Ethnography, Demography andService-Learning: Situating Lynwood Park

MONICA GAUGHAN * (GeorgiaInstitute of Technology,Atlanta, Georgia)

ABSTRACT This paperreports the results ofa one-year service-learning projectthat excited students aboutsociology, and created use- fulanalytic toolsfor a modest-income African American com- munity.In the course ofdeepening our understanding of one neighborhood– includingcollecting extant demographicdata, conductingsurveys andinterviews, site visits, andsimply “hang- ingout,” – itbecomes possibleto demonstrate how using for- mal demographyand community ethnographytogether pro- videbetter understandings of the processes ofsocial stratiŽ- cation,segregation, and gentriŽ cation than wouldbe possible usingonly oneof the methodologicalorientations. The paper

Acknowledgements:This paper beneŽ ts enormously from the passionand effort of many people.At LynwoodPark Community, Inc.,Executive Director PatriciaMartin and the Boardof Lynwood Park areadept at identifying and articulating the needsof the community inwaysthat makeimplementing astudyvery easy.Able support staff includes WendyKazmajn, Thomas Maxwell, and LaTralle Lockwood. At OglethorpeUniversity, studentsShaniece Broadus, Ayana Bryan, Earline Burrell, LaurenCates, Mark DeLong, MatthewErickson, Mary Feld, Sara Haviland, Christopher Jackson,Jackie Jones, Lorrie King,Kate Miller, Catherine Peay,Reagan Roane, Wilson Swanson, and Julian Walters conductedsite visits, interviews, web searches, and surveys. I hopethat theseexperiences willprove to be educational and enlightening foreach ofthem. Apreviousversion of this paperwas presented at the Southern SociologicalSociety Meeting, April 5,2001, Atlanta, Georgia. * Sendall correspondence to Monica Gaughan, School of PublicPolicy, 685 Cherry St., Atlanta,GA 30332,USA; (404)385-2800; [email protected]

Critical Sociology, Volume 28,issue 1-2 Ó 2002Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden 218 Gaughan ²

beginswith an introductionto theoretical anddidactic chal- lenges, proceedsto describing Lynwood Park itself usingin- sights derivedfrom qualitative evidence, andthen describes oureclectic means ofinvestigatingthe community.The second half ofthe papersituates Lynwood Park demographically and ethnographically in terms ofthe largerAtlanta community,and then inincreasingly smaller andmore socially meaningfulunits. Once we focusthe demographiclens as much as possible,we must againrely onqualitativeinformation to probe the multiple meanings ofLynwood Park. The papercloses with recommen- dationsabout how the peopleof Lynwood Park can use the data,and suggests how these techniques can beimplemented theoretically andpractically insociologyas awhole.

