Avenue in the south. This neighborhood was a bustling industrial edge to the city at the dawn of the 20th century. During the World
War period, the industrial working class was the majority population in the area. Like many other industrial American areas of the time, this area too experienced significant changes in its economic operations and demographics.
The area had a lot of steel fabrication industrial units, many of which took up production of equipment for the war like helmets, etc.
The lack of men in the workforce due
to the war forced the employers to take in women workers as well. Since the 1970’s, decline in industrial operations in the area due to relocation made this area lesser desirable for the city. The economic downturn and presence of housing stock attracted a diverse set of immigrant population comprised of Irish-Catholics from the famine in Ireland, the Polish-Jewish refugees from eastern Europe after World
War II, the influx of African Americans escaping poverty and legal discrimination of the south, and surge of Puerto Rican relocation.
The population in this neighborhood has grown from 24,840 in 2000 to 25,802 in 2013.
The area registered a healthy growth of around
4% population growth over 12 years. This area was racially integrated in a city where neighborhoods had traditionally been demarcated by race. However, in the last couple of decades
Hispanic populations have risen to a majority.
As per the recent census numbers, 56% of population is Hispanic, 35% is African American and only about 3% is White. Of these, over
65% people are US citizens by the virtue of being
US-born. Over 25% are territory-born i.e. mostly Puerto Rico and a few other outlying US territories. Interestingly, the continent of birth of over 82% people is stated as Americas. An analysis of the country fo birth shows that over
80% people in this community are from Purto
Rico and about 8% from Dominican Republic.
A comparison of these numbers to the larger geogrpahy of the city shows that even
Hispanics do not form a majority in the city but they do have very high concentration in this area. Hence it justifies the observations that over 60% of people speak Spanish at home or use it as their first language.
The population shows a good spread across all age groups. Over 35% population falls within the age group of 40 to 60 years, over 25% falls within 20 to 40 years and 30% is under the age of 18. This shows that the community holds a good number of people in the working age. But it also shows that a large number of young people would seek jobs. If seen in conjunction with extremely low incomes, the place shows high vulnerability to crimes of various forms. The lack of affordable education compounded by low paying jobs contributes to the deteriorating condition in the area. On the bright side, a healthy sex ratio is also observed that is also well spread across all age cohorts.
Over 50% residents have never married.
Hence a good population of single young males and females makes up the neighborhood.
Besides this, a look at type of household types in the community reveals a more detailed picture. More than 55% of family households have single mothers as their household heads and only about 30% are married couples. This shows a withered condition of the social institutions of marriage and family.
A very low percentage of the youth receives education in the community. Of those who do take up education, especially higher education, about 90 are females. This disparity in education by sex may correlate to the high number of single mothers households.