Hobart is a community of over 24,000 residents located 40 miles from Chicago in the midst of a large metropolitan area known for its heavy industrialization and ethnic diversity. A breakdown of our community demographics (based on the 1990 Census Report) shows that 97% of our community is White. The other 3% minority population includes Hispanic, Black, American Indian, and Asian among others. The average family is over 3 persons and our local population contains a rapidly growing percentage of families headed by a single parent
The latest school reports show an increased number of immigrants from throughout Europe (including Bosnia, Serbia, Russia, Poland, Germany, France, Greece, etc.). This population of European immigrants, combined with a growing Hispanic population, has created a situation where some 8% of our student population has been identified as language minority. Language minority students are students whose first language or the language that is most prevalent in their home is one other than English.
Our region has experienced a declining economy over the past few years because we are primarily a blue-collar area. Past employment has been heavily dependent upon the five major steel companies and related industries. Heavy foreign competition, combined with the decline in the need for human resources, has had a negative impact on present employment figures.
While employment for the state of Indiana has shown a slight increase since 1990, the Hobart area has seen a significant growth in local unemployment based upon the data contained in the table below.
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995
Indiana 5.5, 5.9, 6.2, 5.7, 4.9, 7.4
We find there is great disparity in socioeconomic structure among individual schools in the School City of Hobart; including income, employment, and family stability. For example, a majority of the low cost, rental, and trailer housing is located in the Ridge View and George Earle Elementary attendance areas. Newly proposed middle class housing in only two elementary attendance areas will only extend these inequities between "haves" and "have nots."
Further evidence of the inability of many local families to afford computer technology is the income of our community. Some 29% of our residents have an income of less than $25,000 and only 6% have incomes above $75,000. This leads to a wide disparity in (more than double) the need for free or reduced price lunches among students at the poorest attendance area of Ridge View and the wealthiest attendance area of Joan Martin.