If you looked at the poverty rates at our schools in the greater Edgewater area and then drove through Edgewater, you would notice a disconnect. In the six schools we work with, 9 out of 10 children are growing up in some form of family poverty and receive free or reduced lunch from the school.

Yet when you look at home prices in Edgewater and the surrounding neighborhoods, the real estate market is booming and home values are rising quickly. Long time rental homes are being sold and purchased by higher income, white homeowners. Apartments are being updated and rents are rising.

While this is great for landlords and sellers, it is becoming increasingly hard for families that currently send their children to our schools. Families are being priced out of the Edgewater area and have to find more affordable housing. More often than not this means they have to switch schools. Switching schools is traumatic for any child, but especially so for a child growing up in poverty.

The term people use to describe this movement of white, well-to-do people into more urban, diverse communities is called “gentrification.” There are good aspects to gentrification but there are also consequences, especially for lower income residents. You can read more about what gentrification does to cities here.

It is hard for cities to take an active role in protecting the needs of lower income residents especially when market forces reward cities that gentrify. Truly great communities stand up for all their residents and do not allow for market forces to be the only force that impacts what happens in their neighborhoods.

At Edgewater Collective we are committed to rallying the community to help those in our schools. This means that we must be committed to doing everything we can to maintain the diversity that currently exists in our schools and in our community.

For this reason, one of our indicators we are tracking is the percent of affordable housing in the 80214 zip code. The City of Lakewood is making important moves to increase the number of affordable housing units in this area. Our hope is to strongly encourage the City of Edgewater and the City of Wheat Ridge to do everything in their power to reward those who offer affordable housing.

“What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all of its children. Any other ideal for our schools is narrow and unlovely; acted upon, it destroys our democracy.” – John Dewey in School and Society