Chicago Sun-Times - All2022-04-08T17:00:00-05:00https://chicago.suntimes.com/rss/stream/227860542022-04-08T17:00:00-05:002022-04-12T12:57:11-05:00More Chicago residents identified as Native American in 2020 census
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<img class="Image" alt="Dorene Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, outside Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville that’s home to the association’s offices." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/50107b0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5115x2871+0+0/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FcLjmSIblLwtPOzNtAteZWLF58rk%3D%2F0x0%3A5115x3410%2F5115x3410%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282477x645%3A2478x646%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23357618%2Fmerlin_104800002.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/859387a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5115x2871+0+0/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FcLjmSIblLwtPOzNtAteZWLF58rk%3D%2F0x0%3A5115x3410%2F5115x3410%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282477x645%3A2478x646%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23357618%2Fmerlin_104800002.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Dorene Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, outside Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville that’s home to the association’s offices.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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<div class="LargeTextEnhancement">When Dorene Wiese read a report that listed Brighton Park as one of the Chicago neighborhoods with the most Native Americans, she knew it couldn’t be right.</div><p></p><p>It’s one of the reasons why Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a longtime Chicago resident, questions census and other data related to Native American communities.</p><p>She says that in Chicago, members of these communities are most concentrated in Irving Park, Portage Park and West Ridge.</p><p>Wiese said she thinks the U.S. Census’ count of Native Americans is inaccurate and is conducting her own research on the Native American population and community needs in Illinois.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p></p><p>“This is, I believe, another way in which the federal government is trying to erase American Indian people from history, from data,” Wiese said. “They don’t want to be able to serve American Indians any longer to give us what they promised us.”</p><p>In the past 10 years, the Native American community in Chicago has grown to more than 34,000 residents — an increase of more than 21,000 people, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of 2020 Census data.</p><p>The 34,543 includes people who marked American Indian as their racial category on the census while also selecting Hispanic/Latino as their ethnicity.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Dorene Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, takes pictures of kids who are learning filmmaking in a program at AIAI at the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/f21861c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4805x2697+0+254/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FjoeHsunQ57qjP_vpJJJoqossvlY%3D%2F0x0%3A4805x3203%2F4805x3203%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282403x1602%3A2404x1603%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23369479%2Fmerlin_104799972.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/399de90/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4805x2697+0+254/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FjoeHsunQ57qjP_vpJJJoqossvlY%3D%2F0x0%3A4805x3203%2F4805x3203%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282403x1602%3A2404x1603%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23369479%2Fmerlin_104799972.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Dorene Wiese, president of the American Indian Association of Illinois and a member of the White Earth Band of Ojibwe, takes pictures of kids who are learning filmmaking in a program at AIAI at the Ebenezer Lutheran Church in Andersonville.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>The community areas in Chicago with the highest number of Native American residents included Belmont Cragin, South Lawndale, Gage Park, Brighton Park and West Lawn. These communities also have large Latino populations.</p><p>Belmont Cragin, located on the city’s Northwest Side, saw the biggest increase of more than 1,800 residents who identify as Native American and Alaska Native. In total, about 2,690 residents in this neighborhood identified as Native American in the 2020 Census.</p><p>The community was once mostly concentrated in and around Uptown. But that has changed as gentrification saw many in that area move away, said Clovia Malatare, a longtime Chicago area resident who is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p>In 2020, about 340 people in Uptown identified as Native American, a slight increase from 286 in 2010, according to the Sun-Times analysis of the census.</p><p>Nationally, the Census Bureau has acknowledged it undercounted Native Americans. Its “Post-Enumeration Survey” found that American Indians and Native Alaskans living on reservations were undercounted by 5.6%.</p><p>Wiese said she worries an inaccurate count of the Native American population could skew statistics on housing, education and poverty that could make it harder to get funding and other resources for the community.</p><p>She wants the Census Bureau to require people to list their tribal affiliation or descendancy to get a better understanding of how many Native Americans there are in different areas.</p><p>Wiese said the surveys she has conducted have found the majority of the people in Chicago are linked to the Ojibwe, Lakota, Choctaw and Navajo Nations — from the Midwest, the Great Plains and the Southwest.</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
<div class="RelatedList-title">Related</div>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/4/8/23003435/american-indian-native-american-census-chicago-tribal-nations-melodi-serna-albany-park-field-museum" target="_blank" >As Chicago’s Native American population grows, more efforts are underway to build community</a>
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<p>The Census Bureau defines the racial category of American Indian or Alaska Native as someone “having origins in any of the original peoples of North and South America (including Central America), and who maintains tribal affiliation or community attachment.” The terminology American Indian dates back to the language that was used in treaties that were created in the 1770s between the U.S. government and sovereign tribal nations.</p><p>It’s one of five racial categories used by the Census Bureau. The federal agency has a separate question about Hispanic or Latino origin in addition to the race question.</p><p>Across the country, the census found increases in the number of Hispanic/Latino Native Americans, said Carolyn Liebler, an associate professor of sociology at the University of Minnesota. That could have been because of changes the bureau made in how it codes answers or because people changed how they identified.</p><p>“I think what’s happening is that people who were already there, who are already Latino, just changed how they respond to the question and decided to call themselves Indigenous instead of white,” Liebler said.</p><p>Since the 1960s, the number of people identifying racially as Native American has grown, and often people are changing how they identify their race on the different decennial counts, Liebler said. She’s done research on who identifies as Native American and has found there is a group that sometimes identify as Native American but other times choose another racial selection in that self-reporting.</p><p>“There’s just a group of people who feel like, ‘I’m both this and that,’” Liebler said.</p><p>She said some multiracial people she has interviewed have said how they were seen — either as white or Black — influenced what they selected in answering questions about their race.</p><p>Also, people sometimes become more comfortable with their identity after decades of assimilation programs that have ranged from boarding schools for Native American children to relocation programs that encourage people to move to cities, Liebler said.</p><p>Pamela Silas, associate director for community outreach and engagement for Northwestern University’s Center for Native American Indigenous Research, said people could become more emboldened over time about claiming their identity, in particular people from Indigenous backgrounds from Central America and South America.</p><p>Still, Silas said the Native American community overall doesn’t fully get measured because of the way the term Native American is racialized around ancestry, even though affiliation is more important in nations. She also points out what many nations called themselves now translates simply to people or humans.</p><p>Native American identity can be complicated, even controversial, with some using “blood quantum” — how much “Indian blood” a person has — as the determining factor, Silas said.</p><p>“But if they’re raised in that same community, with the language, with the teachings, with the community, it was never about blood quantum,” she said. “It was about your affiliation in this nation and whether or not that nation accepted you as a citizen.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p><i><b>Contributing</b>: Jesse Howe, Andy Boyle </i></p><p><i>Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust. </i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/4/8/23003251/census-american-indian-native-dorene-wiese-chicago-irving-park-portage-west-ridgeElvia Malagón2022-04-08T14:30:00-05:002022-04-12T12:57:39-05:00Native American population in Chicago grows, stronger community, more truthful history sought throughout city
