By Aria, Nicole, Amaris, Sharon, and Natalie What is the Hilltop Action Coalition (HAC)? At the time the Hilltop Action Coalition was founded in 1989,  Hilltop was the 3rd most dangerous city in the United States behind Compton and Los Angeles, due to the migration of gangs from California. Members of Hilltop were concerned with the heightened drug and crime rates of the community and were disappointed with the lack of government response the community was receiving. Now, HAC wants to inform the community of changes going on in the community that affects its citizens. For example, the light rail that will go from downtown Tacoma up through Hilltop and eventually to Tacoma Community College. The Hilltop Action Coalition is an ongoing and developing organization that tries to change and adapt based on the needs of the community. The official mission statement of the HAC is: “The Hilltop Action Coalition is the “Communications Anchor” for the Hilltop Area community. Our Volunteer network of Neighborhood Leaders, Community Block Programs, Informational Outreach, and Advocacy Work are at the heart of the community building work HAC is famous for.” How do you establish a membership?  When it first began, the Hilltop Action Coalition was self-funded by a few people in the Hilltop community, who eventually got more people from the community involved with the organization. Currently, HAC members are mainly in one of three groups: city officials, residents of Hilltop, and donors. The HAC is open to anybody and everybody, but members must be engaged in the organization’s events and attend the monthly meetings. If an individual wants to and is active enough in the organization, they can become a neighborhood leader, someone who represents and advocates for their community. What is the significance to communities of color and to the broader community?  Because of the Hilltop Action Coalition’s history, the organization is often perceived by others as a policing organization. Members of the organization worked with the police department to lower drug and crime rates in the community. As a result, many black men were arrested, giving HAC a bad reputation for the families of those incarcerated. Now HAC’s main objective is to inform people of new developments going on in their community, such as affordable housing initiatives. HAC also works with housing developers to reverse the displacement already seen in the community. HAC also aims to create a powerful example for young and older people of color in the community. By getting people of color into leadership roles, providing a safe place for community members, creating the right image of the organization with the use of representation, they hope to inspire people of all colors and ages to be proactive in their community. What are its goals and objectives? Gentrification can’t be stopped in the community, so their goal is to work and adapt to it. Getting black people in positions of power is important for the community to flourish. The idea is to have a solid footprint in their own neighborhoods. Their goal is for people of color to continue to feel comfortable in their own community while these changes are being made. The light rail being built has made it more difficult for current black-owned businesses to get the same attention as they did before. Which is why HAC is creating maps of alternative routes people can take to get to these places. While the affordable housing buildings are in the process of being built, the Hilltop Action Coalition is working with local businesses to occupy these storefronts. Their goal is to have them be black-owned businesses. What are some achievements of HAC? Why are these achievements important?  HAC is thrilled to be able to have paid staff before, HAC was run by devoted volunteers that volunteered hours of their time every week for no pay. The HAC is able to put on two annual fundraisers to benefit their organization, which allows them to expand. 35-40 attendants to each community meeting allows HAC to reach more people in the community to educate and receive input. Having more consistent people to be neighborhood leaders and hold a say in local occurrences Another achievement of the Hilltop Action Coalition is that they are now recognized by city funders and have been awarded competitive grants. This means that they are taken more seriously as a nonprofit organization as opposed to being disregarded by the community officials. This also means that the HAC is able to invest in important necessities that are needed to preserve and grow their organization, such as new technology and office equipment. The HAC publishes their very own local Newspaper that includes contributions of articles and poems from local business owners and residents of a range of ages. They pride themselves on the “Hilltop-centric” lens of the topics they present. This newspaper reaches over 5,000 people. The way it is spread throughout the community is divided between publicity online, and exchanging information with community members and spreading the physical copies. You can easily find access to all of their previous journals on their website.

Is gentrification a current concern for Hilltop?  In 2008-09, the HAC projected that access to healthcare would be Hilltop’s main concern in upcoming years, however, migration of people began to raise housing prices and change the city in ways no resident would have expected. By the time it was too late, the residents of Hilltop realized that access to healthcare would not be as significant of a problem as the gentrification the city was soon to endure. Subtle changes by the city began, and Hilltop’s name and history started to be slowly erased. Signs were put up renaming Hilltop as “Upper Tacoma” and “New Tacoma”. Magnet school Bryant Elementary became a Montessori school where parents had to apply for their children to be accepted, and the catchment zone placed limitations on the families that could enroll. Older middle and lower class residents of Hilltop have been taken advantage of because of their age and financial stability. People research homes and their inhabitants in the community and entice older residents to sell their homes to them for a moderate price so they can renovate the homes and place it on the market for more. The average home in 2015 was $200,000, now the average cost is $350,000 with homes selling for half a million. Another issue that comes from gentrification is the decline in Black-owned businesses. At one time, Hilltop was home to many prominent Black-owned businesses, but today that number is down to three; Mr. Mac’s Men’s Clothing Store, Scott’s Funeral Home, and Fish House Cafe.

Connections:  The Hilltop Action Coalition has been working with the residents of Hilltop to protect the community from ongoing issues such as gentrification and the rising cost of living. The foreboding changes that are being anticipated with the construction of the light-rail are a concern to the current residents as they are aware of the impact of influxes of people and how that impacts their local economy and urban areas. The concept that we chose to work on is gentrification, we decided to focus on gentrification because the Hilltop Action Coalition does a lot of work to help the Hilltop community that is affected by gentrification and the rising cost of living. While the HAC focuses on other issues such as educating the community and community clean-ups, a significant amount of their energy is spent on helping the Hilltop community deal with gentrification. Although gentrification cannot be completely stopped, they try to make sure that the members of the Hilltop community can survive gentrification without being completely pushed out of their homes. The work of the Hilltop Action Coalition will matter as long as gentrification is happening in Hilltop.