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Little Sàigòn Community Research Report Is Designed to Bring Awareness in Addressing the Gaps in Services, Tools and Resources in the Vietnamese Community

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Little Sàigòn Community Research Report Is Designed to Bring Awareness in Addressing the Gaps in Services, Tools and Resources in the Vietnamese Community F R I E N D S O F L I T T L E S À I G Ò N L I T T L E S À I G Ò N C O M M U N I T Y R E S E A R C H R E P O R T ( 2 0 1 9 ) w w w . f l s s e a t t l e . o r g | i n f o @ f l s s e a t t l e . o r g C O N T E N T S PURPOSE 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 2 POPULATION 4 Income Supporting Neighborhoods Challenges Recommendations CULTURE & IDENTITY 8 Language & Cultural Gathering Challenges Recommendations HOUSING & DEVELOPMENT 12 Total Occupied Housing Units Current & Future Developments Challenges Recommendations BUSINESSES 17 Business Spotlights Challenges: Small Asian-Owned Businesses in the US Recommendations CONCLUSION 21 END NOTES 22 P U R P O S E Little Sàigòn is a vital part of the Vietnamese community and Chinatown International District located in Seattle, WA. Currently Little Sàigòn is home to many small businesses such as restaurants, supermarkets, jewelry stores and much more. Formed in early 2011, Friends of Little Sàigòn (FLS) is a community organization created to preserve and enhance Little Saigon’s cultural, economic, and historic vitality. FLS focuses on advocacy, community engagement and community building. The purpose of this research report is to conduct market research on ethnic small business industries, housing and other community needs in the Little Sàigòn community. The goal is to document the community's needs, changes, and growth in order to support future advocacy and programs. Available research on Seattle’s Little Sàigòn and the Vietnamese community is generally aggregated data categorized under "Asian" and not specific to the Seattle area. The purpose of this research is to provide, collect and present missing data specifically in the Vietnamese community within Seattle, Washington. Using data and recommendations in this report, FLS hopes to bring awareness to current issues impacting the Vietnamese and Little Sàigòn community, create programs that reflect the community’s needs and empower others to take action in preserving Little Sàigòn. T I F F A N Y T R U O N G F R I E N D S O F L I T T L E S À I G Ò N R E S E A R C H & A D V O C A C Y I N T E R N 2 0 1 9 1 E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y Little Sàigòn Community Research Report is designed to bring awareness in addressing the gaps in services, tools and resources in the Vietnamese community. As part of the Chinatown International District, Little Sàigòn is located just east of Chinatown. Its proximity to Downtown has resulted in increasing developments and high leasing prices impacting our community, residents, and small businesses. Therefore this report focuses on four priority areas most impacted by these changes: Population, Culture & Identity, Housing & Development, and Small Businesses. This report will help shape the future of Little Sàigòn by identifying and recommending strategies for addressing the impacts and gaps in services. Key elements of the report are: The change in population within the area The role of nearby neighborhoods The need for cultural assets and services The impact of upcoming mixed-use developments C H I N A T O W N I N T E R N A T I O N A L D I S T R I C T M A P ( P H O T O B Y C I D B I A . O R G ) 2 Key takeaways are: Population Gap: Lack of population data within the neighborhood to track foot traffic in the Little Sàigòn area. Recommendation: Track pedestrian and customer traffic with video analytic systems and surveys in order to document the primary reason in visiting the neighborhood. Culture & Identity Gap: Outdated data and limited services on present day Vietnamese youth and senior connection to their language and culture. Recommendation: Implement cultural programs and frequent user studies on youths and seniors to identify current pain points/needs. Housing & Development Gap: Little to no detailed data on current residents in