Considering moving to the North Shore (Chicago, Evanston: environment, job, housing)

[eastcoastgirl6]

I am a wife and mother considering moving to Chicago's North Shore. I have started to look in areas such as Deerfield, Highland Park, Wilmette, and Northbrook. I am considering the North Shore as it is closer to my job and it will allow me to raise my children in a very safe area with excellent schools.

My primary concern is that we are an African-American family and I know the North Shore does not have much diversity. I do not have to have a ton of diversity (as I happily grew up in mostly white areas), however, I do not want to subject my children to living in a racist environment. Would you consider the North Shore to be racist?

Any advice or thoughts? I would love to hear from families that currently live in the areas in which we are looking.

[Manigault]

All the cities you mentioned have had African-Americans for at least the last thirty years. This was without a lot of fuss, too. Glencoe has had black families since the 1920s and I think recently had a black mayor. I do remember that black families objected about 20 years ago to Huck Finn (and 'n-word' Jim) being taught at then-overwhelmingly white New Trier, but I consider that a silly objection. You may wanna check out Vernon Hills, too.

So, go ahead and look there. I would not consider the communities to have racist attitudes. But I've never lived on the North Shore so I'm getting all this second hand. Is the area mostly white? Yes. Will you and your kids stick out? Yes. Will this be a problem? Probably not. You seem to have experience with being conspicuous.

[eastcoastgirl6]

Thank you for your thoughts.

We are also considering the Western suburbs (mainly Western Springs, Hindsale, Burr Ridge, and Elmhurst). Any thoughts on these areas for an African-American family would also be helpful.

[InformedConsent]

Originally Posted by eastcoastgirl6

We are also considering the Western suburbs (mainly Western Springs, Hindsale, Burr Ridge, and Elmhurst). Any thoughts on these areas for an African-American family would also be helpful.

If college readiness is an important criteria for your family, take a look at US News and World Report's list of Gold and Silver Medal high schools in Illinois. There are 6 Gold Medal winners (Stevenson and 5 selective admission/magnet high schools in Chicago) and 24 Silver Medal winners.

Parts of Western Springs, Hinsdale, and Burr Ridge are within the district of Silver Medal high schools - Lyons Township North and Hinsdale Central. Elmhurst's high school did not qualify for gold, silver, or bronze, so take that into consideration.

http://www.usnews.com/directories/hi...y+/detail+less

[ahava]

Originally Posted by InformedConsent

Parts of Western Springs, Hinsdale, and Burr Ridge are within the district of Silver Medal high schools - Lyons Township North and Hinsdale Central. Elmhurst's high school did not qualify for gold, silver, or bronze, so take that into consideration.

Just to clarify, Lyons Township HS has two campuses, but North campus is for upperclassmen and South campus is for underclassmen, so regardless of where you live in the district your kids attend both. All of Western Springs is in LTHS's district. Also, Burr Ridge is split between LTHS and the Hinsdale HS district, and most of the Hinsdale part goes to Hinsdale Central but I think a small part goes to Hinsdale South. All of Hinsdale goes to Hinsdale Central.

[Frank the Tank]

For what it's worth, at least from my perspective, the North Shore is pretty liberal and progressive when considering how much money people have around there - it's not Berkeley or even Oak Park, but probably comparable to the types of people that you'd find on the Upper East or West Sides of New York. I think most people that have problems with the North Shore are due to the lack of economic diversity as opposed to racial diversity.

[eastcoastgirl6]

An ideal suburb would be one with economic and racial diversity and also has excellent schools. It doesn't seem like that exists in the Chicago suburbs, but maybe I am wrong.

[Manigault]

I think it is accurate to say that the western suburbs in the Hinsdale, Western Springs, Burr Ridge area are much more politically conservative than the North Shore. They also have much less diversity and are more recently settled, meaning a newer housing stock.

[aragx6]

Originally Posted by eastcoastgirl6

An ideal suburb would be one with economic and racial diversity and also has excellent schools. It doesn't seem like that exists in the Chicago suburbs, but maybe I am wrong.

I think Oak Park fits that bill well, Evanston too.

[rhiannonsmum]

My kids are temporarily in a private school in OP and my daughter is one of 2 white kids in her class - 16 others are African-American and 2 are Hispanic. OP has great schools (our kids will be in public school soon) AND is definitely very racially mixed. Taxes and home prices are sky high, though.