with faith in yourself, cultivation of joyful activities, and having everything you need nearby.

You can help others defy gentrification by caring about them, then building the infrastructure and providing the access they need.

If you believe me and want to make sure more people understand how simple that is, would love to have you become a Defying Gentrification Fellow or Ambassador.

Click here to express interest in our new Fellowship and Ambassador programs.

We’ll also be doing a Q&A on March 21 about the Fellowship and Ambassador programs, that will go into more detail. I’ll also be sharing more in-depth about these six ways of defiance and how these programs can help you, no matter whether you consider yourself gentrified or gentrifier or a little bit of both.

I’m also still releasing the Defying Gentrification workbook, but pilot fellows and ambassadors will have the first look at the workbook and ability to shape the work that will be released to the masses later this spring.

Finally, on the crafting liberation front, I invite you to join me on the Saturday Morning  Shenanigans craft interview show with Laverne of BzyPeach on YouTube as I talk about my crafting work and plans for later this year.

Until next time,

Kristen