This project is a collaboration with People Acting in Community Together (PACT) San José and the Stanford University Urban Studies course on Gentrification. We interviewed Stanford residential and dining staff workers to understand the housing crisis of Silicon Valley through the eyes of those that service the elite and experience the worst effects of gentrification. Ultimately, this work will become part of PACT's broader project, "Renters of Silicon Valley."
Sourcing Interviewees
We worked with both personal contacts and Stanford-based organizations (including SCoPE 2035, Stanford Coalition for Workers’ Rights, Habla, and SEIU 2007) to find volunteers to be interviewed.
Interview Topics
We discussed a variety of different issues with the workers we talked with, but the following list includes the basic questions we covered:
1. How long have you lived and worked in Silicon Valley, and what keeps you here?
2. What has your experience been renting and searching for housing?
3. Have you noticed changes in the local community?
4. What changes do you hope to see from Stanford and local governments?
Additional Information
Before each interview, we went over the scope of our project and purpose of their participation. We obtained informed consent to each interviewee's participation, audio recording, and/or photo depending on their level of comfort. All participants had the option to maintain anonymity and decline any questions they preferred not to answer.