Introduction Race asa conceptis becoming increasingly subject to scrutiny among demographersbecause of the implicationsof the socialconstruction of race onformerly neat analyticcategories (Harris 2000; Hirschman, Alba and Farley forthcoming).What has been coinedan impending“ crisisin racial classiŽcation” may, in fact, be an importantmeasurement issue; however, it iscertainly not the only onefacing demographers who seek tounderstand raceand its implications. The issue,on the horizonsince the Censusstarted discussingusing multiple race categories, suggests some of the limitationsof demography.While asa discipline,it provides as-good-as-it-gets estimates ofpopulationdistributions, it israrelyable to address the microand meso level processesthat lead to observed group differences in behavior. For thoseinsights, we mustturn to communitysurveys, attitudinalassessments, andqualitative means toaddress the meanings ofracial and ethnic group membership,and to understand the interactionsof different groups in geographic,political, and social space. Althoughmost people think ofAtlanta as a single entity, infact the Atlantametropolitan area encompasses 20 counties, over 50 municipal jurisdictions,and countless neighborhood associations (Atlanta Regional Commission).Atlanta is an exemplar ofaregionresidentially segregated by race(Garreau 1991; Massey andDenton 1993; Thompson 2000). Studies suchas Massey andDenton’ s tendto evaluate residentialsegregation interms of cities or census tracts. An important question is how our understandingof segregation, educational and demographic processes areaffected when weuse more meaningful analytic units such as neighborhoods.This is particularly important given the tendency for southerncities to segregate alongneighborhood and residential lines (Wilson 1978),and would account for why northerncities, which follow Situating Lynwood Park 219 ² differentsegregation patterns, tend to be more segregated. The broad(and useful)brush of the macrodemographic approach, however, makes itvery difŽcult to understand the dynamicsof segregation at the microlevel, especially forblack neighborhoods in majoritywhite areas. In thisanalysis, Ifocuson the LynwoodPark Community, a 71year oldmodest income African American residential neighborhood that is onthe predominantlywhite north side of the Atlantametropolis, and whichshares its census track with three othercensus block groups that are overwhelmingly whiteand wealthy. The Community,which has survived many socialand economic regimes, is currently threatened by aggressive landdevelopment, Atlanta style. Atlantadoes have itsgentrifying city core, whichseeks topreserve architecturalforms; however, on the northside whereLynwood Park is situated, the patternis to raze modest homes, clear-cuttheir wooded lots, and insert cul-de-sacs of 3500 square foot homesthat occupy the entirelots, and start “ fromthe low$500’ s.” That’ s inthe thousands,of course. Theoretically,the confrontationamong real estate developers,DeKalb County,and Lynwood Park Ž tsbroadly within a Marxistparadigm. In this“ growthmachine” paradigm, the usevalue ofproperty as a residence isin con ict with its exchange value asinvestors seek tomaximize proŽ t fromthe land(Logan and Molotch (1987). The role of the stateis to facilitatethe exchange, asgovernment justiŽ es increasingexchange value as inthe publicinterest. These recentconceptualizations emphasize a rolefor the “thirdsector,” the community(Castells 1989;Lipietz 1992), in which residentsŽ ghtencroachment by investors by protecting the usevalue of land,and become increasingly savvy inthe useof federal programs to do so(Logan and Molotch 1987). The involvement ofcitizens articulates the use-value ratherthan the commodityvalue ofthe city’s land.Ideologies of“ codetermination”give wayto movements basedmore explicitly on competinginterests (Castells 1989,1994). In the case ofLynwood Park, the useof federal program money tocounteract local development policy isan interestingexample ofthis. Thereis a call fora broadercoalition of urbanists – includingacademics –witha “liberatoryagenda,” one that seeks tocombine social analysis withmoral advocacy (Catterall 2000). At the same time,leading educators arecalling for a newpedagogy in higher education, one that brings undergraduatesinto the researchprocess (Boyer Commission1999), and exposes them tosocial realities through experiential educationand service learning(Mendel-Reyes 1997;Stanton et al.1999). The traditionof social activismand scholarly analysis withinsociology traces itself to none other thanAuguste Compte, and has been carriedforward most notably by the ChicagoSchool. Often, however, activist or applied researchers and 220 Gaughan ² educatorsŽ ndthemselves outsidethe “mainstream”of sociology, at least ifone considers the contentof the topjournals. This analysis ofLynwood Parkcombines these elements, bringingprofessors, undergraduate students, communityactivists, citizens, and administrators together to inform a communityagenda geared toward maintaining a threatenedpopulace and neighborhood.The agenda is broad, and the analyticneeds aregreat. In thisstudy, I seek tosituate Lynwood Park demographically while identifyingissues not easily accessibleusing such tools. It is my hopethat thisanalysis, andother reports not included here, willhelp the peopleof LynwoodPark in theircontinuing Ž ghtto maintain their community.

