Greater Chatham Initiative Inc

Housing Development is a key Greater Chatham Initiative goal - both attracting new and retaining existing renters and homeowners. GCI, is a Community Partner for the City of Chicago Micro Market Recovery Program. Greater Chatham Initiative has helped reduce the vacancy rate in our 110-block MMRP area from 8% to 5% by (117 properties reoccupied), helped residents secure $260,000 in housing improvement grants, assisted 4 families in obtaining Wills and Transfer On Death Instruments, and carried out numerous block cleanups. While doing this work Greater Chatham has gained valuable insight on drivers of vacancies and what tools solve the problems.Three years prior to the Pandemic, Greater Chatham Initiative conducted summer home buyer tours, and held the following mentioned tactical activation activities such as Dining on the 5, 75th Street Boardwalk to bring visitors to and acquaint them with the area. Greater Chatham Initiative provided booklets that extolled our excellent public and charter schools. The multi-prong efforts paid off. Greater Chatham is a modest growth area that is not experiencing gentrification despite its substantial median housing sales price increase of 41% for 14-unit properties 2019 to 2020. Chatham is one of the few Black neighborhoods where the population increased 2% from 2010 to 2020, and the homeownership rate increased 1.8%.

Workforce Development are activities providing career pathways for residents to keep or maintain living wage/middle-skill jobs. We have held or co-produced six job fairs that led to dozens of pre-Pandemic job placements. Most recently we have fought hard to secure 5 workers for local restaurants.

Business Developmennt are activities Greater Chatham Initiative has featured. FoodLab Chicago a GCI program that has assisted with operations, stability, and improvement of 36 Greater Chatham, South Shore, and Englewood food businesses. The restaurant owner/operators received $3.2 million in grants and loans in 2020-2022. FoodLab Chicago also completed a market study of 18 restaurants, their plate types, costs, and trends. FoodLab Chicago also developed for select restaurants 6 new, on-trend plates that are culturally appropriate, high quality, nutritionally rich and calorie conscious. Greater Chatham Initiative has helped 49 non-food business owners receive $5.1 million in loans and grants from 2017 and 2019. In 2021 Greater Chatham Initiative formed the new Soul Delivered, which is a L3C Business-to-Business food delivery service that will serve South Side restauranteurs customers. By delivering meals at a much-reduced costs for 18 Black-owned restaurants allows those entrepreneurs to have a sustainable delivery service business model

Public Safety re safety activities Greater Chatham Initiative executes through its Restorative Practice programs. In 2019 Greater Chatham Initiative provided to the City of Chicago Department of Public Health Restorative Justice introductory sessions, Chatham Chatham's introductory sessions and community circles, Circle Keeper Trainings, Circle Keeper Intensive training, community building circles, and community check-in circles. During the first two years Greater Chatham Initiative served 524 unduplicated persons: 325 in 2019 and 199 in 2020. Of the 426 persons we have demographic data for, 275 or 64% were youths, 151 or 36% were adults, 299 or 60% were female, and 197 or 40% were male. Consistent with the community, 95% were black, 1% were Latinx, 2% were mixed-race, and 2% were other.Now in 2021 or the 3rd program year, the program continues to grow. More than 500 unduplicated youths and adults who reside in the Greater Chatham communities have participated in Restorative Justice introductory sessions, Restorative Chats and Circles, Community Building, Trauma and Healing Circles, Circle Keeper Trainings, Circle Keeper Intensive training, and World Caf workshops. Greater Chatham Initiative supported 270 businesses after the summer 2020 civil unrest.

