Just in time for Mexican Independence Day, there’s a new study on Chicago’s Mexican community. “Fuerza Mexicana: The Past, Present, and Power of Mexicans in Chicagoland” was conducted by the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Great Cities Institute, on behalf of Latinos Progresando and several other Mexican-American organizations. Among its findings: Mexicans are the fastest-growing ethnic group in Chicago, with the youngest median age and the largest families. But they’re also underrepresented politically. And they’re lagging behind economically, with a median income of $43,236 and a high representation in landscaping, auto repair, restaurants, construction, and manufacturing. We talked with Luis Gutierrez, founder and CEO of Latinos Progresando, about the study and the future of Chicago’s Mexicans.

Why do a study just on the Mexican community rather than the Latino community at large? Why focus on the Mexican community?

One of the reasons that we’re focusing on the Mexican community is because the Mexican community has been in Chicago for over 100 years. One in five people in Chicago identify as being Mexican. They’re the largest components to CPS students. So how are we investing in this young community so that we’re building this community up, and putting folks that are extremely talented from this community on a path to becoming leaders in our city?

One of the takeaways was that Mexicans have a much larger group under 30 than other nationalities. The median age for Mexicans is 30. For other Latinos, it’s 34, and for whites and Blacks, 37. Why is the population so young? And does that mean that Mexicans are going to be an increasingly large population as time goes on?

I think we’re just a growing population in the city of Chicago. Like I said, we’ve been here for a really long time, but we continue to grow. And you know, when we think about the future of our city with such a large Mexican population, I think our city has an opportunity to invest in the Mexican community so that Mexicans are buying homes here, Mexicans are taking on jobs here, and there is a lot of talent in the Mexican community. We’ve lost population in the city of Chicago since the last census. How are we investing so that people from the Mexican community stay here and hopefully continue to come to the city and contribute to the city? Mexicans have been moving out to the suburbs. 

Housing is a huge issue, and Mexican families tend to be larger. So when you’re looking at housing prices, if you’re renting or if you’re buying, housing is getting very expensive, and so you may be looking for apartments or houses that are three bedrooms or four bedrooms, and there’s very little supply in our neighborhoods, or if they’re here, they’re very expensive. That makes it harder for people to stay.

In addition, people want to move closer to jobs. We’re in manufacturing, we do a lot of construction, and so people are starting to move out to be closer to places they work. They’re moving to Aurora, Elgin, Waukegan. McHenry, DuPage, Lake counties are all places that are gaining Mexican people. There are definitely people moving out from the city, but they’re starting to become destinations. There are people that are not even coming into the city anymore. They’re going straight there. It used to be that Chicago had really the only large Mexican communities, and people would come here to be with family and be near their jobs. But if that is expanded, you don’t really have to make a stop in Chicago anymore.

Another one of the takeaways was that the mean household size for Mexicans was 4.2, which was much larger than any other ethnic group. Is having large families simply part of the culture?

Well, I have a large family, so I would say yes. When we’re talking about a lot of the affordable housing developments that are being built, a lot of them are focusing on one bedrooms and two bedrooms, which are necessary, you know. But what do you do when you’re a family that needs three or four bedrooms? 

One thing I kind of took away from this is it almost made Mexicans sound like an invisible ethnic group or underrepresented ethnic group.

This weekend there were a lot of people who went to celebrate Mexican Independence Day in downtown Chicago. And if you read some of the coverage that happened there — I heard this from people, and certainly came out in some of the publications — people are saying, “We feel ignored.” And so there’s certainly a feeling in our community that our community is being ignored at all levels. And one of the reasons I think people are so excited about this report is it’s finally starting to talk about who we are, what our vision is, where we want to be, how we create opportunities for each other. That message of unity and celebration of who we are is attracting a lot of attention.

Do you think Mexicans are ignored?

I don’t know. I think that’s one of the big topics of conversation. You know, we are a community that works hard. We work hard, keep your head down, and that’s how you get ahead. And we do that. We do that all the time, but sometimes you have to speak up. And, you know, I think we have to do a little bit more of that,

Well, one of the findings was that Mexicans are underrepresented in politics.

Again, I think it’s the same thing. I feel like we’re in this chicken and egg situation. We need more representation so that people can see that it’s possible and create more leadership opportunities for folks, whether it’s in politics or corporate America or philanthropy and nonprofit. But in order to create more opportunity, you need more people.

Besides Chuy Garcia, who are some of the more prominent Mexican office holders in the Chicago area?

City Clerk Anna Valencia, Comptroller Susana Mendoza. You have Alderwoman Julia Ramirez, Alderman Michael Rodriguez. You have a few on the county level. Susana Mendoza is the only statewide-elected Mexican person. And I think that’s it. We’ve never had anybody elected mayor. We’ve never had anybody elected U.S. senator. Congressman Garcia is the first congressman.

I thought it was also interesting about the representation in the professions. According to this report, Mexicans are overrepresented in the lower-paying blue collar jobs and underrepresented in the higher-paying white collar jobs.

We’re building Chicago and we’re keeping Chicago running. You know, I like to think of us as the backbone of the city of Chicago. You have so much talent in our community, but where are the pipelines? We have many people who are entering the workforce who say, I have the ability to run this company, but I don’t see a path. So where are these paths? And I think that we have to be more intentional about creating spaces where people from our community can have the opportunity to take on leadership roles. And I don’t think it’s happening enough.

The median income was about $42,000. That’s lower than other Latino groups, and certainly lower than non-Hispanic whites. Cubans and Colombians have far higher mean incomes.

I think there are a couple of reasons for that. I mean, they are in higher paid positions. And a lot of times, when you look at those communities, even back in their countries, were probably in more professional positions when they came into the United States. You know, when the Mexican community started to come here, we started to come here as laborers, right? But that does not excuse the fact that we’ve been here for over 100 years, and yet we have not been able to break that glass ceiling.