About APCC

THE PEOPLE WE SERVE
Albany Park is a multi-ethnic, lower-working class community located on the northwest side of Chicago.  While the official community area (Neighborhood Strategy Area 14) includes higher-income, low density census tracts in the neighborhoods of Mayfair (west of Pulaski Road) and Ravenswood Manor (east of Sacramento Avenue), the core area of Albany Park is a high need section of the city.  The majority of the Center's clients come from the core area.

The core of Albany Park, where over two-thirds of the Center's clients live, is located between Pulaski Road on the West; Montrose Avenue on the South; the North Branch of the Chicago River on the North; and Sacramento Avenue on the East.  This core area comprises 1.0518 square miles, or 55% of the entire official Albany Park community area.  More than 41,000 people, or 82% percent of the Albany Park population live in this core area, where the population density of 45 persons per acre is one of the highest in Chicago.  The poorest and most needy of Albany Park's residents live in this densely populated core. 

Whether they are employed or not, the residents of Albany Park tend to be poor. The depth of economic disadvantage is evident from an analysis of 1990 U.S. Census data for the Albany Park community area which shows:

Average per capita income................... $ 10,273
Persons with income below poverty level..........17 %
Female headed households below poverty level.....47 %
Households with less than $15,000 income.........25 %
Households with less than $25,000 income.........46 %
Households receiving public assistance
or with no reported income at all..........26 %
Kindergarten through 3rd grade school children receiving free or reduced cost lunches.....94 %
Unemployed persons or those not in the labor force (age 16 and out of school, or older).42 %

As elsewhere, educational disadvantage accompanies these economic figures in Albany Park.  More than 35% of area residents ages 25 and older have not completed their high school education.  The dropout rate at nearby Roosevelt High School for 1997-98 was 19%, compared to 16% citywide.  Noteworthy is that over 47% of Albany Park residents are foreign born, with many unable or limited in their ability to use the English language.  Indeed, at nearby Haugan, Hibbard, and Volta Elementary Schools, an average of 45% of the children are limited English proficient.

Albany Park is a multi-ethnic community and a port-of-entry neighborhood for many immigrants coming to Chicago.  Public school enrollment data shows at least 36 different languages and dialects spoken by community residents.  1990 U.S. Census data also supports the area's diversity.

The 1990 U.S. Census for the Albany Park core area shows community residents to be 26% Hispanic; 20% Asian or Pacific Islanders; 3% African-American; 12% Middle Eastern origin; 0.5% Native Americans; and 38.5% White.

Transiency in Albany Park is greater than in most areas of the city.  According to Census figures, some 60% of the area's residents in 1990 lived elsewhere in 1985.  This includes at least 6,812 (or 15%) who came here from overseas, and 17,637 (or 39%) who previously resided in other parts of Chicago.  The movement of persons into Albany Park from elsewhere in the city has more than doubled since the 1980 Census.  This shift is driven by the movement of people of Hispanic origin relocating to Albany Park from gentrified communities such as Uptown, Bucktown, Humboldt Park, and Wicker Park.  In addition, a large percentage of the White population has relocated here from other areas of the city, e.g. Uptown.  Other Whites migrate directly to Albany Park from rural poor areas of Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia.

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