Place Making activities maintain the area's rich cultural, and business and personal legacies. Greater Chatham Initiative started Dining on the 5, a summer outdoor dining activity from 2017-2020 built community and drove traffic to 11 food-establishments located along a 4-block corridor that is known as Restaurant Row (200-440 East on 75th Street, Chicago, Illinois). Annually, it drew 125,000 residents and visitors. Sales increase by 10% or $2.4-3.6 million for 11 food-establishments for 90 days. Dining on the 5 morphed into the award-winning 75th Street Boardwalk on Restaurant Row, when during fall 2020, the Greater Chatham Initiative, in collaboration with SiteDesign, Westbrook Architects, Krueck Sexton Partners, City of Chicago Department of Planning and Department of Transportation transformed a 2-block corridor. The 75th Street Boardwalk was located at 203-328 E. 75th Street into a spectacular placekeeping project where 359 linear feet is turned into 13-area great rooms. Half of the rooms were used for outdoor dining space for restaurants. The Greater Chatham Initiative activated the space with ten-events in 2020 and 2021 where 850 residents and visitors participated. The Boardwalk received the CNDA, Congress for the New Urbanism and the 2020-2021 Merit Award for Design from the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects awards. Early on, Greater Chatham Initiative created a new Chatham Center Chicagoa branded commercial retail area that has an accompanying online directory of 300 merchants and service providers.Now in 2021 or the 3rd program year, the program continues to grow. More than 500 unduplicated youths and adults who reside in the Greater Chatham communities have participated in Restorative Justice introductory sessions, Restorative Chats and Circles, Community Building, Trauma and Healing Circles, Circle Keeper Trainings, Circle Keeper Intensive training, and World Caf workshops. Greater Chatham Initiative supported 270 businesses after the summer 2020 civil unrest. Placekeeping and placemaking activities maintain the area's rich cultural, and business and personal legacies. Greater Chatham Initiative started Dining on the 5, a summer outdoor dining activity from 2017-2020 built community and drove traffic to 11 food-establishments located along a 4-block corridor that is known as Restaurant Row (200-440 East on 75th Street, Chicago, Illinois). Annually, it drew 125,000 residents and visitors. Sales increase by 10% or $2.4-3.6 million for 11 food-establishments for 90 days. Dining on the 5 morphed into the award-winning 75th Street Boardwalk on Restaurant Row, when during fall 2020, the Greater Chatham Initiative, in collaboration with SiteDesign, Westbrook Architects, Krueck Sexton Partners, City of Chicago Department of Planning and Department of Transportation transformed a 2-block corridor. The 75th Street Boardwalk was located at 203-328 E. 75th Street into a spectacular placekeeping project where 359 linear feet is turned into 13-area great rooms. Half of the rooms were used for outdoor dining space for restaurants. The Greater Chatham Initiative activated the space with ten-events in 2020 and 2021 where 850 residents and visitors participated. The Boardwalk received the CNDA, Congress for the New Urbanism and the 2020-2021 Merit Award for Design from the Illinois Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects awards. Early on, Greater Chatham Initiative created a new Chatham Center Chicagoa branded commercial retail area that has an accompanying online directory of 300 merchants and service providers. Corridor Development activities of the Greater Chatham Initiative is opening its first node on a 1-mile stretch along 79th Street from State Street to Cottage Grove Avenue. The District is named after its famous resident, and is called the Mahalia Jackson Arts District. The first node is located in a storefront at 735 E. 79th Street storefront in November 2021; it is called Artists on the 9 and 2 local artists currently operate out of the space. Various arts-related programming is has been developed for Artists on the 9. A LISC placemaking grant will secure the branding of the area around the space as an arts district and make a range of improvements at the intersection of 79th St and Evans Ave. Summer 2022, Greater Chatham Initiative, with morph its former 75th Street Boardwalk into Boardwalk 2.0, which consists of 8 modular parklet units. The mobile units can be lined up in a row along the curb, or they can be placed in groups of 2, 4, or 8 in a parking lot or vacant lot. The units would have the requisite street barriers, planters, lighting, movable and stationary tables and chairs, children and adult play areas, and a dog park. Approximately 100 people and 12 dogs can be accommodated at one time. During the 3-years we expect approx. 18,750 to visit Boardwalk 2.0. at a dozen sites spread across Chatham.