Report on Chicago’s Juvenile Well-Being

Fall 2002, Volume 24, Number 1

Local action is critical in solving the problems confronting children and adolescents in Chicago, according to a recent report co-authored by IPR faculty associate Jenifer Cartland.

Child and Adolescent Well-Being in Chicago, 2002, released by the Child Health Data Lab at Children’s Memorial Hospital, is the first such study done at the neighborhood level in Chicago. Stark disparities between different neighborhoods call for responses by local groups, the report says.

For example, while Chicago’s overall infant mortality rate fell 6% from 1995 to 1999 to 11.5 deaths per 1,000 live births, individual communities at the ends of the spectrum registered more than tenfold differences between them, ranging from 1.6 to 29.2. Even greater disparity turned up in elevated blood lead levels in children ages 6 years or younger. Again, the overall city average fell between 1996 and 2000. But 1998 figures show a range of children affected, from zero in the O’Hare area to 46% in Fuller Park.

Chicago’s high school drop-out rate, which is three times the national average, and more than twice the Illinois rate, varies by community by more than 30 percentage points, with a peak of 32.9% in Austin and an overall average of 15.8%.

Because many of these problems affect more than one area, however, there is a need for broader, citywide action (in partnership with community groups) to address issues such as gun violence and KidCare’s failure to enroll significant numbers of eligible youths, the report concludes.