I interviewed Jorge Caraballo Cordovez and his partner, Felisa, as part of the East Boston group.

Jorge came to speak to our class about his work with East Boston, Nuestra Casa. He explained that when he first moved to Boston as an international student from Colombia studying journalism at Northeastern, he became especially interested in learning more about East Boston. He heard from many people that the area was populated by many Latinx people and would remind him of home, which it did. After doing journalism work in the community, he began to hear about issues of gentrification and displacement from the people who lived in the area. Many of the people affected, some of whom only spoke Spanish, were unaware of their rights as tenants. This led to the creation of his postcard project, which we in the Co-Design Studio were fortunate enough to hear about and see the postcards firsthand.

Since we had already heard about East Boston, Nuestra Casa I decided to focus on Jorge and Felisa’s personal experiences and observations regarding gentrification and displacement in East Boston. It was interesting for me to hear from them as they are both immigrants and students living in East Boston; the two are often shown at odds with each other when it comes to displacement. Perhaps the most important thing I heard from them was that while displacement and gentrification is a serious issue that disproportionately hurts Latinx people and immigrants, it is not the fault of the people who then move in and take their place as tenants. We all need a place to live and it is the responsibility of the government to ensure that there is enough affordable housing for all.

Listen to the full interview here.

Photo by Adam Glanzman.