East Garfield Park

      Prayer Points

• There have been multiple shootings in East Garfield Park, especially near the corner of Lake and Homan. Pray for protection of children in the community and for the violence in the area to stop.

• Ministries in the community are responding with holistic outreach programs addressing the needs of youth, families, and the homeless. Pray that these ministries would continue being effective in the community.

• The neighborhood is home to a refocused selective enrollment high school. With the recent school closings, pray that the children of East Garfield Park would be able to test into this school.

• Pray for the staff members of local churches and ministries who experience vicarious trauma and fatigue as they listen to and wrestle with so many stories of hardship.

      Ethnic Breakdown

• Asian (0.5%)
• Black or African American (93.1%)
• Hispanic or Latino (2.0%)
• White (3.4%)

Neighborhood Background

Although modest homes, commercial buildings, and industries made up East Garfield Park in 1914, the Great Depression and WWII resulted in the deterioration of homes and neighborhoods. As a result, East Garfield Park became one of the poorest neighborhoods in the city.

The situation worsened during the 1950s when the Eisenhower Expressway was constructed and displaced residents from a southern stretch of the neighborhood. The demographics shifted from Irish, German, Italian, and Jewish to predominantly African American. The 1960s brought the development of three different housing projects in the neighborhood. By the year 2000, East Garfield had lost more than two-thirds of its population and was plagued by endemic poverty and unemployment; drugs and prostitution filled the economic void.

High hopes for the rehabilitation of the neighborhood, including plans for a Madison street revitalization initiative, have resulted in little improvement. The economy of East Garfield has never fully recovered and the neighborhood continues to face many challenges with gang violence, drugs and unemployment.