Little Sàigòn. Challenges with filling housing with Vietnamese/API demographics who will be impacted the most by the redevelopment. Recommendations: Document occupants in existing, new and upcoming housing developments. Create more support programs to reach out to and support potential Vietnamese/API residents. Small Business Gap: Missing data of past businesses, where they went, and why they left impacting the lack of culturally relevant small business resources. Recommendation: Document and survey current businesses and provide culturally relevant small business technical assistance. The findings and takeaways of this report are suggested recommendations to guide investment and support to Little Sàigòn stakeholders and partners in order to address the significant changes in the next few years. Many recommendations are short-term data solutions, and do not provide a macro- or long-term results to addressing the root issues. 3 P O P U L A T I O N Little Sàigòn alone is home to about 268 residents within two major housing developments. In terms of geographical population, there is currently 45,484 people in King County who [ 1 ] [ 2 ] identifies themselves as Vietnamese alone or in combination and 14,992 in Seattle. Breaking this further down within Seattle, 5,110 U.S. born and 9,882 foreign born were reported. [ 3 ] V I E T N A M E S E I S R A N K E D #3 IN TOTAL ASIAN POPULATION AFTER [ 2 ] CHINESE AND FILIPINO IN SEATTLE [ 1 ] [ 4 ] C R O S S W A L K O F 1 2 T H A V E S A N D S J A C K S O N S T R E E T 4 I N C O M E The median household income in Seattle who identified as Vietnamese from 2010 was under $10,000 or between $75,000 to $99,999. [ 5 ] [ 5 ] M E D I A N I N C O M E I N S E A T T L E ( 2 0 1 0 ) I d e n t i f y i n g a s V i e t n a m e s e a l o n e o r i n c o m b i n a t i o n Less than $10,000 650 $10,000 to $14,999 297 $15,000 to $19,999 221 $20,000 to $24,999 179 $25,000 to $29,999 91 $30,000 to $34,999 207 $35,000 to $39,999 115 $40,000 to $44,999 68 $45,000 to $49,999 155 $50,000 to $59,999 236 $60,000 to $74,999 273 $75,000 to $99,999 519 $100,000 to $124,999 320 $125,000 to $149,999 288 $150,000 to $199,999 194 $200,000 or more 144 Because of the high numbers of people in Seattle identifying as Vietnamese with low or high income, the variety of income puts the median household at $60,021. In perspective, Seattle’s Area Median Income (AMI) is $82,133 whereas the range for qualifying for affordable housing is between AMI of 30% up to 80% of Seattle’s AMI ($24,640 up to [ 5 ] $65,706). 51,803 A A P I S L I V I N G I N P O V E R T Y I N T H E [ 6 ] S E A T T L E - T A C O M A - B E L L E V U E , W A 5 S U P P O R T I N G N E I G H B O R H O O D S With the growing Vietnamese community, it is also very important to note the surrounding communities who support and contribute to Little Sàigòn. Surrounding neighborhoods listed above play a vital role in supporting Little Sàigòn because of its current lack of a strong residential population. Many local residents shop and utilize [ 4 ] services in Little Sàigòn. This is an important consideration especially for existing and new businesses, as they adapt to the growing and changing demographics of the neighborhood. S U R R O U N D I N G C O M M U N I T I E S I N L I T T L E S À I G Ò N [ 7 ] NEIGHBORHOOD POPULATION Jackson Place 1,086 (east of Little Sàigòn) Minor 8,151 (north of Jackson Place) Judkins Park 3,287 (east of Jackson Place) Yesler Terrace 1,721 (north of Little Sàigòn) First Hill 11,718 (north of Yesler Terrace) Central Area 3,693 (northeast of Little Sàigòn) 6 C H A L L E N G E S One notable challenge while researching was finding the right resource to search geographical data by neighborhood. Some of the boundaries in the datasets do not align with the official neighborhood boundaries. This is something that is continuing to change as developments alter streets and right of ways. There is also a gap in terms of population data within the area, whether the number comes from residents alone, visitors or store owners. With the surrounding neighborhoods and growing population, it was difficult estimating the foot traffic in the Little Sàigòn area using the disaggregated population data.
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