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Are Rogers Park and Edgewater Good Neighborhoods for Refugees? An Asset Map and

Community Profile

Reilly Cosgrove

EXPL 290 Loyola University Chicago

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Abstract

This asset map and community profile of the Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods

seeks to find if the area surrounding Loyola University Chicago has the proper assets for

refugees who are resettled in the area. Using the Asset Based Community Development model

published by the ABCD institute, the goal of this community profile and map is to examine the

amount of resources available that could be utilized and built up by the existence of refugees that

resettle in the area. Finally, the roles that the students in EXPL 290 have in bringing about social

change in the community by serving at Madonna Mission and Catholic Charites will be

discussed.

Introduction

The Asset-Based Community Development is a strategic model for community

development that is based in what the community already has instead of attempting alleviate the

immediate needs of the community. It views the different types of assets individuals,

associations, institutions, environments, and the exchange between these as active participants

in a community that can bring about social change. Figure 1, a map of many of the local assets,

shows three of these types of assets, excluding the individual level and the exchange.

Environmental factors, such as public transportation and parks, are labeled in red, institutions are

labeled in green, and associations are labeled in purple. It is important to note that for the

purposes of this map, some assets that are technically institutions because they employ

professionals and are structurally organized are labelled as associations. The reasoning for this is

because these specific institutions run many association groups where members of the

community come together to build relationships, and some examples of the association groups

will be further explored in this report.

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Demographics

The Rogers Park and Edgewater neighborhoods are known locally for being some of the

most diverse in Chicago. Historically, the area has changed over the last century from Irish and

Italian immigrants, at the turn of the century to Jewish immigrants fleeing Europe, to Bosnian

immigrants and more recently Haitian immigrants and Syrian refugees, it has always been home

to a variety of different languages, races, and cultures (Hacker, 2017). However, data on the

Rogers Park and Edgewater communities have often been thrown off by the abundant numbers

of university students that flood to the area to attend Loyola. Though the university is an asset to

the community and often strives to be accommodating to the community through the Jesuit

values they intend to follow, the presence of universities often adds to the gentrification of their

neighborhoods. For instance, according to the Heartland Alliances Social Impact Research

Centers report on Chicago Community Area Indicators, the White, non-Hispanic residents made

up forty percent of the population of Rogers Park and nearly fifty-five percent of the population

of Edgewater, and while the average household income has increased for the wealthiest in the

neighborhoods, the amount of people in poverty has also increased (Farooqui, 2014, p. 4-8).

While wealthy individuals are moving to the area because of the asset of the university, the

diverse population that exists outside of the university can often be pushed out of the community

or pushed closer to the poverty line due to the increased cost of living.

Examples of Institutional Assets

By far the largest educational asset in the area is Loyola University, which has over

10,000 undergraduate students and around 5,000 graduate students. The university as an

association sponsors many resources that can be of use to the refugee and immigrant population,

including Cudahy Library and the Information Commons, the two large quads, and multiple
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multi-purpose rooms and an arena where many events that are open to the community are

happening every week. The university also sponsors many organizations, such as the student-run

organization Loyola Refugee Outreach that works with the Ethiopian Community Association of

Chicago and the Chicago Summer Leadership Program that reaches out to high school students

who identify as low-income, first-generation, or foreign-born students to prep them for college.

Last year, Loyola paired with Catholic Charities Refugee Resettlement Program to sponsor the

resettlement of one family from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

A large number of refugees coming to the Rogers Park/Edgewater area are children. To

account for this, many Chicago Public Schools and charter schools in the area have begun special

services for their refugee population. At the elementary level, one example is Passages Charter

School, a charter school ran by Asian Human Services, that is specifically designed as an

educational institution for refugee and immigrant students. The school closely partners with

other organizations for refugees, and together they allow for all families to attend mental health

rehabilitation and receive any social services provided by the AHS.

Notably, another large Chicago Public School is Sullivan High School, whose student

body is almost half immigrants. Last year alone, the school welcomed eighty-nine refugees,

primarily Syrians (Fishman, E., 2017). The school educates a student body over 600 that speaks

thirty-five languages and represents thirty-eight countries of origin (Fishman, E., 2017). Because

of the large refugee population, the principal of Sullivan has decided to use a large amount of

their allocated funds on their English language learner program, which pairs students in the

program with each other to travel to multiple classes together and support each other. English

classes are designed in a way where students who are at the same level of English learning are in

the same classes and encourage each other to reach the next level as a group. An important part
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of the English language learner program is that each ELL teacher must attend two trauma

training sessions because the program encourages the students to discuss their stories and

identities, and with many coming to Chicago to flee persecution, nearly seventy-five percent of

the refugee students have experienced some level of posttraumatic stress disorder (Fishman, E.,

2017). While the CPS budget crisis has caused some lag in Sullivans programing, as an

institution they work to create a culture that uplifts each student and encourages each one to be

proud of their stories.

