North Lawndale Case Study

The most significant difference between North Lawndale and Little Village that impacted the health of the community was the high crime rates and social interactions between community members. As stated by Klinenberg, the elderly that was isolated and lived in high crime areas was the population that was most at risk during that time. Although both communities are located near each other, there is huge differences between them. First of all, Little Village was mostly Hispanic while North Lawndale was primarily African American. In previous chapters it was established that African Americans had higher mortality rates than the Hispanic population. Surprisingly, the Chicago Latinos only accounted for 2% of the heat related deaths during that summer. …show more content…
It was something that was different in Little village and North Lawndale that led to one population to have higher mortality rates. As reported by Klinenberg, “Unlike African Americans in North Lawndale and several other Chicago community areas, Latinos in Little village did not experience the particular constraints of ghettoization, the rapid and continuous abandonment of institution and residents, or the arson and violence that contribute to the destruction of the local social ecology”. Hence, when business started to leave in North Lawndale this led young people to start separating from their families to seek for a better future for themselves since North Lawndale did not provide any opportunities for enhancement. The elderly was force to withdraw from the community because of the lack of resources. However, Little Village, was booming during that time. For example, people were walking outside freely whereas in North Lawndale there were a lot of empty lots and the social ties had drastically decreased. So, although both communities were closed to each other, the community-social interaction played a crucial role on how the natural disaster developed in its