Youth Research Projects on Eviction in the City of Richmond! 

Starting in the Fall of 2019, The RVA Eviction Lab and VCU Social Work Professor Alex Wagman received a grant from VCU to build partnerships with 3 youth-centered organizations: Advocates for Richmond Youth, 6 Points Innovation Center/Storefront for Community Design, and RVA Thrives/Virginia Community Voice. The partnership, named Youth Empowerment for Eviction Research (YEER) spent the past year with a cohort of five young people from each organization learning about the roots of eviction and housing instability, developing research questions and learning about research methods.

This fall, the young people are ready to launch their research projects and are actively recruiting for research participants. See their project descriptions below for information about how to engage with their projects!

Advocates for Richmond Youth: We are working to capture the unique experiences and learn the impacts of evictions on the LGBTQIA+, Black and Brown community in GREATER Richmond. We will be interviewing young people ages 18 to 30 who live in the Greater Richmond area, identifying as LGBTQIA+ and black/brown. We want to build trust with other young people while also sharing our experiences. We hope to use the data to map out the movements of the participants throughout their eviction process and afterwards.We also hope to use the data to raise awareness of the experiences of LGBTQI+ black and brown people who experience evictions. We hope that the findings from the research will help individuals be the change they want to see, create more resources (ex. Second chance housing opportunities, forgiveness, etc), and reduce barriers to help people get back into safe; affordable; and stable housing. (Link to their eligibility survey is here )

6 Points Innovation Center (City Builders Program) We believe eviction causes mental health challenges such as anxiety and depression that may lead to committing gun violence. We think that trauma, such as domestic violence in the home and even trauma triggers, like loud noises can lead people to be jumpy and afraid causing them to use a gun as self-defense. We believe there is both intentional and unintentional violence, brought on by trauma. We’ve all had personal experience with trauma, eviction or housing displacement, so this is very important to us.

With the surveys we hope to give people a sense of comfort and relatability. We’re currently learning about the impact eviction has on people and the resources available to assist them. With this knowledge, we will be able to help others in the future who experience trauma, eviction or housing displacement. Link to their survey here

RVA Thrives/Virginia Community Voice: The RVA Thrives Youth research team focused their study on the impact the eviction process has on individuals mental health on the Southside of Richmond. The team will host two focus groups for those impacted by eviction. (Eligibility survey here)