Fact Sheet Although Latinos
live throughout the city, there is an area in Eastern North
Philadelphia where there is a high concentration of Latinos.
To see Census information about this area, click
here.
General
Information About Latinos Living In Philadelphia
· From 1990 to 2000,
the overall population of the city of Philadelphia decreased
by 4.3%; however, among Latinos, population numbers in the
city grew by 45% (U.S. Census 2000), with population estimates
now placed at 131,819. While the majority of the Latino population
in the City is of Puerto Rican origin (77%), there is a growing
diversity which includes individuals from Colombia, Venezuela,
the Dominican Republic, and Mexico, among other nations.
· Latino households
in Philadelphia are more likely to have children than non-Latino
White or African American households; 50.1% of Latino families
have children, as compared to 33.5% of African Americans and
22.9% of Whites. - Bartelt, 2001, "Latino Workforce Development
Taskforce: Report on Latino Philadelphia," based on the 1999
Current Population Survey.
· Latino households
also tend to be larger than other racial/ethnic groups. About
19% of Latino households have 3 or more children, the highest
number among all racial or ethnic groups. - Bartelt, 2001,
"Latino Workforce Development Taskforce: Report on Latino
Philadelphia," based on the 1999 Current Population Survey.
· Latino families are
more likely to be headed by a single female than by two parents.
Although 41.7% of Latino households report both spouses present,
43.4% are female, single parent headed, which is the highest
among racial/ethnic groups. - Bartelt, 2001, "Latino Workforce
Development Taskforce: Report on Latino Philadelphia," based
on the 1999 Current Population Survey.
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Health in Eastern
North Philadelphia · In neighborhoods
that encompass Congreso's service area (Fairhill/Hunting Park,
and Upper Kensington ) the infant mortality rate is 14.9 deaths/1000
live births, and 13.5/1000, respectively; rates higher than
the city average (11.6%). - Philadelphia Inquirer, 2001, "Gaps
in city infant-death rate persist" based on 1999 information.
· Upper North Philadelphia
(Congreso's service area) has the highest percent of infants
with low birth weight and second highest percent of women
receiving late or no prenatal care among city Planning Analysis
Sections. - Philadelphia Department of Public Health, 2001,
"Neighborhood Watch 2001: A Consumer Guide to the Health of
Women & Children in Philadelphia ".
• In 2001,
1,531 teenagers in the City gave birth and 18% of these individuals
were Latinas, a disproportionately high rate considering that
Latinos make up only 8-10% of Philadelphia 's population.
- Pennsylvania Department of Health, Bureau of health Statistics,
2001.
· Upper North Philadelphia
ranked first in the city for deaths due to lung disease, stroke,
and cancer, and second for deaths due to heart disease. -
PHMC Health Data Resource Center , 2001, "Conducting Your
Own Community-Based Needs Assessment: Data Tables" based on
1995-1998 Vital Statistics.
• Upper
North Philadelphia is ranked first in the percent of adults
with diabetes and asthma and adults subjected to violence.
- PHMC Health Data Resource Center , 2001, "Conducting Your
Own Community-Based Needs Assessment: Data Tables" based on
1995-1998 Vital Statistics.
• A sizeable
portion of Latino adults in Philadelphia - 22.7% - have a
diagnosed mental health condition. This is the highest
rate among any ethnic/racial group in the city and is high
in comparison to the overall rate in the city of 13.3% of
individual adults with a mental health condition. - Philadelphia
Health Management Corporation's Community Health Data Base,
2004.
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Economic Indicators
·
Whereas the median household income for non-Latino Whites
and African Americans in Philadelphia increased from 1989
to 1998, the median household income for Latinos decreased.
In 1998, the median household income for Latinos was $12,744
(down from $15,255 in 1990), $35,245 for Whites (up from $28,645)
and $23,847 for African Americans, (up from $17,674). - Bartelt,
2001, "Latino Workforce Development Taskforce: Report on Latino
Philadelphia," based on the 1998 Current Population Survey.
