Understanding the Economic Impacts of COVID-19 on Communities of Color, Rural Communities, and Small Agricultural Producers in the Puget Sound Region
Project Description
This project will help understand specific local and sectoral economic impacts of COVID-19 on three distinct communities: 1) small cities in rural areas, 2) communities of color threatened by gentrification and displacement, and 3) agricultural producers in the Puget Sound region. While there are overlaps across the three with regard to people, business, and economic context, here we mostly focus on the specific needs of each as representative communities. For economic recovery purposes it is crucial to answer our research question: what have been the challenges, opportunities, and successful strategies each has faced or employed during the pandemic, and what does this imply for recovery?
This will allow the design of appropriate governmental and private sector responses in different communities. Our goal is twofold: develop new knowledge for potential policy and program response, and explore partnership with the Washington State Department of Commerce and King County to assist in developing local community planning and economic development strategies.
The project will interview 10 to 15 stakeholders from each of the communities. We have unique access to these communities, King County, and the Department of Commerce through relationships with UW’s Livable City Year and the community-based projects of our departments, and long-standing work in governmental and private sector regional food and agricultural development.
We will code the interview responses looking for significant themes, and summarize our findings in a project report, including possible public and private recovery responses. We will share the findings with state agency, city, and county representatives, and professional organizations statewide.
This research project is made possible through a COVID-19 economic recovery research grant awarded by the UW Population Health Initiative. Research is being conducted July – November, 2020.
Research Team
Principal Investigators
Branden Born, Associate Professor, Department of Urban Design and Planning
Jennifer Otten, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences
Project Assistants
Nola Liu, Masters in Public Health / Masters in Urban Planning candidate
Skye D’Aquila, Masters in Urban Planning candidate
Admin Support
Teri Thomson Randall, Center for Livable Communities
Contact
Branden Born, Center for Livable Communities, bborn@uw.edu
