The Hyde Square Task Force is located on Centre Street/Avenida de las Americas in Hyde/Jackson Square, a community with deep cultural roots and a thriving minority-led small business sector. This community on the border between Jamaica Plain and Roxbury contains one of Boston’s largest youth populations, but has few resources to serve the needs of these young people. 

Our community faces many pressures similar to those of other inner city neighborhoods around issues such as education, safety, affordable housing, economic development, and access to health care. Together with many committed residents, HSTF works to find solutions to such problems and build a community that meets the needs of its youth and families.

Some facts about our community:

• The 2000 Census found that the youth in the area are 78 percent minority and that Jamaica Plain has the third highest concentration of Latino youth of all Boston neighborhoods.

• According to a recent demographic analysis by the Jamaica Plain Neighborhood Development Corporation, of the approximately 75,000 residents in Hyde/Jackson Square, over 20,000 individuals (27 %) are 19 years and under and 7,000 are between the ages of 15-19.

• Approximately 25 percent of the adult population does not have a high school diploma and 30 percent of households are headed by a single parent.

• Thirty-five percent of the population does not speak English as a first language; the majority are Spanish speakers.

•  Ninety percent of children are enrolled in the Boston Public Schools

 

Banner Photo Credit:

Carol Palmer c 2003 www.BrilliantPictures.com