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<img class="Image" alt="Melodi Serna (right), executive director of the American Indian Center, who is from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Oneida Nation, hugs Nizhoni Ward, who is from the Navajo and Choctaw Nations and recently was crowned Miss Indian Chicago during a round dance gathering at the center in Albany Park." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/ec8c2f8/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4421x2481+0+0/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FPpKq0NsDs8l_1H_l4dk33ZAX55c%3D%2F0x0%3A4421x2947%2F4421x2947%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282306x1178%3A2307x1179%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23360966%2Fmerlin_104457883.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/2fb44b4/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4421x2481+0+0/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FPpKq0NsDs8l_1H_l4dk33ZAX55c%3D%2F0x0%3A4421x2947%2F4421x2947%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282306x1178%3A2307x1179%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23360966%2Fmerlin_104457883.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Melodi Serna (right), executive director of the American Indian Center, who is from the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Oneida Nation, hugs Nizhoni Ward, who is from the Navajo and Choctaw Nations and recently was crowned Miss Indian Chicago during a round dance gathering at the center in Albany Park.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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<div class="LargeTextEnhancement">A generation ago, Nizhoni Ward’s paternal family had lost ties with their tribal nation.</div><p></p><p>But Ward, 17, of Homewood, has embraced her ties to the Navajo and Choctaw Nations.</p><p>On a recent Saturday, she wore a colorful ribbon skirt and a sash identifying her as Miss Indian Chicago as she sang in a crowded gymnasium inside Chicago’s American Indian Center.</p><p>She uses her title to attend cultural events in hopes of changing popular portrayals of Native Americans.</p><p>“We’re just regular people who are trying to connect back to our land, connect back to our ancestors and make our ancestors proud and make a change for the future that being Native American is something that is very important and very sacred,” Ward said.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p>Over the past 10 years, more Chicagoans are identifying as Native American — up from 13,337 in 2010 to 34,543 in 2020, according to a Chicago Sun-Times analysis of census data.</p><p>But community members and experts say collecting accurate data is complicated.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p>While the community is small compared with other racial and ethnic groups in Chicago, its roots date to the city’s origins. </p><p>After decades of national assimilation programs — ranging from boarding schools to encouraging Native Americans to move to cities like Chicago — Ward and others are pushing for a more truthful history of their community and embracing its traditions.</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/4/8/23003251/census-american-indian-native-dorene-wiese-chicago-irving-park-portage-west-ridge" target="_blank" >More Chicago residents in 2020 census identify as Native American</a>
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<p>Clovia Malatare, a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, has lived in the Chicago area for decades. She attended the same event as Ward with her son and granddaughter. After sharing a meal, Malatare joined in a circle to dance. </p><p>“I do try to participate and bring my grandchildren as well so that they can be involved,” Malatare said of events that aim to bring the Native American community in Chicago together. “I want them to recognize that this is part of their community, and they need to be involved.” </p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Clovia Malatare, 71, of Harwood Heights, who is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, joins a round dance at the American Indian Center in Albany Park." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/34f087b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5040x2829+0+266/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FLOaXflIwxHivhnF7k_0EdCnH4qo%3D%2F0x0%3A5040x3360%2F5040x3360%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282520x1680%3A2521x1681%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23360809%2Fmerlin_104800050.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/36da076/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5040x2829+0+266/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FLOaXflIwxHivhnF7k_0EdCnH4qo%3D%2F0x0%3A5040x3360%2F5040x3360%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282520x1680%3A2521x1681%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23360809%2Fmerlin_104800050.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Clovia Malatare, 71, of Harwood Heights, who is a member of the Oglala Lakota Nation, joins a round dance at the American Indian Center in Albany Park.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Past generations often hid their identity out of fear of various assimilation policies, said Pamela Silas, associate director for outreach and engagement at the Center for Native American Indigenous Research at Northwestern University. Now, some are reconnecting to those communities and learning the languages and history. </p><p>During the coronavirus pandemic, Silas joined a virtual language class with about 80 others learning Menominee. </p><p>“We want people to reclaim their identity that has been systematically stripped from them through the assimilation policies of this country,” Silas said. </p><p>Anthony Tamez’s grandfather is a member of the First Nations in Canada, but, as a child, he was forcibly taken from his community and adopted by a family in Illinois. Tamez said his grandfather’s adoption was part of what is now known as the “Sixties Scoop,” during which Indigenous children were taken for adoption by predominantly non-Indigenous families, according to the Canadian Encyclopedia. </p><p>In Chicago, Tamez, who is part of the Cree and Lakota Nations, is active in the Chi-Nations Youth Council, a group that has pushed for policies to better reflect their community’s history, including working to get city officials to change Columbus Day to Indigenous Nations Day. </p><p>The group also helped draft a resolution the Chicago City Council adopted that acknowledged that the city sits on the ancestral homeland of tribal nations including the Ojibwe, Odawa and the Potawatomi. </p><p>“I would say it’s far from what an apology could be or will be, but at least we’re starting with acknowledging things that have happened against Native people, rather than outright ignoring them,” Tamez said. </p><p>In recent years, the group also created the First Nations Garden in Albany Park, growing herbs and plants used in traditional medicines and foods, Tamez said. </p><p>Norma Robertson, a member of the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Nation, said her family moved to the city during the 1950s under the Indian Relocation Act, a federal effort that encouraged Native Americans to move to cities. Even after that experience and attending boarding schools, she said she and her family maintained their language, songs and culture. </p><p>Robertson said she sees a shift in society, making it easier for Native Americans to embrace their traditions and practice openly rather than feeling pressure to fit into mainstream culture. </p><p>“We knew all along what was acceptable to us,” she said. “We are trying to take back who we were, and we don’t have to look like the dominant culture all the time.” </p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Norma Robertson, who’s lived in Chicago for over 30 years and is from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Nation of South Dakota, is reflected on glass that is beside jewelry she created during a recent round dance event at the American Indian Center in Albany Park." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/bf7e8fc/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4799x2693+0+253/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fg_fPSVKQF0pg4jfE_WyElB6Iapg%3D%2F0x0%3A4799x3199%2F4799x3199%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282400x1600%3A2401x1601%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23360636%2Fmerlin_104457765.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c497f2d/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4799x2693+0+253/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fg_fPSVKQF0pg4jfE_WyElB6Iapg%3D%2F0x0%3A4799x3199%2F4799x3199%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282400x1600%3A2401x1601%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23360636%2Fmerlin_104457765.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Norma Robertson, who’s lived in Chicago for over 30 years and is from the Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate Nation of South Dakota, is reflected on glass that is beside jewelry she created during a recent round dance event at the American Indian Center in Albany Park.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Robertson’s family and others came to Chicago in search of better housing and jobs, but many didn’t find those, said Shelly Tucciarelli, executive director of Visionary Ventures NFP Corporation, which works for economic development and affordable housing in Native American communities. </p><p>The decades that followed included a wave of activism, as Native Americans sought affordable housing.</p><p>“And so now we’re on the fourth and fifth generation of Native American families here in the city, and still we had no affordable housing,” Tucciarelli said. </p><p>In December, a planned 45-unit affordable housing development was chosen by city officials as one of the projects that will get funding from low-income housing tax credits. It will be built in Albany Park and will serve the Native American community, though residents won’t need to be an enrolled tribal member, Tucciarelli said. </p><p>The apartments will range from studios to three-bedrooms to allow for multiple generations to live together. The development also will include office space Tucciarelli hopes will be occupied by a Native American organization and a rooftop garden as a place to gather. </p><p>In May, the Field Museum’s renovated Native North American Hall will feature stories about activism among the Native American community in Chicago as part of a “Native Truths: Our Voices, Our Stories,” exhibition. The Field Museum has been working with a community advisory board on that and also to go through its existing collection and update information as needed, said Eli Suzukovich III, a research scientist at the museum. </p><p>The organizers also wanted the new exhibition to dig into the history of Native Americans who were also African American. One photo will show an Englewood resident who was Native American and Black and who was part of the Great Migration to Chicago. </p><p>“The documentation, as you imagine — the census in the ’50s and ’60s — those folks would not have been counted as Native necessarily because of anti-Black racism both in the South and here,” said Ryan Schuessler, an exhibition developer at the Field Museum. “Perhaps have never been counted as such. And so we tried to represent those more hidden stories here as well.” </p><p><i><b>Contributing:</b> Jesse Howe, Andy Boyle </i></p><p><i>Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust. </i></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2022/4/8/23003435/american-indian-native-american-census-chicago-tribal-nations-melodi-serna-albany-park-field-museumElvia Malagón2021-12-30T13:01:53.022-06:002022-04-12T12:56:50-05:00Chicago’s Latino population spreads out, Census Bureau finds
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>The Trump administration attempted to politicize the census, including by threatening to ask a citizenship question, an effort that did not materialize. And outreach efforts were undermined by an unprecedented pandemic that disproportionately hit Latinos.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Tyler LaRiviere</p></div></div>
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<p><a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/la-voz/2021/12/30/22856490/la-poblacion-latina-de-chicago-se-expande-en-2020-espanol-la-voz" target="_blank" >Leer en español</a></p><p>Chicago’s Latino population saw more growth, according to the 2020 Census, than the previous decade, while the racial ethnic group is also increasing in the collar counties. </p><p>Currently, Latinos are the second largest racial ethnic group in the city of Chicago, in Cook County, and in the State of Illinois.</p><p>In Chicago, Latinos grew by 40,656 people since 2010. Some predominantly-Latino neighborhoods that continued to grow are Chicago Lawn, which gained 7,808 Latinos or 31 percent; Back of the Yards, which grew by 4,062 Latinos or almost 16 percent; and West Lawn, which gained 2,709 Latinos or 10 percent, all in the Southwest Side.</p><p>But a handful of traditionally-Latino neighborhoods across the city, some of which are going through gentrification, also showed a declining Latino population. Among them, McKinley Park lost 6,704 Latinos (or 42 percent) since 2010, Logan Square lost 11,244 Latinos (30 percent), Avondale lost 6,3270 Latinos (25 percent), Pilsen lost 5,512 Latinos (about 19 percent), South Chicago lost 1,033 Latinos (15 percent), and Albany Park lost 2,799 Latinos (close to 11 percent).</p><p>Some of the largest gains of Latino residents in Chicago actually happened in traditionally Black neighborhoods that are experiencing a pattern of outmigration. On the West Side, Austin’s population grew by 9,868 Latinos (a 113 percent increase) since 2010, and North Lawndale gained 1,903 Latinos (a growth of about 89 percent). </p><p>On the South Side, West Englewood gained 5,058 Latinos (a 653 percent increase) since 2010, and Englewood gained 1,280 Latinos (about 394 percent). A <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/26/22685155/west-englewood-population-decline-2020-census-housing-stock" target="_blank" >Sun-Times analysis</a> in September found Englewood’s overall population fell by more than 20 percent, from 30,654 to 24,369 residents, and West Englewood’s population fell 16 percent, from 35,505 to 29,647 residents.</p><p>Latinos’ growth also happened in neighborhoods that have lost white residents. In the Northwest Side, Dunning gained 5,043 Latinos (50 percent) since 2010, and in the Southwest Side, Garfield Ridge gained 5,573 Latinos (41 percent), while Clearing gained 3,987 Latinos (38 percent).</p><p>A few historically Latino communities remained relatively steady over the last decade, such as Belmont Cragin, Little Village, Humboldt Park, and East Side.</p><p>“In the nation and in Illinois, we know that there was probably a significant Latino undercount,” said Sylvia Puente, president and CEO of the Latino Policy Forum, which held its own get-out-the-count campaign in the region. “We don’t know how much it is, but we know that it’s probably higher than in past years.” </p><p>The Trump administration attempted to politicize the census, including by threatening to ask a citizenship question, an effort that did not materialize. And outreach efforts were undermined by an unprecedented pandemic that disproportionately hit Latinos.</p><p>Latinos are 18% of the state population with 2,337,410 inhabitants. Illinois ranks fifth in Latino population nationwide, behind a few Southwestern states and Florida.</p><p>“In Illinois, while Latinos are 18.2% of the state population — a remarkable parallel to the national share of the Latino population — Latino youth are 25% of Illinois’ children and youth, also a parallel . . . Illinois’ population really mirrors the national demographics of the nation,” said Arturo Vargas, CEO of NALEO Educational Fund during a virtual panel by the Latino Policy Forum.</p><p>U.S.-born Latinos are causing the majority of the growth, as migration from Mexico and other countries has slowed down due to various factors, including a lack of jobs, the rising cost of living, and increased immigration enforcement.</p><p>Cook County has 138,106 more Latinos compared to the last decade. Growing trends are also seen in Lake and Will counties.</p><p>“This has implications for a myriad of issues, including redistricting. Not only do we have the issue of state legislatures and commissions drawing congressional and other lines to the detriment of Latinos . . .You add to that the fact that the data itself may be flawed because it does not fully account for all Latinos. That just makes it even more difficult to translate our numbers into true political representation,” Vargas said.</p><p>Puente highlighted the need for local and state legislatures to invest in small business development, mental health counseling, digital learning for youth and more cash assistance for families who are in crisis as a result of the pandemic.<br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/la-voz/2021/12/30/22860685/chicagos-latino-population-spreads-out-census-showsJackie Serrato2021-11-28T10:28:15.766-06:002022-04-12T12:56:37-05:00Chicago census shows Black population exodus. What can be done in Englewood, Austin?
