Arts & Entertainment
New Report Shines Spotlight on Chicago’s Mexican Population
Despite Mexicans making up 70% of the Chicago Latino population, curated data for their demographic has been limited. That was until a group of organizers pulled together to create the first extensive study on Chicago’s Mexican population.
“Fuerza Mexicana: The Past, Present, and Power of Mexicans in Chicagoland” highlights the demographic’s significance to the city while also addressing and challenging the systemic issues inflicted on the community.
The organizers began meeting during the pandemic to discuss different ways they can shine a light on the Mexican population for both the city and the suburbs. Rather than focus on the entire Latino demographic, their focus was on their own ethnic group’s particular needs, according to Linda Tortolero, president and CEO of Mujeres Latinas en Accion.
However, collecting data specifically for Mexicans proved difficult despite the population’s presence in the city since the 1950s.
“There wasn’t enough data there specifically about Mexicanos in Chicago,” said Jose Muñoz, CEO and executive director of La Casa Norte. “There were a lot of data sets about Latinos in general. But a lot of those conversations with the Mexican community were being lost.”
The lack of comprehensive and extensive data motivated them to dig deeper.
“We have different experiences, different migration patterns, (we’ve) been here for a long time,” Muñoz said. “And a lot of decisions, whether they’re funders or decisions on policies, are data-driven. And if there’s no data there, our needs are not being addressed.”
Throughout the process of collecting data and speaking with members of the community, the report’s authors honed in on specific focus groups to paint a holistic picture. Tortolero managed the focus group on help and the suburbs; Muñoz led the focus group on housing; and Luis Gutierrez, founder and CEO of Latinos Progresando, led the group on leadership and civic engagement.
“As we start to do work in our city, creating programming, thinking about policies, it is really important to create a baseline so we know where we are and where we want to go,” Gutierrez said.
The study aims to catch its audience immediately by carefully identifying issues with representation when it comes to Mexicanos in Chicago, specifically on television — by drawing attention to the hit TV show “The Bear.”
Census data estimates 44% of all cooks in Chicago are of Mexican origin, but not one of the show’s main characters is Mexican. The demographic remains invisible and unrecognized, the report said. But this is a consistent pattern in other categories.
“When you look at whether it’s government, philanthropy, the nonprofit sector, or media, TV, movies, we don’t really see representation of the Mexican community,” Gutierrez said.
Research also showed among Latino groups, Mexicans were one of the three groups with the lowest median income.
Ecuadorians and Guatemalans had the lowest median annual household incomes at $39,924
and $40,000, followed by Mexicans at $43,236. Cubans had the median highest income at $62,756, followed by Colombians and Puerto Ricans. In addition, Cubans and Colombians had far higher mean incomes at $93,480 and $71,577, respectively.
Furthermore, Mexicans have the highest percentage of children attending Chicago Public Schools at 86%, but they have lower academic performance than other demographics.
“That doesn’t really naturally coincide with what you would think would be a strong performance for a group of people who are going to school on a regular basis,” Tortolero said. “And so we have to ask ourselves, why is that?”
Tortolero stressed the importance of having strong bilingual programs with a specific focus on early childhood literacy and receiving a quality English- and Spanish-language education.
The focus now is to get the report out to as many people as possible because having this data creates an opportunity to highlight who Mexican Chicagoans are as a people and to come up with solutions to equity issues.
Note: This article has been updated to correct the spelling of Linda Tortolero’s name.
