6 To Gain 14

Chicago and Its Neighborhoods Death Gap

(Started: February 2025)

The City of Chicago has 77 separate and sometimes very distinct neighborhoods. These neighborhoods have long been part of the city’s unique makeup and charm.

Although Chicago has been known for decades as one of Americas most segregated large city’s my story delves much deeper than that fact alone. If you peel back the onion of the previous statement you will see much more than most people know or want to know

In recent years it has been proven that there are long-term consequences of segregation in Chicago which several have coined the “death gap” .This means that there is much more damage being done by Chicago's racial segregation divide than simply separating blacks from whites.

Within the “death gap” explanation ones life expectancy resides much more in the neighborhood one lives in as opposed to the color of a person’s skin or the amount of money one has in his or her bank account.

My story centers around 2 Chicago neighborhoods located only 6 city blocks apart – Hyde Park where the average life expectancy is 83 and Washington Park where the life expectancy is 69.

How is this possible in the wealthiest country in the world? Sadly, my documentary is only one example that exists in Chicago as it does in other large cities across our nation.