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<img class="Image" alt="Chicago’s Black population has fallen for a generation — can anything be done to bring people back to Black neighborhoods like Englewood?" srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/51353df/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5797x3253+0+306/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FkQgAcFIPI3wgT11Rd6JqIeGusCw%3D%2F0x0%3A5797x3865%2F5797x3865%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282899x1933%3A2900x1934%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F22980227%2FENGLEWOODMURAL_110321_15.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1611a7b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5797x3253+0+306/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FkQgAcFIPI3wgT11Rd6JqIeGusCw%3D%2F0x0%3A5797x3865%2F5797x3865%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282899x1933%3A2900x1934%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F22980227%2FENGLEWOODMURAL_110321_15.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Chicago’s Black population has fallen for a generation — can anything be done to bring people back to Black neighborhoods like Englewood?</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Anthony Simpkins remembers when the Greater Englewood neighborhood was a thriving Black community with more than 100,000 residents and a commercial strip that rivaled downtown’s shopping district.</p><p>“It was one of the most active commercial strips in the city of Chicago, and then — over decades — that all deteriorated,” said Simpkins, president and CEO of Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago.</p><p>“The mall was demolished, and there were literally hundreds and hundreds of properties — both homes and apartment buildings — that were torn down, and all that remains are the swaths of vacant land.”</p><p>In the past 10 years, the exodus of Black families has continued in Chicago, which was once a prime destination for Black Americans fleeing the violence and racism of the Jim Crow South. West Englewood and Austin have lost the most Black residents in the past 10 years, according to the 2020 census.</p><p>The Chicago Sun-Times <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/11/26/22798127/chicago-census-black-population-austin-west-englewood" target="_blank" >shared the stories of Black Chicagoans who had left the city and how their lives improved</a> — but is there a way to stop this 30-year decline in population?</p><p>Community leaders say in order to bring Black residents back, the city must devote more resources to closing gaps in homeownership, wages and life expectancy between Black and white Chicagoans, though admittedly it will be no easy feat.</p><p>Simpkins said there has been “significant investment” happening in Greater Englewood in the past six years, and he hopes people will notice the positive change happening already. </p><p>That includes the <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/6/30/18325537/first-store-opens-at-englewood-square-soon-home-to-whole-foods" target="_blank" >opening of Englewood Square</a> retail center at 63rd and Halsted streets — home to a Whole Foods Market, a health clinic and clothing stores. The city also has helped create affordable housing, with the new Montclare Senior Residence of Englewood, 6332 S. Green St., and Hope Manor Village Veterans Housing, 6002 S. Halsted St. And in May, the city <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/5/18/22442642/englewood-affordable-housing-halsted-63rd-chicago-advances-plan" target="_blank" >advanced a $20.9 million plan from developer Keith B. Key Enterprise</a> to bring more affordable housing along Halsted Street.</p><div class="VideoEnhancement Enhancement" data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="video-af0000" name="video-af0000"></a>
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<p>Simpkins said those investments should be celebrated, but homeownership is truly the way to bring residents back to Greater Englewood, which includes both the Englewood and West Englewood community areas — and Chicago at large.</p><p>“Homeownership is critically important when you are talking about a neighborhood like Englewood because homeownership not only removes blight and improves the neighborhood sort of physically, it also is an opportunity for families to create generational wealth since that is the main driver in America for families to do so,” he said.</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/11/26/22798127/chicago-census-black-population-austin-west-englewood" target="_blank" >Austin, West Englewood lost the most Black residents in 10 years, the census shows. Why did they leave and where did they go? </a>
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<p>Boosting homeownership also drives up the neighborhood’s density — key to a thriving community, because homeownership increases foot traffic along the neighborhood’s commercial strip. There can’t be one without the other, Simpkins added.</p><p>Research from the Institute for Housing Studies shows predominantly Black census tracts in Chicago saw a loss of homeowner households from 2010 to 2019. The number of owner-occupied households in Black neighborhoods dropped 13.6%, compared to a 2.8% decrease for the entire city.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p>Despite the decrease in residents, Bradly Johnson said he has never felt more hopeful about Austin’s future, particularly because of collaborations between various community organizations.</p><p>Johnson, director of external affairs for BUILD Inc., said Black residents have been leaving not just Austin but the entire city for opportunities elsewhere, while others want to get away from violence. Still, he points to a 70-page quality-of-life plan for Austin that he and other community organizations worked on as an example of how the West Side community can move forward.</p><p>The plan lays out ideas ranging from a manufacturing training center to helping residents get better-paying jobs to training parents to become involved in local school councils.</p><p>“If we could create the opportunity to do something creative to increase homeownership and access to homeownership, to new business development and incubation, education and also help Black residents get a foothold in the trades, which are pretty much homogenous because of the unions and historically how they are set up,” Johnson said. “If we could address those things, I think that you’ll see a turnaround in the Black population.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Yolanda Anderson and her family left Austin after their iconic pink-and-white Victorian home was sold earlier this year. Anderson said her family left their beloved house after they were unable to secure funds to do the extensive renovations needed at the property in the Austin community. It’s one reason why Black residents have left some Chicago neighborhoods." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/49c677e/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4328x2429+0+229/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FGbOwGXgzfDq1TCDc77S4If0fG2g%3D%2F0x0%3A4328x2885%2F4328x2885%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282164x1443%3A2165x1444%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23041395%2Fmerlin_102147138.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/21cfaea/2147483647/strip/true/crop/4328x2429+0+229/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FGbOwGXgzfDq1TCDc77S4If0fG2g%3D%2F0x0%3A4328x2885%2F4328x2885%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282164x1443%3A2165x1444%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23041395%2Fmerlin_102147138.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Yolanda Anderson and her family left Austin after their iconic pink and white Victorian home was sold earlier this year. Anderson said her family left their beloved house after they were unable to secure funds to do the extensive renovations needed at the Austin property. It’s one reason why Black residents have left some Chicago neighborhoods.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Sharif Walker thinks collaboration between organizations is how communities like Austin begin to see quality of life improve for Black residents.</p><p>Walker, president and CEO of Bethel New Life, said his nonprofit organization, which provides affordable housing for seniors, worked with other organizations to create a community garden that produced fresh vegetables. Walker said they also teamed up to do cooking demonstrations for the seniors in their buildings.</p><p>It’s one step toward reducing the life expectancy gap between Black and white residents in Chicago, Walker said.</p><p>Black residents in Chicago on average live 71.4 years, compared with 80.6 years for non-Black city residents, according to a <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/6/15/22535760/black-life-expectancy-gap-state-health-blacks-chicago" target="_blank" >report released earlier this year</a> by the Chicago Department of Public Health.</p><p>Nicole Acree, 29, grew up in Austin but moved to Atlanta to start her professional career. She has deep ties to Chicago’s West Side and would like to return there one day to bring the arts and music programming she thinks is necessary to help younger generations thrive.</p><p>“I want people to realize that what we have could truly be magical if we all come together as one city, not just multiple sides; but if we come together as one city, we could really change some things,” she said.</p><p><i>Jesse Howe and Andy Boyle contributed to the data analysis for this report.</i></p><p><i>Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust. </i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/11/28/22801083/chicago-census-black-population-englewood-austinElvia MalagónManny Ramos2021-11-26T16:54:44.704-06:002022-04-12T12:56:11-05:00Chicago census: Black population decreases the most in Austin, West Englewood Why did they leave and where did they go?
