COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

neighborhood. The neighborhood thus becomes an area characterized by social conflict
and contestation over public space.
Research Method
This study is focused on community groups in the gentrifying neighborhood of
Oak Park, Sacramento. Oak Park is a working-class neighborhood and has about 21,125
inhabitants. It is known for its culturally diverse population and abundance of non-profit
and faith-based organizations. In addition, the neighborhood is characterized by
socioeconomic disparities, a history of neighborhood activism, a high crime rate, and a
documented history of middle-class residents moving into the community. For nine
months, from December 2005 to September 2006, my residency in Oak Park allowed me
to observe the activities of community groups and learn something about their agendas
for social change in the neighborhood. 10 I became a regular participant in Neighborhood
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meetings, grass-roots projects, and volunteer organizations, thus gaining
access that allowed me to acquire an emic perspective on various residents’ perceptions
of how to facilitate change for the poor. I analyze the observations and conversations
collected during this fieldwork to provide an ethnographic perspective on how different
groups attempt to facilitate social change in a gentrifying neighborhood.
In becoming a participant and befriending residents in the neighborhood, I
became engaged with people who had different perceptions of poverty and opposing
views of how to facilitate change in Oak Park. For instance, during my first
Neighborhood Association meeting, I introduced myself as a new resident and a graduate
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student at California State University, Sacramento. My “newcomer status” and
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