This report draws on demographic data to examine and project trends in the size and composition of the child population in all seventy-seven Chicago communities up to the year 2010. The report highlights the changing age mix of Chicago children and provides some context in which to consider these demographic trends. It describes population changes across Chicago communities and identifies the communi¬ties in which greater and lesser numbers of children are living in poverty. The report also explores the implications of the changes, trends, and projections for social services, schools, and early childhood education and after-school programs. Finally, it offers some conclusions to help government and program planners build capacity to respond to the one constant—ongoing change. The analyses have yielded four overarching findings:

• Population density within the city has changed since 1990 as areas near the Loop and the lakefront lost families with children and neighborhoods on the northwest, southwest, and southeast sides have gained them.
• The change in the size of the Hispanic population in Chicago has been the primary driver of demographic change in many communities as Hispanic (and, to a lesser degree, Asian and other) immigrants have moved into the city and Hispanics have exhibited greater fertility than other groups.
• Although communities that have historically been low-income remain so, as communities on the northwest and southwest sides have grown, an increase in the number of children living in poverty in those communities has occurred.
• Communities vary greatly in the number of available services for the target populations in them.