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<img class="Image" alt="The Anderson family — Sara Alicia, Wilhelmina Elizabeth, Yolanda and Jonathan Pierre — sit in their living room in Oak Park. They used to live in the Austin community, but the family decided to move out when they could not keep up with the financial costs of maintaining their pink-and-white Victorian house." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/3553cac/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5262x2953+0+277/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FNkbmrPmt64kJ3_EdTcuislyNkww%3D%2F0x0%3A5262x3508%2F5262x3508%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282631x1754%3A2632x1755%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23036783%2FCENSUSLOSINGRESIDENTS_11XX21_3.JPG 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6286e65/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5262x2953+0+277/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FNkbmrPmt64kJ3_EdTcuislyNkww%3D%2F0x0%3A5262x3508%2F5262x3508%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282631x1754%3A2632x1755%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23036783%2FCENSUSLOSINGRESIDENTS_11XX21_3.JPG 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>The Anderson family — Sara Alicia, Wilhelmina Elizabeth, Yolanda and Jonathan Pierre — sit in their living room in Oak Park. They used to live in the Austin community, but the family decided to move out when they could not keep up with the financial costs of maintaining their pink-and-white Victorian house.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Yolanda Anderson had owned a property gem in Austin for decades before she had no other choice but to put it up for sale.</p><p>She didn’t want to do it, but when she was unsuccessful in securing funding to do extensive renovations on the pink-and-white Victorian — a marvel among passersby — she had no other choice. When the house sold in March, she moved her family to Oak Park, where they rent a condominium.</p><p>“We really put our all into it,” Anderson said. “We reached out to the mayor, to our alderman, and there’s just no help for situations such as ours.”</p><p>Many Black Chicagoans have made the decision to move out of the city after finding it difficult to justify living in neighborhoods that have been stripped of amenities and resources for its residents. The city lost 85,000 Black residents between 2010 and 2020, according to census data.</p><div class="VideoEnhancement Enhancement" data-align-center><a class="AnchorLink" id="video-9e0000" name="video-9e0000"></a>
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<p>Chicago has been losing Black residents for decades. In the 1970s, there were more than 1 million Black residents in Chicago. But census figures show that by 1990, the number of Black residents was decreasing, according to an analysis from demographer <a class="Link" href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I-OwF1KJkYKhn9W68UFqcaLKIg7KWMJ1WvA20o2x2M0/edit#gid=379790456" target="_blank" >Rob Paral</a>. </p><p>Today about <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/8/12/22622062/chicago-census-2020-illinois-population-growth-decline-redistricting-racial-composition" target="_blank" >787,000 Black residents live in Chicago</a>, according to the census. </p><p>The departure of Black residents is most evident in Anderson’s longtime home of Austin and further south in West Englewood, which accounted for more than a quarter of Black Chicagoans that left Chicago during that time.</p><p>Former and current residents of these two communities spoke with the Chicago Sun-Times about why they left the city — some with hopes of finding better economic opportunities, and others seeking easier access to basic amenities like grocery stores and quality housing.</p><p>All of them said decades of disinvestment in the city drove them away from the communities they had called home for decades.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p></p><h3>A ‘purging’ of resources in Austin</h3><p>Anderson couldn’t find an apartment that met the family’s needs in Austin, so they settled in nearby Oak Park, where her mother’s doctors were located. </p><p>She wishes Chicago had more programs for struggling homeowners. Anderson misses the sense of community in Austin, from neighbors who looked out for her father in his last days to family mobilizing to do handiwork around the home.</p><p>“It’s a bunch of people who have a lot to contribute that have just as much care and concern for where they live and are trying to work hard and do the best they can for their property,” Anderson said about her old neighbors. “But just the general support of the city sometimes doesn’t make it as far out as the West Side or the South Side of the city, and it gives an impression like nobody cares.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Yolanda Anderson decided to move out of her former home in Austin when she could not keep up with the financial costs of maintaining the house." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0626e8f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FBQGDX-C69EnZ2G5O9IcS3RNW-jg%3D%2F0x0%3A6000x4000%2F6000x4000%2Ffilters%3Afocal%283000x2000%3A3001x2001%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23036784%2FCENSUSLOSINGRESIDENTS_11XX21_10.JPG 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/621db97/2147483647/strip/true/crop/6000x3367+0+316/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FBQGDX-C69EnZ2G5O9IcS3RNW-jg%3D%2F0x0%3A6000x4000%2F6000x4000%2Ffilters%3Afocal%283000x2000%3A3001x2001%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23036784%2FCENSUSLOSINGRESIDENTS_11XX21_10.JPG 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Yolanda Anderson decided to move out of her former home in Austin when she could not keep up with the financial costs of maintaining the house. </p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>In the past 10 years, Austin’s overall population decreased by nearly 2%, from 98,514 residents in 2010 to 96,557 residents in 2020. It was once the city’s most populous community area; it’s now the third-largest community area in Chicago <i><b>— </b></i>behind the Near North Side and Lake View<b> <i>—</i></b> as more people have moved closer to downtown.</p><p>In the past decade alone, it’s estimated that more than 11,000 Black residents left the West Side neighborhood. Austin’s Black population dropped by 10% — Black residents now make up nearly 75% of its population. In 2010, Black residents made up 85%. </p><p>Austin also lost white and Asian residents in the past decade, but the population of Latino residents did grow by about 10%. Latinos now make up about 19% of the West Side neighborhood — with more than 18,500 residents. </p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
<div class="RelatedList-title">Related</div>
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2021/11/28/22801083/chicago-census-black-population-englewood-austin" target="_blank" >What can be done to stop Chicago’s Black exodus? </a>
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<p>Longtime Austin resident Crystal Gardner wonders whether people are leaving on their own or if they are being forced to leave, pointing out decades of disinvestment.</p><p>“It has, in my opinion, been a consistent, concerted effort in the decline or the purging of public health, public safety and public education,” said Gardner, who still calls Austin home. “That effort comes in the form of a lack of vision from our leaders. That lack of vision to see the Black flight, to see the data, to see the decline in numbers and services and organizations providing service, and then to not have a plan or a strategy to address that.”</p><p>After George Floyd’s killing in Minnesota in 2020, Gardner, 38, started a Facebook group called “Activate Austin” as a hub to share community resources such as food drives, community events and fitness programs. She’s also part of a push to rename Austin’s Columbus Park. </p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-floatRight>
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Ke’Oisha White, 33, left Chicago in 2013 for career opportunities in Texas. She has no plans to return to Austin, the neighborhood she once called home, though most of her family remains in the Chicago area.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Provided</p></div></div>
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</div><p>In 2013, Ke’Oisha White had just received her master’s degree from Keller Graduate School of Management in Chicago, but she was struggling to land a job in the tech field. She grew up in a two-flat home in Austin with her extended family and was a first-generation college student.</p><p>She applied to as many jobs as she could before receiving an offer in Houston, Texas, that would pay relocation costs. She accepted and doesn’t regret that decision.</p><p>“I’m not moving back,” White said. “Visits only. I love Houston. I definitely love it — the cost of living, I love the opportunities here, the different field opportunities, I love the culture.”</p><p>White, 33, still considers Chicago home, and she misses the annual Bud Billiken Parade and the Taste of Chicago. Most of her family still lives in Chicago.</p><p>She said Austin’s potential remains untapped.</p><p>“There are no stores; everything is boarded up,” White said about the community. “It’s just sad. It’s a waste of opportunities, it’s a waste for the people, and I wish that more can be poured into that neighborhood.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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</div><p></p><h3>West Englewood loses Black residents but gains Latinos</h3><p>For nearly 20 years Darlene Morris has helped families sell and buy homes throughout the Chicago area, with much of her experience based in West Englewood. It’s a community she grew up in until she moved to a nearby suburb.</p><p>She has since moved back to the city and is now living in South Shore — one of the few communities that saw an increase in Black residents. South Shore’s Black population grew by nearly 500 people between 2010 and 2020, census data showed.</p><p>But the decrease in the Black population in West Englewood is the most dramatic of any Black-majority community area. In 2010, the neighborhood was 96% Black, but by 2020 it dropped to 77% Black.</p><p>Morris said families are leaving West Englewood because there are few resources and what she calls a poor walkability score — a metric used to determine amenities within walking distance of a home.</p><p>“If you live in Lincoln Park, you can walk to a deli, a bakery. You can walk to a real grocery store; the neighborhood schools are great, and I am within a walkable distance of the things I need and it serves me well,” Morris said. “When I was growing up there was a doctor’s office, a jewelry store and a grocery store — well there is one in Englewood now, but after how long?”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-floatLeft>
