By: Ashmar Mandou

Members of the Chicago City Council Latino Caucus; Ric Estrada, President and CEO of Metropolitan Family Services; José Miguel Acosta-Córdova, Research Assistant at the UIC’s Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, a James J. Stukel Student Fellow at the Great Cities Institute, Graduate Student in Urban Planning and Policy, and President of UIC’s Latino planning student organization, LPODER held a press conference Wednesday to announce the release of a new University of Illinois at Chicago report to Metropolitan Family Services titled: The Latino Neighborhoods Report: Issues and Prospects for Chicago. This report, ordered by Metropolitan Family Services to further its delivery of social services, presents demographic characteristics of Latinos in Chicago and scrutinizes the neighborhoods with a majority Latino population. By using primarily U.S. Census Data, the report provides citywide data on Latinos in Chicago and in more detail, examines 12 neighborhoods where Latinos are prevalent. Among the findings in this report:

• The Latino population has increased substantially and is distributed widely throughout Chicago neighborhoods.
• Current levels of education for Latinos lag behind white and black populations.
• Income levels of Latinos lag behind non-Hispanic White populations citywide, but Latinos have higher median household incomes in 5 of 12 majority Latino neighborhoods.
• Low rates of Latino home ownership and foreclosures challenge wealth-building and neighborhood stability in many Latino neighborhoods.

“This report demonstrates that Latinos are present throughout Chicago’s neighborhoods and have unique social, economic and housing success and challenges,” said the author, José Miguel Acosta-Córdova, Research Assistant at the UIC’s Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy, a James J. Stukel Student Fellow at the Great Cities Institute, Graduate Student in Urban Planning and Policy, and President of UIC’s Latino planning student organization, LPODER. “This in-depth study clearly outlines the dynamic growth of Chicago’s Latino community and the need to further expand its access to educational and economic resources to realize its potential and maximize its contributions to the city,” said Ric Estrada, President and CEO of Metropolitan Family Services. “Metropolitan Family Services is excited to use these findings to strengthen the services we provide daily to thousands of Latino families throughout the Chicago area.”

“Reading the UIC report made me incredibly optimistic. The fact that the future of Chicago is inexorably tied to Latinos is a great sign for our City,” said Latino Caucus Chair Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36). “I am committed to continuing to fight for educational and economic resources for the Latino community as we move forward.”