Austin Community Walk: Austin

• HOUSING TYPES• BUSINESSES • HISTORY OF AUSTIN • CRIME RATES• COMMUNITY RESOURCES

Welcome to Howe School of Excellence!df Located in

Chicago’s Northwest Austin community

Largest (by population) of the city's 77 officially defined community areas

AddressHowe School of Excellence720 North Lorel AvenueChicago, IL 60644

Phone773-534-6060

Back to School Community

BBQ at Howe!

HOUSING

Housing Information• With Austin's population boom in the early 20th

century, the architectural landscape completely changed. Large frame homes were the norm in Austin in the late 19th century, but they would soon be surrounded by brick two-flats, small frame houses and ubiquitous brick story-and-a-half bungalows (north Austin) and rowhouses, corner apartment blocks, and brick three-flats and courtyard apartment buildings (south Austin).

• Many students enrolled at Howe School of Excellence are currently living with their families in one of the homeless shelters located near the school.

BUSINESSES

Business Information• Designed as a residential neighborhood, there are not a

large number of stores in the Austin area

• Many of the small, family-run stores that did exist left the South Austin area during the time of the "white flight" in the 1960s and 1970s. However, along the North Avenue at the western edge of Austin (adjacent to suburban Oak Park), there is a small shopping area with mainly clothing retailers.

• The major industries in North Austin are education, health, social services, manufacturing, and retail trade.

Austin's History:• Austin grew rapidly in the early 20th century, attracting a

variety of European immigrants, including Germans, Scandinavians, Irish, Italians and Greeks.

• Austin was nearly an all-white community (99.8%) up until the 1960s when riots, "blockbusting" and other events began to change the neighborhood's demographics.

• By the year 2000, African-Americans made up 90.2% of Austin's population. Currently, Austin is recognized as one of the most crime-ridden areas in Chicago. The neighborhood is plagued by illegal drug markets.

Austin's Crime Rates:Currently, Austin is recognized as one of the most crime-

ridden areas in Chicago.-Drug trafficking drives the area's crime: attracts drug buyers from

the suburbs, Wisconsin and Indiana. Battles over drug territory lead to gang violence

-8 of the 80 murders in Chicago this year have been in Austin-300 residents return to Austin from prison each monthDemographics:

Black 89.7%

White 4.82%

Hispanic 4.12%

Asian 0.55%

Other 0.88%

Community Resources

Austin Town Hall and Park

Rhema Wood Church

Austin's Community Resources:

* North Austin Public Library: Austin Health Center:

-Features reading garden and new renovations -Walk in services available -Runs mainly on donations

Interfaith House:

-Nonprofit Organization

-Homeless shelter that teaches

healthy living and lifestyle tips

New Mom's Center

So...why does this information affect us at teachers?* Developing an awareness of our school's community

will help us become more aware of our student's cultural identities; cultural identities of students are constructed from their experiences and where they come from!

*By knowing the poverty and crime rates of North Austin- we are able to gauge a better understanding of what our students go through on a daily basis and the factors that may affect their learning.

*More than 24% of Austin residents lived below the poverty line, so it it critical as teachers that we are aware of what our student's living conditions are like.

Sourceshttp://www.uicni.org/page.php?

section=neighborhoods&subsection=austin

http://encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/93.html

http://iteslj.org/Articles/Pratt-Johnson-CrossCultural.html