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<img class="Image" alt="Darlene Morris, who moved from West Englewood, stands outside her home in the South Shore neighborhood." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/b4976d9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5807x3259+0+306/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FvD59xpimzEXZvS4PzADUWxytLM0%3D%2F0x0%3A5807x3871%2F5807x3871%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282904x1936%3A2905x1937%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23041186%2Fmerlin_102479582.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fbeca87/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5807x3259+0+306/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FvD59xpimzEXZvS4PzADUWxytLM0%3D%2F0x0%3A5807x3871%2F5807x3871%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282904x1936%3A2905x1937%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23041186%2Fmerlin_102479582.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Darlene Morris, who moved from West Englewood, stands outside her home in the South Shore neighborhood.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Morris said she is helping West Englewood residents find homes in Country Club Hills, Hazel Crest and South Holland. With 3,000-square-foot homes going for around $300,000 that were only built within the last 20 years, it is enticing for both the young and old, she said.</p><p>West Englewood’s Black population fell from 34,178 in 2010 to 22,912 in 2020 — a 33% drop.</p><p>“People will read about Black folks leaving West Englewood and would want to almost instinctually point to crime as a reason for people leaving,” Morris said. “I am telling you crime or violence is not the driving factor. This is Chicago, we’ve been tagged a crime city for generations and that never stopped growth.”</p><p>Morris points to a surge in <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2019/3/10/18313833/as-black-population-drops-hispanics-are-drawn-to-greater-englewood" target="_blank" >Latino residents moving into West Englewood over the past 10 years</a>. </p><p>The Latino population ballooned from just 774 residents in 2010 to 5,832 in 2020, which now makes about a fifth of the community’s population.</p><p>“It’s not to say that some people aren’t moving away because of crime, but I believe it’s not the main point,” Morris said. “If crime was as big of a deterrent as everyone is saying, why are Latinos moving in?”</p><p>Crime was, in fact, John Daniels’ motivation for moving out of West Englewood, but he stresses that it is only a byproduct of disinvestment in the community.</p><p>“West Englewood when I was growing up was poverty-stricken, and there weren’t any boys or girls club or anything for us,” Daniels said. “I started losing friends to death or to the criminal justice system, and it felt like a cycle. I just remember thinking I need to get out of this neighborhood.”</p><p>Daniels remembered visiting his aunt’s home in Hazel Crest and noticed there were no vacant lots, it was quiet, everyone’s yard was tidy and there was a sense of peace. He wanted that for his family.</p><p>So he saved until he was able to buy his first home in Matteson last year — a move he doesn’t regret.</p><p>But West Englewood is still home to Daniels.</p><p>He visits his parents every weekend in his childhood home, which they’ve owned for 55 years. Daniels isn’t sure if he will ever return to live, but that doesn’t mean he has abandoned the community either.</p><p>“I would like to buy some property there, like one of those vacant lots, and try to do some good with it,” Daniels said. “Maybe build a home or even open a nice store.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="John Daniels, who drives trucks for a living, sits outside his childhood home where his mom still lives in the West Englewood community on the city’s South Side. Daniels moved to Matteson, Illinois, because he “wanted peace and quiet,” he said." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/83ab997/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5624x3156+0+297/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fkp5d_ix9A-4QkhoDzy8KyUaaJNs%3D%2F0x0%3A5624x3749%2F5624x3749%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282812x1875%3A2813x1876%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23036780%2FCENSUSLOSINGRESIDENTS_11XX21_2.JPG 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/fd5ea2b/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5624x3156+0+297/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fkp5d_ix9A-4QkhoDzy8KyUaaJNs%3D%2F0x0%3A5624x3749%2F5624x3749%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282812x1875%3A2813x1876%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F23036780%2FCENSUSLOSINGRESIDENTS_11XX21_2.JPG 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>John Daniels, who drives trucks for a living, sits outside his childhood home where his mom still lives in the West Englewood community on the city’s South Side. Daniels moved to Matteson, Illinois, because he “wanted peace and quiet,” he said.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Pat Nabong/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p><i><b>On Monday:</b> Continue reading The Chicago Sun-Times’ coverage on ways to reverse Black population loss.</i></p><p><i>Jesse Howe and Andy Boyle contributed to the data analysis for this report.</i></p><p><i>Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust. </i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/11/26/22798127/chicago-census-black-population-austin-west-englewoodManny RamosElvia Malagón2021-09-26T14:06:04.106-05:002022-04-12T12:55:55-05:00Englewood’s population, housing stock plummets, 2020 census data shows
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<img class="Image" alt="Vacant lots sit in the 6400 block of South Wood Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, Wednesday, July 3, 2019." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1bdeee9/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5014x2814+0+384/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FQXYgzwfHVYC1Mk7KjBLV2K3f0fo%3D%2F0x0%3A5014x3581%2F5014x3581%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282507x1791%3A2508x1792%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F18283118%2FENGLEWOOD_07XX19_09.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6385abf/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5014x2814+0+384/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FQXYgzwfHVYC1Mk7KjBLV2K3f0fo%3D%2F0x0%3A5014x3581%2F5014x3581%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282507x1791%3A2508x1792%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F18283118%2FENGLEWOOD_07XX19_09.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Vacant lots in the 6400 block of South Wood Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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<p>Census figures show Chicago has slightly grown and become more diverse over the past 10 years, but an examination of neighborhood-level data from the 2020 census shows that while some neighborhoods boomed in the aftermath of the Great Recession, others never did.</p><p>Nowhere is this more evident than in Englewood and West Englewood, where the loss of residents coincides with a decline in the number of housing units during the 2010s.</p><p>As the city saw <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/8/12/22622062/chicago-census-2020-illinois-population-growth-decline-redistricting-racial-composition" target="_blank" >its population grow by 2% between 2010 and 2020</a>, Englewood’s population fell by more than 20% — dropping from 30,654 to 24,369 residents, according to a Sun-Times analysis of Census Bureau data released in August.</p><p>West Englewood’s population fell from 35,505 in 2010 to 29,647 in 2020, a 16% drop. The two community areas — often grouped together by residents, who call it “greater Englewood” — had the largest percentage loss in the city.</p><p>Between 2010 and 2020 Greater Englewood lost 2,856 housing units — the largest loss of any community area in the city, and a figure that towers over Roseland, in third place, which lost just 494 units.</p><p>In all, 14 of the city’s 77 community areas lost housing units, but the losses were concentrated in 10 South Side areas, which had a combined decline of 4,622 housing units. Of the other four community areas that lost units, one was on the West Side, two were on the Northwest Side and one on the North Side.</p><p>The five community areas with the largest increases, bunched together in the central city, combined to add 25,182 housing units. Those areas were the Near North Side, the Loop, the Near West Side, West Town and the Near South Side.</p><p>Asiaha Butler, co-founder of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, said the significant drop in population and housing units was predictable and is the result of government neglect, noting that <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.chalkbeat.org/2019/1/29/21106695/can-a-new-high-school-heal-years-of-school-closings-in-englewood" target="_blank" >16 public schools have shuttered in Englewood since 2001</a>. </p><p>But the housing crisis also devastated the community.