Chicago
Community Partners: Uptown Community
History
Uptown is a community
area on Chicago’s northeast side bordered
by Irving Park Road on the south, Lake Michigan on the east, Foster
Avenue on the north, and Ravenswood Avenue and Clark Street to the
west. Uptown is home to people from a variety of racial, ethnic, and
social backgrounds. There is also a broad range of businesses, educational
institutions, social service agencies, mutual aid societies, and religious
congregations. Housing stock is quite varied, including high-rise lakefront
buildings, owner and renter occupied multi-unit and single-family homes,
studios and single room occupancy (SRO) units.
Located along Chicago’s northern lakefront, the community area
has an excellent public transportation system and arterial streets,
linking it to the Loop (Chicago’s central business district)
and suburbs immediately north of the city.
The Uptown community is one that possesses a great deal of racial
and economic diversity. Uptown has been, and continues to be, a port-of-entry
for newly arriving immigrants to the United States and for populations
moving from Chicago’s near north and south side neighborhoods.
In the early decades of the 20th century, Uptown attracted waves of
immigrant groups from northern Europe. During the 1940s and 1950s,
the community’s ethnic and racial diversity became more varied
as Russian Jews from Chicago’s west side moved to Uptown, followed
by an increase of Greek Americans and African Americans. The 1970s
and 1980s were characterized by large increases in Uptown’s African
American and Latino populations, as well as a large influx of refugees
from Southeast Asia. In 1990, 14% of the area’s population was,
one-fourth was African American and one-fourth was Hispanic. Almost
a third of all residents were foreign- born. Between 1990 and 2000,
Uptown’s Caucasian population grew while minority populations
fell, but still over half of Uptown’s residents are Hispanic,
African-American, or Asian. In many ways, Uptown is a microcosm of
the city as a whole, with a population whose racial and ethnic background
that closely matches that of Chicago, though few other communities
within the city possess this level of diversity.
Similarly, Uptown possesses a high level of economic diversity among
its residents. While 20% of Uptown households earned less than $10,000
in 1999, almost 25% earned over $50,000. More than one-fourth of the
families were living below the poverty line. Uptown’s income
diversity in reflected in its housing, as Uptown has both affordable
and subsidized housing for low-income families, as well as luxurious
rental and homeownership units.
This racial, ethnic, and economic diversity has been sustained in
Uptown by efforts to promote balanced development. Many community organizations,
civic leaders, and public officials have worked to promote commercial
development and new housing in Uptown while at the same time fought
to preserve affordable housing, low-skill jobs, and small businesses.
Links
Organization
of the NorthEast
AMG
Block Club
Graceland
Wilson Neighborhood Association
Margate
Park Block Club
Beacon
Neighbors
Buena
Park Neighbors
St.
Mary of the Lake Parish
Uptown
Block Clubs
Uptown
Chicago Commission
Uptown
Community Development Corporation/Uptown Chamber of Commerce
Uptown
Historical Society
Uptown
Neighbors
Magnolia-Malden
Neighbors Block Club
ACTA
Publications
Agudas
Achim Northshore Congregation
Breakthrough
Urban Ministries
Bridgeview
Bank Group
Chicago
Uptown Ministry
Christopher
House
Community
Counseling Centers of Chicago
Cornerstone
Community Outreach
Day
Care Action Council of Illinois
Emmaus
Ministries
Enterprising
Kitchen
Ezra
Multi-Service Center
Inspiration
Café
Jane
Addams Resource Corporation
Louis
A. Weiss Memorial Hospital
Project
JOBS
Residents
for Effect Shelter Transitions (REST)
Scrap
Mettle/SOUL
St.
Augustine College
Demographics
Profile of Uptown - Key Population
and Housing Statistics, 1980-2000
|
|
|
1980
|
1990
|
2000
|
|
Total
Population
|
64,414
|
63,839
|
63,551
|
|
%
Male
|
51.1
|
51.4
|
52.3
|
|
%
Female
|
48.9
|
48.6
|
47.7
|
|
%
White
|
47.4
|
38.8
|
42.1
|
|
%
Black
|
14.6
|
23.7
|
21.1
|
|
%
Other Nonwhite Races**
|
14.7
|
15
|
16.8
|
|
%
Hispanic Origin*
|
23.3
|
22.6
|
19.9
|
|
%
Under 5 Years Old
|
7.8
|
8.3
|
5.1
|
|
%
5-19 Years Old
|
18.5
|
15.9
|
13.7
|
|
%
20-44 Years Old
|
42.7
|
47.7
|
50.4
|
|
%
45-64 Years Old
|
17.1
|
15.9
|
19.5
|
|
%
65 Years and Older
|
13.9
|
12.3
|
11.3
|
|
Median School Years
|
12.3
|
12.9
|
13.6
|
|
Total
Housing Units
|
33,714
|
31,956
|
32,440
|
|
%
Owner Occupied
|
11.1
|
13.5
|
22.7
|
|
%
Renter Occupied
|
72.6
|
74.2
|
71.8
|
|
%
Vacant
|
16.3
|
12.3
|
5.6
|
|
Median Home Value***
|
$121,540
|
$176,058
|
$270,300
|
|
Median Gross Rent***
|
$388
|
$524
|
$564
|
|
Median Houshold Income***
|
$22,917
|
$25,582
|
$32,328
|
|
%
Persons in Poverty
|
28.1
|
31.3
|
24.9
|
| Source: US Census Bureau |
| *
Persons of Hispanic Origin can be of any race |
| **
2000 figure includes category: "Two or More
Races" |
| ***
Adjusted for Inflation using CPI-U-RS |