Methodology The tendency tobreak into qualitative and quantitative methodological campstends to weaken sociologyin general, butit is particularly disas- trouswhen attemptingto excite youngpeople about the possibilitiesof the discipline.Furthermore, methodological entrenchment may limitour abilityto contribute meaningfully toactual social groups and discourses. Demographictechniques provide blunt instruments for testing theory, while ethnographicapproaches may eschew theoryaltogether. I have alreadyre- ferredto the backboneof this analysis: action-orientedcommunity based researchplanned and conducted by undergraduates. The challenge of community-basedresearch to the academicresearcher is its tendency to take onefar from “ hot”topics or areas of familiarity, as this project has taken me.The challenge ofthis type ofresearch to the educatoris how tocreateinteresting and meaningful opportunities for undergraduates who knowlittle tonothing (and care even less) aboutresearch design. The solu- tionwas to establish research groups with permeable boundaries (members couldmake largeor small commitments),with those making sizable com- mitmentshaving relatively moreimpact on the directionof the project. Thisyear, the incorporationof Lynwood Park research projects into three academiccourses as well asthe UrbanLeadership Program have yielded several analyticprojects for the Community.During the fall, studentsin a socialstratiŽ cation course studied the questionof why so many residentsdrop out of high school. This project involved sitevisits to the schools,interviews with teachers, counselors, and parents, and extensive documentationof school district program and policies. On December4, 2000,the classpresented its Ž ndingsand suggestions to the Monthly Boardmeeting ofthe LynwoodPark Community, Inc. In responseto the educationanalyses, the Boardarticulated the need fora greater understandingof the largerpopulation and political processes that in uence anddetermine school districting and student experiences. Tobegin to addressthis (complex) request,students from two spring courses, and Situating Lynwood Park 221 ² membersof the leadershipprogram, agreed to conduct a neighborhood census,and to explore extant demographicdata. In the courseof our preparationsand implementation, we maintainedethnographic and survey notesthat form the backboneof the qualitativeanalysis. My didacticapproach was to encouragestudents to “ besmart people,” tocome up with ideas about how to conceptualize and learn aboutthe topic.I amastrongbeliever thatwe areinnate socialscientists; the students exhibitedgreat instincts, and I wasthen ableto help them developtheir ideasinto good research methodology. These innate socialscientists con- ceptualizeda researchagenda that proposed to incorporate legal analysis, historicaland archival research, demographic data collection, interviews, sitevisits, and observation. Without knowing it, they soughtto triangu- late methods,and to combine quantitative and qualitative approaches. The processworked best in the socialstratiŽ cation class, in whichall four membersparticipated fully. This made it possible to use class time for projectplanning and implementation in waysthat were not feasible in the courseswhere the projectwas not the primaryfocus of the Žnal paper. The structureof the trainingand dissemination efforts described above bringsacademic and community members into the processas co-equal partners.Because communitymembers are involved inevery stepof the process,there isample opportunity for the articulationand revision ofcommunity-identiŽ ed needs. Asneeds areaddressed, more needs are revealed; itis therefore important to continue to address community interestsand to make adjustmentsas needed. Ourcurrent understanding of Lynwood Park comes from the infor- mationwe gathered during interviews, observation, and reading written documentationabout the community’s history.The balanceof this paper reportson the ethnographicand demographic information we collected throughthe communityand US censuses.The community-basedsurvey provedto be very difŽcult to implement, with high refusal rates, and ex- tremedifŽ culty enumerating the school-agepopulation (the issueof pri- maryinterest to Lynwood Park). Despite this, I comparecharacteristics of LynwoodPark with those obtained via ofŽcial census data.