</p><p>Predatory lending resulted in an average of 500 foreclosure filings per year from 2007 to 2012 in Englewood, according to the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University. Englewood also was a destination for<a class="Link" href="https://www.justice.gov/archive/usao/iln/chicago/2011/pr0818_01.pdf" target="_blank" > straw buyer purchasers</a> committing mortgage fraud.</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Asiaha Butler, executive director of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, shown next to a mural at Englewood Market &amp; Resource Days, 6608 S. Halsted St. in Englewood on Wednesday, June 23, 2021." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c34ab14/2147483647/strip/true/crop/7743x4346+0+410/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FCBifkT-d-bW1geOoYRW_Yhrg0NQ%3D%2F0x0%3A7743x5165%2F7743x5165%2Ffilters%3Afocal%283872x2583%3A3873x2584%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F22865984%2Fmerlin_98536204.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/1514031/2147483647/strip/true/crop/7743x4346+0+410/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FCBifkT-d-bW1geOoYRW_Yhrg0NQ%3D%2F0x0%3A7743x5165%2F7743x5165%2Ffilters%3Afocal%283872x2583%3A3873x2584%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F22865984%2Fmerlin_98536204.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Asiaha Butler, executive director of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood, shown in June next to a mural at Englewood Market & Resource Days, 6608 S. Halsted St. in Englewood.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Those foreclosed houses were left to deteriorate, and in an effort to combat blight, the city began tearing them down — <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/8/23/18628520/englewood-demolition-chicago-population-loss-vacant-lots-new-construction-permits" target="_blank" >creating blocks with vast stretches of vacant lots</a>.</p><p>“It happened personally on my block where homes just vanished,” Butler said. “In particular, it seems like there was aggressive demolitions happening in 2012. It was like waking up and seeing a new wrecking crew every day.”</p><p>In 2012, the city approved 199 demolitions in Englewood and 163 demolitions in West Englewood — more than any other community areas that year, according to city data.</p><p>Then there was the city’s decision in 2013 to <a class="Link" href="https://www.pressreader.com/usa/chicago-sun-times/20130326/282918087911417" target="_blank" >sell off 105 city-owned lots for $1.1 million</a> to Norfolk Southern Railway, which wanted to expand its rail facility in Englewood — though that expansion still hasn’t been completed. This sale put into motion Norfolk Southern’s aggressive tactic of <a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2016/1/30/18354138/brown-getting-railroaded-in-englewood" target="_blank" >buying up the homes that weren’t vacant</a>.</p><p>“Our local government played a huge role in the destruction of legacy homes that had families living in them since 1948,” Butler said. “These were actual homes that had the homeowners living in them, and our government had no problem in helping push those people out and for what?”</p><p>“This project, which still hasn’t come to fruition, did not bring jobs, investment or anything else — just destruction,” Butler said.</p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
<div class="RelatedList-title">Related</div>
<ul class="RelatedList-items">
<li class="RelatedList-items-item">
<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/2019/8/23/18628520/englewood-demolition-chicago-population-loss-vacant-lots-new-construction-permits" target="_blank" >Why tearing down Englewood to save it hasn’t worked</a>
</li>
</ul>
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<p>Norfolk Southern has demolished more than 100 homes since it began its expansion project.</p><p>Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, said the reduction in housing units usually comes in one or two ways. It happens through the de-conversion of single-family homes or with demolitions.</p><p>“Englewood and West Englewood, which already had a history of disinvestment, were among the hardest-hit during the housing crisis which led much of its housing stock to fall into foreclosure,” Smith said. “This then moves into abandonment, deterioration of the building and finally demolitions.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="A vacant lot sits in the 6400 block of South Honore Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, Wednesday, July 3, 2019." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/e7b337c/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5493x3083+0+421/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FCBmt0abBFebF7kDVlNHeEXIpM9g%3D%2F0x0%3A5493x3924%2F5493x3924%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282747x1962%3A2748x1963%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F18283110%2FENGLEWOOD_07XX19_04.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0be8a57/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5493x3083+0+421/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FCBmt0abBFebF7kDVlNHeEXIpM9g%3D%2F0x0%3A5493x3924%2F5493x3924%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282747x1962%3A2748x1963%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F18283110%2FENGLEWOOD_07XX19_04.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>A vacant lot in the 6400 block of South Honore Street in Englewood. According to the 2020 census, among all community areas in Chicago, Englewood and West Englewood community areas suffered the largest drop in population.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>Smith doesn’t believe the decimation of the housing stock and the drop in population was inevitable. In the future, he said, a strategy is needed to stabilize the housing stock in Greater Englewood.</p><p>The city has made efforts to increase housing in the area in recent years. That includes the new Montclare Senior Residence of Englewood, 6332 S. Green St., and Hope Manor Village Veterans Housing, 6002 S. Halsted St.</p><p>Hope Manor replaced 16 vacant lots, donated by the city, with 12 two-flat and four three-flat buildings.<a class="Link" href="https://www.housingfinance.com/developments/ahf-announces-2021-readers-choice-awards-winners_o" target="_blank" > The award-winning buildings</a> offer 36 affordable units for families; each comes fully furnished. The city also helped fund the project.</p><p>In September, the City Council also approved the sale of 35-city-owned lots for $1 each to Englewood Phase One. Plans call for a five-story building with 56 rental units — 33 one-bedroom units and, 23 with two bedrooms. And 40 will be reserved for households earning between 30% to 60% of area median income levels, while 14 will receive Section 8 rental assistance.</p><p>Greater Englewood also is one of the areas that Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s Invest South/West initiative is intended to help.</p><p>The idea behind that effort is “to marshal the resources of multiple city departments, community organizations, and corporate and philanthropic partners toward 10 communities on Chicago’s South and West sides,” said Eugenia Orr, a spokeswoman for the city’s Department of Housing. “As investment returns to the community along with increased resources, it is expected that the community to thrive and grow.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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<img class="Image" alt="Vacant lots sit in the 6400 block of South Honore Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood on the South Side, Wednesday, July 3, 2019." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c654298/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5221x2930+0+400/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fs0teN63pFQGqN47OVVKHko7Xdvk%3D%2F0x0%3A5221x3729%2F5221x3729%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282611x1865%3A2612x1866%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F18283108%2FENGLEWOOD_07XX19_02.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/c09f6a6/2147483647/strip/true/crop/5221x2930+0+400/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2Fs0teN63pFQGqN47OVVKHko7Xdvk%3D%2F0x0%3A5221x3729%2F5221x3729%2Ffilters%3Afocal%282611x1865%3A2612x1866%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F18283108%2FENGLEWOOD_07XX19_02.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>Vacant lots in the 6400 block of South Honore Street in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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</div><p>The Department of Housing also manages several programs that can help homeowners stay in their homes by <a class="Link" href="https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/doh/provdrs/homeowners/svcs/home-repair-program.html" target="_blank" >helping ease the burden of costly repairs</a>. The agency said it is also working to increase neighborhood stability in Greater Englewood through its <a class="Link" href="https://www.chicago.gov/city/en/depts/doh/provdrs/developers/svcs/mmrp.html" target="_blank" >Micro-Market Recovery Program</a>, which encourages reinvestment in vacant buildings and supports homeownership — even providing up to $15,000 in down payment assistance to eligible buyers, as long as they plan to live in the home.</p><p>Butler said it’s a good program, but the city should promote it more; a program that’s not being used serves no purpose.</p><p>Just as local government has had a hand in the disinvestment of Greater Englewood, Butler said, it also must have a hand in lifting up the community. But she’s skeptical that it can.</p><p>Even the housing projects sprouting up in the community won’t bring the change everyone is hoping for, she said.</p><p>The most important thing to do in Englewood is support homeownership by discouraging investors who swallow up vacant buildings but have no plans to move to the neighborhood.</p><p>“We need to increase the number of owner-occupy folks here because that is where change is going to come on the block level,” Butler said. “I’m living proof if you show you care and turn your home around, then other neighbors will fall in line. But someone owning a building just collecting rent doesn’t have an interest in seeing this community thrive.”</p><div class="Enhancement" data-align-center>
