COMMUNITY ACTIVISM IN OAK PARK: COMPETING AGENDAS ...

community differently than many middle-class residents. Many poor residents walk, ride
their bike to visit family, neighbors, grocery stores, and community clinics, or get rides
from friends when traveling through and outside Oak Park. Often times the very poor do
not leave the neighborhood regularly, as do the middle-class. In contrast, the middle-
class own cars and do not usually use public transit to travel within or outside the
neighborhood. If the middle-class does use public transit, it is usually to travel to and
from work. Likewise, the middle-class is usually employed and can afford to travel
outside the neighborhood to go shopping, eat out at restaurants, and take vacations. They
rarely explore their lower-income neighborhood.
The poor often do not have steady jobs, and if they do, they are usually “service
sector” jobs, involving restaurants, retail outlets, and construction companies. The poor
thus often make a very low income and do not receive health benefits. They, therefore,
utilize the free clinics, food closets, and other social services in the community to
supplement their income. Without the provision of social services the poor would rarely
be able to visit a doctor and they would not be able to sustain their household. Many of
the poor in Oak Park have come to depend on social service agencies in their
neighborhood to provide them a quality of life.
A neighborhood’s social life and the quality of the neighborhood’s living
environment are improved by the availability of public, private, and non-profit services
within a neighborhood (Ahlbrandt 1986:122). Government Code defines non-profit
organizations as charitable based-organizations that serve religious, charitable, scientific,
testing for public safety, literary or educational purposes (DiMaggio and Anheier
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