LynwoodPark LynwoodPark is a small partof the largerwhole that is the Atlanta MetropolitanRegion. When itwas originally founded in 1930 as the Žrst blacksuburb of Atlanta, it was very faroutside what we now think of asAtlanta, in Brookhaven Townshipat the very endof the trolley line. Atthat time, its neighbors lived inwhat is now “ HistoricBrookhaven,” a communityof wealthy whitesestablished in 1910. Although the historical rhetoricabout Lynwood Park emphasizes its status as the oldestblack 222 Gaughan ² suburb,lifelong members explain thatthe neighborhooddeveloped to accommodateblacks as they wereforced out of the wealthy Buckhead neighborhoodduring a periodof heavy entrenchment ofJim Crow segregation(Patricia Martin, May 52001).It is far more the case that LynwoodPark was developed to create a steady andproximate stream of personalservants forthe peopleof Brookhaven andBuckhead. This is not todiminish the remarkableaccomplishment of the solidlower-middle class homeownershipof the LynwoodPark charter residents. The houses were tiny,but not especially sofor the time,well maintained,and situated on largewooded lots. Lynwood Park is home to Ž ve generationsof African Americans,many ofwhom are growing old in the neighborhoodof their birth. The ironyof desegregation’s effecton traditionally black neighborhoods has been notedby many; Atlantais a case studyin black as well aswhite middle-class  ight(Garreau 1991; Massey andDenton 1993; Wilson1978). Lynwood Park residents also followed the driveto the suburbsduring the 1970’s and1980’ s attractedto features valued by suburbanitesthe worldover: plentiful and inexpensive land,consumer goodsand services, and easy accessto the corebusiness district (Clark 2000).Many ofthese LynwoodPark emigrants return regularly to visit theirparents, attend church and community events, andin some cases, toenroll their children illegally inthe superiorschools to which Lynwood Parkis assigned (Gaughan interviews,see references). The effecton the physicalinfrastructure of the neighborhood,however, is grave: almost half ofthe homesin the neighborhoodhave been demolishedby the county,are currently condemned, or are vacant and uninhabitable. Such aprofoundloss of stability in the physicalinfrastructure and the upper endof the middleclass led tocharacteristic social disruptions such as the entrenchment ofpoverty, attracting homeless andcriminal elements, and creatinga contextin which a NorthAtlanta drug trade could  ourish. Toaddress the deteriorationof the neighborhood,the LynwoodPark Community,Inc., a CommunityDevelopment Corporation,was founded byagroupof Lynwood Park pioneers in 1992to maintainthe integrityof itsneighborhood. The LynwoodPark Community is organizedto confront the socialproblems of poverty and disrupted family structure, as well as toprotect the communityfrom aggressive developmentthat will change itscharacter. The mission of the Community’s incorporationstatement eloquentlystates the breadthof concernsof the community:

MissionStatement: To create an Upstanding,Clean, Safe, Respectful, Crime-free,Family-Oriented Communitywith improvedHousing, Economic, Community,and Social Service. Situating Lynwood Park 223 ²

Housedin the formerneighborhood black school, the corporation pursuesa three-prongedeffort to meet itsmission. First, it ensures thatthe structuresof the communityare renovated, and attempts to prevent rezoningthat would affect the characterof the community. Quiterecently, LynwoodPark completed its Ž rstnew structure to be soldto a family.Second, it offers an extensive educationalprogram for elementary, secondary,and adult learners. Finally, arecreationcenter providesopportunities for basketball and swimming in the neighborhood. Tenniscourts were recently closeddue to lack offunds. Duringthe Žrstphase of activism,the neighborhoodinstituted effective communitywatches that reduced the impactof the drugtrade. Unfor- tunately,the traderemained concentrated at a localmarket. The recent closureof this market may affectthe trade– althoughthat remains to be seen. Nevertheless, many communityresidents who relied on it for food andsupplies view the lossof the marketnegatively (Gaughaninterviews). The majorityof effort now rests in the educationalprograms, which werethe initialimpetus for my researchteam’ s involvement, andthe es- tablishmentand maintenance ofaffordable housing and the encourage- ment offamily home ownership, an issueof increasing interest to us. My spouse,ever the guardianof practicality, asked me,“ Why shouldanyone careabout Lynwood Park?” I hopethis brief history conveys thatit is a communityof great historic interest, having survivedsegregation, desegre- gation,and continuing racism. It has doneso by maintaining a visionof itself,through able leadership, and community-based strategic thinking and implementation,and it has doneso in a fairlyhostile political, economic andsocial environment. It is therefore of great interest to examine with greaterprecision the politicaland social environment in whichit exists.