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https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/9/26/22685155/west-englewood-population-decline-2020-census-housing-stockManny Ramos2021-08-12T20:33:36.888-05:002022-04-12T12:55:09-05:00Census: Chicago still third-largest city in U.S., population up 2%
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<img class="Image" alt="The city’s population grew nearly 2% from 2010 to 2020 — from 2.6 million residents to 2.7 million, according to data released Thursday from the 2020 census." srcset="https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6df2151/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1684+0+157/resize/490x275!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FRHeMp5OhxwOk6NxUGJuuunsC9z0%3D%2F0x0%3A3000x1997%2F3000x1997%2Ffilters%3Afocal%281500x999%3A1501x1000%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F22779723%2FCHICAGOCENSUS_081321_8.jpg 1x,https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/0c094e0/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3000x1684+0+157/resize/980x550!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fthumbor%2FRHeMp5OhxwOk6NxUGJuuunsC9z0%3D%2F0x0%3A3000x1997%2F3000x1997%2Ffilters%3Afocal%281500x999%3A1501x1000%29%2Fcdn.vox-cdn.com%2Fuploads%2Fchorus_asset%2Ffile%2F22779723%2FCHICAGOCENSUS_081321_8.jpg 2x" width="490" height="275"
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<div class="Figure-content"><figcaption class="Figure-caption"><p>The city’s population grew nearly 2% from 2010 to 2020 — from 2.6 million people to 2.7 million, according to data released Thursday from the 2020 census.</p></figcaption><span class="line"></span><div class="Figure-credit"><p>Tyler LaRiviere / Sun-Times</p></div></div>
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<p>The City of Big Shoulders has always been a melting pot — but new U.S. Census data suggest it’s gaining in diversity.</p><p>Despite national headlines about political corruption and street violence, Chicago saw its population grow by 2% over the past decade, allowing it to hold onto its title as the third-largest city in the United States.</p><p>Of the more than 50,000 residents added over the past decade to the city’s total population, most are Latino and Asian. </p><div class="RichTextSidebarModule Enhancement" data-module data-align-floatRight><a class="AnchorLink" id="module-170000" name="module-170000"></a>
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</div><p>The Latino population grew by more than 40,000 people — about 5% — in the past 10 years, and the Asian population grew by almost 45,000, a 31% increase. </p><p>That helped offset the continued loss of Chicago’s Black population, which dwindled by almost 85,000 people during that time — a nearly 10% drop. </p><p>It’s far from a full-fledged comeback. Even though the city added more than 50,000 residents since 2010, it still has nearly 150,000 fewer people than 20 years ago, a decline of about 5.1 %.</p><p>Those are some of the highlights of data released Thursday by the Census Bureau.</p><p>Despite Chicago’s gains, Illinois lost population from 2010 to 2020, according to the data, mostly in the southern and western part of the state.</p><p>For the first time, Latinos surpassed Blacks as the largest racial or ethnic group in Chicago, Cook County and in Illinois, the census data show. </p><p>“These changes reveal that the U.S. population is much more multiracial and more racially and ethnically diverse than what we measured in the past,” said the Census Bureau’s Nicholas Jones. “We are confident that the differences in overall racial distributions are largely due to improvements in the designs of the two separate questions for race data, collection and processing, as well as some demographic changes over the past 10 years.” </p><p>The figures come from the 2020 census data that counted the country’s entire population, and it will be used by officials to redraw legislative and congressional district maps across the country. </p><p>Overall, the city’s population grew nearly 2% from 2010 to 2020 — from 2.6 million residents to 2.7 million, according to data released from the 2020 census. That’s a change from the population decline the city had experienced from 2000 to 2010, when the city lost nearly 7% of its population. </p><p>In 2010, there were more than 778,000 Latinos living in Chicago — comprising nearly 29% of the city. Now, there are more than 819,000 Latinos in Chicago, making up nearly 30% of the city’s population. </p><p>The number of Asian residents in the city also increased from more than 144,000 in 2010 to more than 189,000 in 2020, according to an analysis of census data. Asians now make up nearly 7% of the city’s population. </p><p>But the number of Black residents in Chicago decreased 9.7% in the past decade, from more than 872,000 in 2010 to more than 787,000 in 2020, according to the census. Black residents now make up nearly 29% of the city’s population. </p><p>The number of white residents in Chicago grew slightly — by 1% — from more than 854,000 in 2010 to more than 863,000 in 2020. White residents make up 31% of the city’s population. </p><p>Sylvia Puente, president and chief executive officer of the Latino Policy Forum, said she hadn’t yet looked at the census data released Thursday in detail, but the figures aren’t “new news.”</p><p>“What it basically says is we have a city that’s a third Black, a third White, a third Latino and then five or seven percent of the Asian community,” Puente said. “The challenge is that population numbers don’t always translate into equity in the distribution of resources, equity in our office holders, equity in a variety of different ways.”</p><p></p><p></p><p>Chicago didn’t grow as much as other large American cities. Houston, the nation’s fourth-largest city, grew by nearly 10% from 2010 to 2020 and has a population of 2.3 million. </p><div class="RelatedList Enhancement" data-module data-align-center>
<div class="RelatedList-title">Related</div>
<ul class="RelatedList-items">
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<a class="Link" href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/8/12/22622131/census-shows-us-diversifying-white-population-shrinking" target="_blank" >Census shows US is diversifying, white population shrinking </a>
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<p>New York remains the largest American city, with 8.8 million residents, experiencing a population growth of nearly 8%. Los Angeles is second-largest, with 3.8 million residents and a growth of nearly 3% the past decade. </p><p>The growth in Chicago follows a national trend of more Americans living in metropolitan areas, said Marc Perry, a senior demographer with the Census Bureau. In 2000, 84% of the country’s population lived in metropolitan areas, but that number grew to 86% by 2020. </p><p>The changes in the city mirror changes in demographic changes in Cook County. </p><p>The Latino population grew by 11%, increasing from 1. 2 million in 2010 to 1.3 million in 2020, according to census data. Latinos now make up about 26% of the county’s population. </p><p>The number of Asian residents in Cook County increased by 28% in the last decade from more than 318,000 in 2010 to more than 408,000 in 2020, according to census data. Asians now make up about 8% of the county’s total population. </p><p>Although the county’s population increased in the last decade, it still lost Black residents and even more white residents. </p><p>Cook County lost about 80,000 Black residents in the past 10 years, a decrease of about 6%, according to an analysis of census data. In 2010, the county had 1.2 million Black residents compared to 1.1 million residents in 2020. </p><p>The number of white residents in Cook County also shrank by nearly 7%. In 2010, the county had 2.2 million white residents and it now has 2.1 million. </p><p>Since 2010, the number of Asian residents in Illinois increased by nearly 29%, from more than 580,000 in 2010 to more than 747,000 in 2020. Asians make up nearly 5% of the state’s population. </p><p>Latinos in Illinois increased by 15%, growing from 2 million in 2010 to 2.3. million in 2020. Latinos make up 18% of the state’s population. </p><p>The state experienced a 3% decrease in its Black population — or about 57,000 Black residents — in the last decade, according to the census. In 2010, the state had 1.8 million Black residents, and in 2020 it had 1.7 million. Black residents now make up nearly 14% of the state’s population. </p><p>The state also saw a decrease of about 9% of its white population. In 2010, it had 8.1 million white residents, and in 2020 it had 7.4 million. White residents now make up 58% of the state’s total population. </p><p>For Sylvia Puente, the president and CEO of the Latino Policy Forum, the question now is: as the city, state, region and nation become more diverse, how do policy makers, and the state’s residents, curb segregation?</p><p>Studies have shown that people of similar backgrounds congregate in communities, Puente said. And while there are benefits to living in ethnic enclaves, there are also drawbacks in terms of what it represents.</p><p>“If we want to be in a region that is not segregated, how do we, as we look at this population growth ... really try to ensure that our region is not segregated, so that children are getting exposed to each other in schools, to neighbors [and] neighbors don’t always necessarily look like them,” Puente said. “Really it’s just a way of cultivating diversity, and integration and understanding between all people in our state — between and among people in our state.”</p><p><i>Elvia Malagón’s reporting on social justice and income inequality is made possible by a grant from The Chicago Community Trust. </i><br></p>
https://chicago.suntimes.com/2021/8/12/22622062/chicago-census-2020-illinois-population-growth-decline-redistricting-racial-compositionElvia MalagónAndy BoyleRachel Hinton