· Latinos have the
highest proportion of households receiving TANF out of any
ethnic or racial group in Philadelphia . On average, 12.5%
of Philadelphia residents received TANF, but among Latinos,
34.8% received TANF. - Bartelt, 2001, "Latino Workforce Development
Taskforce: Report on Latino Philadelphia ," and the Knight
Foundation, 1999," Philadelphia , Pennsylvania : Community
Profile".
· Overall, a total
of 55.1% of the Latino population in Philadelphia are estimated
to not be actively involved in the labor force, compared to
47.6% for African Americans and 40.1% for non-Latino Whites.
-Bartelt, 2001, "Latino Workforce Development Taskforce: Report
on Latino Philadelphia," based on the 1998 Current Population
Survey.
• Twenty
percent (20%) of Latinos living in zip codes 19133, 19134,
and 19140 reported not eating due to a lack of money in comparison
to 11% and 7% of their African-American and White counterparts,
respectively. - Philadelphia Health Management Corporation's
(PHMC) Community Health Data Base 2002 Southeastern Pennsylvania
Household Health Survey)
· Almost half of adult
Latinos in Philadelphia do not have a high school diploma,
which is more than twice the percent of either non-Latino
Whites or African Americans. - Bartelt, 2001, "Latino Workforce
Development Taskforce: Report on Latino Philadelphia" based
on the 1999 Current Population Survey)
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Children and Youth
Statistics · According to the
2000 Census, 50% of Latino children in Philadelphia at or
below age 17 were living below the poverty level in 1999;
a high rate, compared to 29% for all children in Philadelphia
County .
· Latino youth in Philadelphia
graduate from high school at a rate of 53%, which is much
lower than non-Latino Whites (91%) or African Americans (65%).
- Green, 2001, "High School Graduation Rates in the United
States ".
· The high school drop-out
rate is higher among Latinos than any other racial or ethnic
group. The proportion of first-time ninth graders in 1997-98
who had dropped out four years later by 2000-2001 in Philadelphia
was 37.7% for Latinos, 22.9% for non-Latino Whites and 22.6%
for African Americans. - Philadelphia Inquirer, February 26,
2002 , "Principal's focus: Helping Latinos stay in school".
· Overall, Philadelphia
students do poorly on standardized tests in comparison to
state or national averages. Students in the North Philadelphia
schools that are primarily Latino are well below the Philadelphia
average on standardized tests. Furthermore, student attendance
is much lower than the average for Philadelphia schools. -The
School District of Philadelphia .
• The incidence
of Philadelphia Latino youth involved in the juvenile justice
system has increased steadily from 1995 to 2000 - Jones Jones
and Harris 2003. In 2004, Latino youth were projected to comprise
14.6% of the caseload, with over 500 youth involved in the
juvenile justice system - ibid .
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Crime • Congreso's
clients live mainly in the 24th and 25th police districts.
These areas consistently far exceed the city averages in the
amount of violence crime present. For example, in 2002, the
rate of violent crime per 10,000 people was 206.88 and 231.31
in the 24 th and 25 th police district respectively. This
is in comparison to the citywide average of 133.63 - McClanahan
2004.
• In 2004,
zip codes in Congreso's service area where many residents
are Latino (19133, 19134, and 19140) had the highest rates
of narcotics arrests in the city - 1,239; 1,046; and 1,052,
respectively. This is startlingly high in contrast to the
city average of 250.6 - University of Pennsylvania 's Cartographic
Modeling Lab, 2005. Crimebase. Electronic document, http://cml.upenn.edu/crimebase/
, accessed May 26, 2005. Information made available by
the Philadelphia Police Department.
• In 2003,
the Philadelphia Police Department responded to 115,745 domestic-related
calls citywide, of which 84,286 were founded. Nearly 20% of
those calls (20,577) were to the Philadelphia Police Department's
East Division which encompasses Eastern North Philadelphia.
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