LynwoodPark andOglethorpe University OglethorpeUniversity has articulateda commitmentto educate students beyondits walls. In the Purposeset outfor the University, Oglethorpe : : :

Emphasizes the preparationof the humane generalist –the kindof leader neededby a complex andchanging society : : : Studentsare encouraged to explorethe connections between their educationalexperiences oncampus, andthe challenges that face acity today : : : [toencourage] the willingness and abilityto assume the responsibilitiesof leadership in public and private life, includingskill in organizingthe effortsof other persons onbehalf of worthy causes. (OU 2000-2002Bulletin, p. 9)

Despitethis commitment, it is not always clear how educators may beginrealizing this type ofvision in undergraduate education. One ofthe mostexciting trends in higher education of undergraduates is 224 Gaughan ² the movement toincorporate service learninginto the classroom.Few disciplinesare as well suitedto such an endeavoras sociology. Service learningprovides a guideto deliver onthe challenge putforth in a recentCarnegie report calling for integrating research experiences into the undergraduatecurriculum, and to help Oglethorpein its efforts to createbridges between the classroomand the largerworld. In brief,the communityof Lynwood Park articulates the analyticneeds, andwe provide the researchdesign and work to begin to address them. Although we make recommendations,ultimate responsibility and authority to enact and implementpolicy change restswith our community partner, the Lynwood ParkCommunity Project, Inc. Service learning helps studentsto become awareof the complexissues facing people and institutions attempting to solve problems.It is ourhope that participation in service learningwill help studentsto develop further as humane generalists, and to take abroader conceptof citizenship with them intotheir civic, personal, and professional lives. Althoughsome residents of Lynwood Park have attendedOglethorpe University, there wasscant formal interaction between the communities priorto 1998,when the formerDirector of Oglethorpe’s RichFoundation UrbanLeadership Program, Gale Barnett,approached Executive Director PatriciaMartin about establishing projects for mutual beneŽ t. Mrs. Martin, alifelongresident of LynwoodPark, is a visionary,charismatic leader who canrattle off feasible research ideas at a ratethat would be the envy of noviceand established social scientists alike. Thatyear, students completed acensusof the neighborhood,documenting structural and environmental renovationneeds thathave been incorporatedinto the masterplan of LynwoodPark. In 1999,students renovated one of the community’s parks. The studentssolicited donations from area merchants and organized a largelabor contingent to complete the work.In spring,2000, Lynwood Parkpresented its strategic plan at a service fairon campus, part of a RFULP symposiumentitled, “ Conceptionsof the CommonGood.”

LynwoodPark’ s CommunityNeighbors Theneighborhoods in the censustrack around Lynwood Park are socio- economicallydiverse, but racially and ethnically homogeneouspopulations. Ihave alreadynoted that the wealthy Brookhaven district,which I willcall the CountryClub neighborhood (for the centralCapital City Club with aninitiationfee of$60,000 and annual dues of $4,400 – excludinggreens fees), wasfounded in 1910. It borders Lynwood Park to the south.To the east ofLynwood Park is Oglethorpe University (establishedat this site in 1915)and its neighborhoods, once all ownedby the University (Hudson 1995).The majorityof homes are modest single level ranchstyle homes Situating Lynwood Park 225 ² onlarge, wooded lots. The newest neighborhoodin the censustrack is SilverLake, whichborders two Army Corps of Engineers’ lakes. With the exceptionof the CountryClub neighborhood, which is fully developed withhomes starting around one million dollars, each ofthe remaining three neighborhoodsof the censustract faces major development threats aswealthy commutersin the Atlantaregion get fedup with the longest commutein the countryand seek tomove “insidethe Perimeter.” The growingthreat of land development has prompteda number ofcommunity organizations to form to address the attendantproblems. Someare motivated by environmental andaesthetic concerns as streams arepiped, lakes Žll withsediment, and Ž sh kills arecommon. Others have economicconcerns: the majorityof the developmentis resulting inhousing starting at $600,000, which threatens, ironically, the quality oflife oflow and middle income residents who struggle to maintain propertyrapidly escalating in value andcost. As one of my conservative studentscommented during a sitevisit, “ Inever realizedbefore that rich peoplecould ruin a neighborhood.”The residentsof the LynwoodPark Communityare particularly threatened by aggressive developmenttactics, butso are numerous other landowners and neighborhoods. Indeed, the University isstudying the prospectof subsidizing housing for some junior facultymembers: 1500 square foot bungalows are currently selling forclose toa quarterof a milliondollars in the areaaround the campus.

