Washington Park

      Prayer Points

• Praise God for the investments being made into the lives of young people through city-run programs that offer job training and employment opportunities.

• Pray for prosperity for the residents despite limited resources within the community. Pray that families could thrive in the neighborhood and experience a sense of well-being.

• There are still scars of the racial discrimination that took place originally during the Great Migration. Pray that the churches in Washington Park would be effective in engaging in dialogue to promote reconciliation and unity among the residents.

• Pray for a hedge of protection for the children of Washington Park throughout the year, that they will not fall to gun violence.

      Ethnic Breakdown

• Asian (0.1%)
• Black or African American (97.04%)
• Hispanic or Latino (0.89%)
• White (0.74%)

Neighborhood Background

At an early stage in its development Washington Park was a neighborhood that exemplified diversity and suburban development. However, the rapid construction of apartments in the 1900s, gave a place for African Americans to live who were moving from the southern part of the country to the urban north.

During this time many of the previous residents moved out of the area marking a drastic shift to a largely black population already in 1930. Unfortunately, violence, discrimination and racial tension were soon to follow including the Race Riot of 1919. Unfortunately, the area is linked with urban blight, poverty and public housing.

Washington Park has had one of the highest concentrations of public housing in the United States and is significantly lacking any industry or commercial development for employment. The population of the area has declined significantly from 57,000 in 1950 to 11,717 in 2010, and nearly half of the residents in Washington Park remain below the poverty level.