Leaving Chicago's South Shore

Chicago's South Shore has long been home to middle class black families. The area boasts quick access to downtown and was once home to former first lady, Michelle Obama. In recent years, however, the neighborhood has been shrinking as families move to avoid a struggling economy and rising crime rates. "This population loss — 181,000 black residents between 2000 and 2010 — is tearing at the financial underpinnings and the social fabric of the entire city," Kathy Bergen, Angela Caputo, and William Lee write in their piece for the Chicago Tribune.

Some say the city is responsible for some of the neighborhood's woes. "As industry has fled the city over the past 30 years, the city's economic development efforts have focused heavily on wooing out-of-town or suburban employers to relocate to Chicago, often to the downtown," the Tribune team writes. One struggle has been a lack of grocery stores ever since the Dominick’s shut down in Jeffrey Plaza three years ago, though there may finally be a new grocery store tenant coming soon.