TheLarger DemographicContext of Lynwood Park In the Žrsttable, I presentthe racialand ethnic distribution of the population.What has receivedmuch play recently isthe remarkable growthof the Atlantaregion, from 2.2 million in 1980 to over 4 million in2000. Whites continueto be the dominantracial group, but now representonly 76%of the region.There has been somegrowth in the blackpopulation, which now comprises almost one-Ž fth of the population. Therehas been profoundgrowth in the Hispanicand Asian populations overthe timeseries, but I wouldlike toemphasize that this growth has occurredon a very small base.Despite what the paperswould have you believe, the dominantracial and ethnic distribution in the Atlantaregion continuesto bedeŽned by the colorline (DuBois1996). Although the city ofAtlanta is predominantly black, the functionalcity (Savitch and Vogel 1996)is mostdecidedly white. DeKalbCounty, the governmental unitin whichLynwood Park resides, isthe only majorityblack county of the 20county metropolitan region. However,the majorityof the blackpopulation is concentrated in the south ofthe regionand county, just as it was when segregationwas legally enforcedin the South.Thus, even inthe mostracially and ethnically 226 Gaughan ² Table 1 Focusingthe demographiclens inGeorgia: Percentage Distribution of Populationby Race andEthnicity

1980 1990 2000 Georgia 5.5 M 6.5 M 8.2 M Black – 26.8 28.7 White – 70.2 65.1 Hispanic – 1.6 5.3 Asian – 1.1 2.1 Atlanta MetropolitanRegion 2.2 M 2.9 M 4 M Black 14.1 14.8 18.7 White 85.5 83.5 75.8 Hispanic 0.8 1.3 4.3 Asian 0.29 0.96 1.9 DeKalbCounty Population 483.024 545.837 665.865 Black 27 42 54 White 71 54 36 Hispanic 1.5 2.9 8 Asian 1 3 4 CensusTract 021100 ** – 6804 8165 Black – 18.9 19.9 White – 75.5 71.2 Hispanic – 2.4 5.7 Asian – 2.2 3.8 diversecounty in the region,the countyitself is split between blacks in the south,and whites and a rapidlygrowing Hispanic and Asian population in the northof the county.Note that Lynwood Park is in an areaof DeKalb Countywith very lowblack population density. Thisminority black pattern is revealed withgreater precision in the secondtable. First note that between 1990 and 2000, the populationof the censustract grew by 20 percent, showing the increasingpopulation density ofthe area.This growth is not evenly distributed,however, as the Lynwood Parkand Silver Lake neighborhoodsactually lost population. In these two neighborhoods,and in the CountryClub Neighborhood, black populations decreasedas a percentageof the neighborhoods.In the LynwoodPark neighborhood,there isa noteworthyincrease in the percentageof white residents.Whites, Hispanics,and Asians are moving in, and blacks are remaininga stablepopulation or moving out. As onerespondent remarked tothe question,– What doyou think arethe mostpressing needs or problemsfacing the peopleand community of Lynwood Park, a 72year oldexpressed thatshe is“ hopingwe don’ t get pushedout by the new Situating Lynwood Park 227 ² Table 2 Zeroingin on Diversity:Neighborhoods of One CensusTract

1990 2000 CensusTract 021100 6804 8165 Black 18.9 19.9 White 76.5 71.8 Hispanic 2.4 5.7 Asian 2.2 3.8 University Neighborhood(BG1) 1367 2087 Black 9.3 25.5 White 85.4 59.8 Hispanic 3.7 12.8 Asian 1.6 5.2 Country ClubNeighborhood (BG2) 2925 3654 Black 13 12.3 White 82.3 79.3 Hispanic 3.2 4.4 Asian 1.6 4.5 LynwoodPark Neighborhood(BG3) 1903 1835 Black 39.7 34.7 White 55.8 62.2 Hispanic 1.2 1.7 Asian 3.3 1.7 Silver LakeNeighborhood (BG4) 610 589 Black 3.8 1.4 White 93.6 97.5 Hispanic 0 1.4 Asian 2.6 0.3 homes.”A 31-year-oldwas even moredirect, writing, “ whiteswant to buythe blacksout at a no-nonsenseprice.” What isquite astonishing is thatBlock Group3, which is supposed to be homogenous with respect topopulation characteristics, reports that the Lynwoodblock group is slightly morethan one-thirdblack, and it reports the blackpopulation as636. The LynwoodPark Community newsletter isdelivered to 268 households. Avery differentpicture emerges, however,when oneevaluates the differencesbetween people living inthe censustract as a whole,and respondentsto the LynwoodPark survey, as shown in Table 3. Most obviousis that while only 20%of the residentsof the censustrack report thatthey areAfrican American, residents of Lynwood Park are almost all AfricanAmerican. Whereas 74%percent of adults in the censushave some 228 Gaughan ² Table 3 Comparisonof Selected Sociodemographic Indicators 1997 Census Esti- matesand 2001 Lynwood Park Survey

