The Fairmount Neighborhoods
The Fairmount Corridor is a half-mile area around the Fairmount Commuter Line from Newmarket Station south to Readville Station. It includes parts of Dorchester, Mattapan and Hyde Park. The Corridor is home to an ethnically diverse population of 93,000. 61% are black or African American, while 16% speak Spanish as a first language. More than half of Boston residents of Caribbean descent and 65% of Bostonians with roots in Cape Verde live here.
The people of the Corridor face many challenges to family life, public safety and economic opportunity, such as: low high school graduation rates, scarcity of affordable, fresh food, obesity, diabetes, and respiratory diseases, and crime. The Corridor also has the highest concentration of city-owned vacant lots. Many residents must work multiple jobs to get by, while others face prolonged unemployment. The statistics are daunting:
- 40%+ of households earn less than $40,000 per year (vs . Boston’s median household income of $50,684).
- 20% of families live below the poverty line, including 35% of children under 17 years old.
- 10% unemployment in 2005–2009, vs. 6% for the rest of Boston.
Nonetheless, Fairmount neighborhoods are rich with assets—chiefly, the cultures, creativity and resilience of their residents. Other key organizations serving these communities, include the following:
Arts, Culture and Eco-Entrepreneurs
- The Fairmount Cultural Corridor
- The Fairmount Innovation Lab, Uphams Corner
- The Strand Theatre, Uphams Corner
- The Dorchester Arts Collaborative Erick Jean Arts Center, Four Corners
- Riverside Theatre Works, Hyde Park Fairmount Station
- The Menino Arts Center, Hyde Park Fairmount Station
- 65 Sprague Street Studios, Hyde Park Fairmount Station
Community Centers
- The Salvation Army Kroc Center of Boston, Uphams Corner
- The Bird Street Community Center, Uphams Corner
- The Dorchester YMCA, Talbot Avenue
- Mildred Avenue Community Center, Blue Hill Avenue/Cummins Highway Station
- The Thomas M. Menino YMCA, Hyde Park Fairmount Station