Examples of Associations as Assets

GirlForward is an organization started by young women in Chicago to build community

among teenage refugee girls. They have recently expanded to Austin and hope to open a new

location within a year, but their home is on Devon Avenue, the northern most street of the

Edgewater community. As an institution, they run three different programs that are utilized

practically as associations, as they all focus on creating informal environments for the girls to

meet with each other and share in their experiences. Their mentor program pairs refugee teens

with American born young women who live nearby that can help them transition to life in

America and teach them practical skills in health and wellness, financial literacy, and aid them in

achieving the goals they have for their futures. Another is their Camp GirlForward, where girls

can go in the summer to meet new friends and share in their experiences with each other during

the summer months when they are out of school. Finally their Safe Spaces Project functions as a

support group that the girls can attend to discuss their identities and any struggles they may be

experiencing during their transition to life in Chicago (GirlForward, 2017).

In the EXPL 290 course at Loyola, we are spending much of our time at Madonna

Mission, an institution that runs both an ESL program for adults and an after-school tutoring
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program for children. While working with the children at Madonna Mission, while it is clear that

it is a structured after-school program, it functions practically as an association. The children

come each week in to do their homework with a tutor, then they move on to reading, but after

their reading they have a large chunk of playtime. During this time, the children bring out snacks

and games to eat and play together. Some children come every week, but others come whenever

they can. They build relationships with one another and use the time to get to know other

children that they might not encounter at school. Occasionally, they will take trips together

across the city to landmarks, museums, high schools, and colleges. In an interview with Peggy

Forbes, the after-school program coordinator, she stated the importance of the program as a bi-

weekly social program for the children. They are not automatically enrolled at the programs at

Madonna Mission, but instead their families may choose to enroll them to help them gain a

community with their peers.

Examples of Environment as Assets

In the community, there are many environmental assets. Rogers park has many local

parks and play spaces that families can utilize, such as Berger Park and Loyola Park. The

Lakefront Trail, a path that extends from Edgewater to the southside is a commonly used outdoor

facility. Perhaps the most important, however, is the CTA trains and buses and the Rogers Park

Metra stop, which connects the neighborhoods to the rest of Chicago and nearby towns. This

gives individuals the agency to freely move in the city, allowing them access to what other

communities have to offer.

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Conclusion

The Rogers Park and Edgewater communities are constantly changing. With the growth

of Loyola, gentrification is on the rise, and it is becoming more difficult to afford living in the

neighborhoods. However, the community already possesses a plethora of different types of

assets. The diversity of the neighborhood means that there is a diversity of individual assets,

which helps the community thrive. The immigrant population has grown tremendously in the

nearby schools and organizations, allowing for more services designed by immigrants and for

immigrants to grow. Finally, the community is well connected to the rest of the city of Chicago.

For these reasons, the Rogers Park and Edgewater communities can continue to be a good

location for the refugee population if there is consideration for all the members of the

community.
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Tables

Table 1

Assets Near Rogers Park and Edgewater Featured on the Map

Environmental Associations Institutions

Rogers Park Metra Station Madonna Mission* Loyola University Chicago
CTA Redline Stops GirlForward* Roger C Sullivan High School
CTA Bus Stops Majorie Kovler Center* Catholic Charities
Loyola Park Ethiopian Community Association* RefugeeOne
Berger Park St. Ignatius Church Passages Charter School
Lakefront Trail St. Gertrudes Catholic Church Hayt Elementary School
Buttercup Playlot Park Devon Church of Chicago Pierce Elementary School
Montrose Beach Park Community Church Swift Elementary School
Foster Beach Granville Ave United Methodist Nicholas Senn High School
Loyola Beach Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran St. Gertrude School
Louis Goldberg Playlot Park Edgewater Baptist Church Centro Romero
Tobey Prinz Beach Park St. Thomas of Canterbury Chicago Health Outreach
Lakefront Trail Heartland Human Care
Services
Illinois Refugee Mental
Health Task Force
Asian Human Services
Mental Health
Asian Human Services
Employment and Youth

*These assets are institutions but mostly function as a hub for associations
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Figure 1. Asset Map

Figure 1.

To view in full, please see the following link:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=1JLkaj83tqb21MkOc71Yoslm8Jj0&usp=sharing
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References

Hacker, C., (2017). Rogers Park Rent is on the Rise, Some Fear Gentrification. Loyola Phoenix,

Retrieved from http://loyolaphoenix.com/2017/05/rogers-park-rent-rise-fear-

gentrification/.

Farooqui, S., (2014). Chicago Community Area Indicators. Social Impact Research Center.

Chicago: The Heartland Alliance.

GirlForward (2017). Our Work. Retrieved from https://www.girlforward.org/what-we-do/

Fishman, E., (2017). Welcome to Refugee High. Chicago Mag, Retrieved from:

http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/June-2017/Welcome-to-Refugee-High/