1997 2001 Tract LynwoodSurvey PercentageAfrican American 20 98 Educational Attainment –25+ Lessthan HSDiploma 9 20 High SchoolGraduate 17 37 Lessthan BADegree 24 14 CollegeDegree 32 7 Graduateor Professional 18 2 Refuse n/a 20 MeanAge of Adults 43 48 LaborForce Participation Unemployedor Not 36 40 in LaborForce FamilyStructure Never Married 37 30 Now Married 43 34 Separated 3 7 Widowed 6 14 Divorced 11 16 Yearsin Residence n/a 20 PercentageMore than5 Years 25 69 Country Club LynwoodPark 2001Osborne RoadReal Estate Percent Owning Home 100 56 MedianValue of Homes 249.860 40.840

Sources:See U.S. Census Bureau, Atlanta JournalConstitution, Georgia State Data and Research Center, DeKalbCounty Citationsand Gaughan survey.

college education,only 23%of Lynwood Park residents have attended somecollege orobtained education beyond high school. The differences areeven morestark when oneincludes completing college: half ofcensus residents,but only 9%of Lynwood Park residents have atleast acollege education.Residents ofLynwood Park are somewhat less likely tobe inthe laborforce, and older than the largercensus population. Census residentsare more likely tobe married or never married,and much less likely tohave experienceda maritalloss. Thirty-seven percentof Lynwood Situating Lynwood Park 229 ²

Parkresidents have losta spousethrough separation, divorce, or death comparedto one-Ž fth of census residents. The differencesin real estate statusare stunning: only 56%of the LynwoodPark residents of Osborne Road own their own homes, while 100%of the homesare owned by the residentsof 21 sampled homes on the otherside of Windsor Parkway, the dividingline ofthe community. The mean value ofthe LynwoodPark homes is $40,850, less thanone- sixth the average value ofthe 21homes on the same road,but across the neighborhooddividing line (average =$249,860).One quarterof the censusresidents lived inthe same countyin 1990 as they didin 1985. By contrast,almost 70% of the currentresidents of Lynwood Park have lived inthe neighborhoodfor at least Žve years.The average tenureof a LynwoodPark adult is 20years.

LynwoodPark asGovernmentaland Measurement Unit The demographicpicture begs the question,where and what is Lynwood Park?Is itvisible to the demographicand policy eye? Toanswer the Žrstquestion, the censustract boundaries – andfurthermore, the block groupboundaries – arenot the same ashow the neighborhooddeŽ nes itself.Furthermore, the estimateof the AfricanAmerican population ischaracteristically low. The implication of this from a demographic pointof view is that the populationof Lynwood Park is not likely to capturethe demographiceye. Furthermore,from a policypoint of view, the populationis not sufŽ ciently largeto constitute a politicalthreat to vested interests.The analysis quantiŽes andconŽ rms a numberof issues alreadyidentiŽ ed by the community:Lynwood Park’ s agingpopulation is threatenedby the in-migrationof other racial and ethnic groups, and there aregreat and growing economic disparities between it and its neighbors.Ultimately, the peopleof LynwoodPark must continue to make themselves visible,and to continue to articulate their interests. Although the numbersin the communitymay notbe compelling, the history,vision, andself-determination of Lynwood Park strikes at the coreof the liberal democratictradition. Perhaps a subsequentstudy can focus on rhetorical toolscommunity members can use to argue their case.

