The Sacramento ACHIEVE community, South Sacramento, is located just east and south of the business center and downtown area of the City of Sacramento. The community is comprised of several low-income, racially diverse contiguous neighborhoods. At the northern end is Oak Park, which is one of Sacramento’s oldest communities and is often referred to as Sacramento’s first suburb. Other neighborhoods include Franklin/Fruitridge, which is predominantly Hispanic, and Lemon Hill, which has a rich Asian heritage, including Hmong refugees who settled in Sacramento County several years ago. 

The total population of this community is 89,344 residents. The largest racial/ethnic group is Hispanic (41.1%), followed by Asians (21.1%), Caucasians (19.2%), African Americans (12.5%), and American Indians/Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander (0.8%, 0.4%, respectively).  English is the primary language spoken at home in just over one-half (52.0%) of the homes here, with Spanish spoken in about one-quarter (24.3%), and an Asian/Pacific Islander language spoken in 20.4 percent of homes. An Indo-European language is spoken in three percent of homes, indicating that there could be a number of Slavic families in the community. Sacramento is home to a large number of refugees from the Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union.

The average household income in South Sacramento is $40,302, considerably less than the countywide average of $70,289. Nearly one-half (40.9%) of adults in the community did not complete high school. The current unemployment rate for South Sacramento is estimated to be between 14 percent and 20 percent based on figures for the City of Sacramento (14.3%) and for communities in the county with similar socio-economic characteristics (www.labormarketinfo.edd.ca.gov). Several schools are located in the community.  Public schools are operated by the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD), one of the 10 largest school districts in California. As a measure of fitness, medical experts advise that 80 percent of students should be achieving aerobic capacity. Among fifth grade students in the SCUSD tested for aerobic capacity, 65.8 percent were in the healthy fitness zone and this proportion decreased to 56.6 percent for students in ninth grade.