Conclusions TheŽ ndingsfrom the demographicdata reveal greatdisparities between LynwoodPark and her immediate neighbors. These differencesare starkly evident inthe Želd,and are unlikely tosurprise anyone inLynwood Park, andprobably not in surrounding Brookhaven either.However, it is hoped thatvalidating the dynamicquantitatively using standard instruments will 230 Gaughan ² allowthe LynwoodPark Community, Inc. to articulate its needs with additionalevidence atthe county,state, and federal levels. Iwouldlike tocontinue to work on the interplayof demographic and ethnographicinsights. One ofthe strengthsof demographic analysis isits emphasison precise measurement, external validity,and generalizability. Forgood or ill, this is the currencyof the policymaking process (to the extent thatit is guided by evidence atall). Aseriousdrawback of these strengths,however, is its wide scope that erases meaningfulsocial entitiessuch as Lynwood Park. Although there has been excellent research onsegregation patterns using demographic data, they areat best crude estimatesof the types ofsocial, political, and economic dynamics that springforth from segregated housing conditions. These conditionsand dynamicsare veriŽ able through qualitative work that relies onextensive Želdworkto understand what these meaningfulsocial entities are and howthey work.Furthermore, understanding the interactionsbetween socialentities – inthis case whiteand black neighborhoods – isnot likely usingdemographic analysis. Simplycontrolling for “ race”– just like controllingfor “ gender”– isan easy analyticway to avoid very importanttheoretical issues. Ultimately, itis notdemographic analysis that willexplain communitycon ict, but harnessing it into the largertheoretical enterprisehas greatpromise in improving the lives ofreal people in the realsocial world. Most important, delivering the analytictools of social scientiŽc analysis tothose who need itmost answers the call forwider participationin the “liberatoryagenda” of urban populations. Iwouldlike toclose with a fewre ections on the pedagogical experience ofthis project. The shortversion is: frustrating, challenging, andtransformational. My frustrationsstemmed from resistance on the partof some of my colleaguesas to the intellectual worthinessof the enterprise.As oneof the membersof my tenureand promotion committee stated,“ atwhat point does this anti-intellectualism stop?” – certainlya threateningstatement directedto an untenuredfaculty member. Although Iattendeda nationalconference on service learning,and read some of the literature,I felt very muchon my ownfrom a collegialpoint of view. Additionalchallenges hadto do with relinquishing exclusive controlover the project.Most important, we attemptedto address faithfully the research questionsof LynwoodPark, which were not always the onesthat were most intellectually interesting.Second, trying to incorporateundergraduates into the researchprocess in a meaningfulway meant creatingopportunities for exploringresearch design problems with them ratherthan dictatingthe proceduresthey shouldfollow. Because they initiatedthe ideasof how to proceed,I wasplaced in the positionof responding to them,which did not oftenlend itselfto a “logical”approach to teaching research methods. Situating Lynwood Park 231 ²

Finally, thisproject has been transformational,for my studentsand me.I have developeda renewedenthusiasm for my ownwork, as I see thatmy longyears oftraining and preparation may actuallybe useful toothers, and applicable to solving real socialproblems. I have also learnedabout the limitationsof my education,which did not address the meanings ofrace, but rather sought to “controlfor it.” Standing up tothe challenges ofmy Oglethorpecolleagues has alsogiven me arenewedsense ofmyself, myownvoice, and my personalvision. My studentshave been uniformlyenthusiastic about the experience. Aprivilegedwhite senior told me thatshe learnedmore during the LynwoodPark project than in any classshe tookin college. An African American student developed a fuller understandingof the dynamicsof racial and economic discrimination, and laterran successfully for student body president on a diversityplatform (the ŽrstAfrican American student body president in the school’s history). Alesbianwomen’ s rightsactivist is developing a broaderunderstanding ofoppression that includes children, the poor,and members of racial andethnic minorities. I hopethe listof transformed and transforming individualswill continue to grow as the projectcontinues in the future.

References

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