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Arthur Watts’ barbecue helped him build a new life after slavery. Nearly 160 years later, his recipes are helping his family build a business.
- Adam Lukach, Chicago Tribune, Jul 15, 2020
Arthur Watts knew his way around an open pit barbecue from the time he was just 6 years old. Born into slavery in the Kansas City, Missouri, area, his job was to manage the cooking fires throughout the plantation.
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Matching transit to economic need
- Roberto Requejo, Crain's Chicago Business, Jun 4, 2020
We have a new way to develop all neighborhoods without displacing people: equitable transit-oriented development.
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A model to prevent a wave of evictions in the wake of coronavirus recession
- Curtis Black, The Chicago Reporter, May 13, 2020
A new coalition in East Garfield Park is aiming to head off displacement, gentrification and a land grab by speculators by protecting affordable housing and heeding the lessons of 2008.
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New coalition takes aim at displacement
- Igor Studenkov, Austin Weekly News, May 7, 2020
The Preserving Affordability Together Garfield Park Housing Coalition seeks to hold developers accountable.
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West Side Community Garden Giving Away Raspberry Bushes
- Pascal Sabino, Blockclub Chicago, Apr 28, 2020
"If you can walk outside into your yard and eat a few raspberries every day, that's pretty empowering to have control over your own food," said garden manager John Perryman.
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Community-led Coronavirus Response
- Carolina Macias, Metropolitan Planning Council Blog, Apr 6, 2020
Groups across our city and state have mobilized in offering assistance
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Coronavirus Across Chicago: East Garfield Park
- Paris Schutz, WTTW News, Apr 1, 2020
All Chicago neighborhoods have been hit hard by shutdowns related to the coronavirus, but lower-income communities that rely on social service organizations are facing a unique set of challenges.
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With East Garfield Park Ripe For Gentrification, Residents Draw Up Blueprint To Protect Themselves
- Pascal Sabino, Blockclub Chicago, Mar 16, 2020
The community-driven plan was created over the past year in response to rising rents and new development coming to the area.
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East Garfield Park residents fight rising home prices to prevent displacement as West Loop developments push west
- Sarah Shulte, ABC7, Mar 10, 2020
Home prices in East Garfield Park have increased by 20% in 2018, making it the highest in Chicago.
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Three Ideas Could Shift Housing from Outputs to Outcomes
- Kimberly Burrowes, Housing Matters, Jan 22, 2020
In October, the Urban Institute challenged attendees at the Foundations for the Future of Housing conference to design an intervention that could increase stability, well-being, or racial equity—and do so with a particular resident’s experience in mind.
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Using Data to Inform Community-Driven Decision Making in East Garfield Park
- Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, Oct 31, 2019
A critical component of the Institute for Housing Studies’ (IHS) applied research model includes technical assistance to community groups and custom data analysis that illustrates different factors behind changing neighborhood dynamics. These types of data can provide a greater understanding of the reasons behind neighborhood change, provide evidence that amplifies the day-to-day experiences of community members, and inform community-led conversions to identify priorities and strategies.
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Garfield Park urban farm planning upgrades
- Igor Studenkov, Austin Weekly News, Oct 28, 2019
FarmWorks wants to build rain garden to help prevent flooding
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City Wants To Fix Dangerous West Side Streets By Adding Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Islands And More With $6 Million Infrastructure Plan
- Pascal Sabino, Sep 16, 2019
GARFIELD PARK — Some of the most dangerous streets in the city for deadly crashes are on the West Side. Now, Mayor Lori Lightfoot and West Side community members are hoping to change that with a $6 million infrastructure improvement plan designed to make West Side streets safer.
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Affordable housing developer tapped for East Garfield Park project
- Danny Ecker, Crain's Chicago Business, May 16, 2019
The firm Preservation of Affordable Housing plans a $22.3 million environmentally friendly mixed-income housing development in the West Side neighborhood after winning a design competition.
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Hatching New Businesses: How Accion & The Hatchery are Supporting Entrepreneurship
- Kevin Beerman, Chicago Ideas Blog, May 16, 2019
EAST GARFIELD PARK — A few years back, Accion Serving Illinois and Indiana, a nonprofit lending organization that provides fiduciary support to underserved populations, had an unexpected epiphany: they needed more kitchens.
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Kuumba Tre-Ahm Community Garden hosts Food Sovereignty Action Day Sat. May 18th
- Pascal Sabino, The Real Chi, Free Spirit Media, May 16, 2019
Kuumba Tre-Ahm Community Garden will be hosting a Food Sovereignty Action Day at 9 a.m. on Saturday, May 18. The event, organized by Advocates for Urban Agriculture, will bring together community members to volunteer at the garden while also supporting local food sovereignty goals.
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The Hatchery Chicago Cooking Up Food and Jobs on the West Side
- Andrea Silets, WTTW, Apr 25, 2019
There’s a new business incubator in Chicago that's cooking up some innovative food products on the West Side. And it's the home for a culinary wizard’s passion project.
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Cooking Up New Businesses in The Hatchery
- Brad McConnell, CEO of Accion Serving Illinois and Indiana, for The Aspen Institute, Apr 10, 2019
While headlines tout a booming economy and low unemployment, many parts of the country still have not fully recovered from the Great Recession. What’s more, recent research shows that inequality within urban areas can be stark and that the divides in economic opportunity between neighbors even within a city can have lasting effects on their children’s futures. Addressing these inequities can expand opportunity now and help set up the next generation for success.
A new collaborative effort between two organizations in Chicago is working to address this challenge.
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Researchers launch plan to cut Chicago death gap in half by 2030
- Dan Williams, CGTN America, Apr 2, 2019
The sprawling West Side area of Chicago is just a few miles away from the city’s downtown. But the average life expectancy here is just 69 years of age that’s nine years below the national average and 16 years behind those living in the more affluent downtown area. That’s why researchers and the local healthcare community launched a plan to cut the death gap in half by 2030.
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Member spotlight: Garfield Park Community Council
- Steven Vance, Chicago Cityscape, Mar 27, 2019
Allen Bosbyshell is an AmeriCorps/VISTA staffer at the Garfield Park Community Council and answered the survey this month. He works with GPCC’s Housing Specialist La Shone Kelly to increase affordable housing and prevent foreclosures and demolitions.
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The Hatchery’s Packed Valentine’s Market Proves ‘There Is A Lot Of Buying Power On The West Side’
- Sarah Conway, Block Club Chicago, Feb 14, 2019
Of the 32 vendors at the market, 80 percent are West Side entrepreneurs. And lots of the small business are being helped by the new sprawling, $34 million food incubator in Garfield Park.
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Leaders do post-mortem on Hatchery's outreach efforts
- Igor Studenkov, Austin Weekly News, Feb 13, 2019
During Jan. 24 City Bureau event, experts dissected what went right, wrong with The Hatchery's engagement process
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These are the 14 candidates running for Chicago mayor
- Chicago Tribune Staff, Jan 27, 2019
Here's what you need to know about each of them.
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Chicago Neighborhoods Front and Center at Forum for Mayoral Candidates
- Linda Lutton, WBEZ, Jan 13, 2019
Hundreds of Chicagoans from Belmont Cragin to the southeast side packed an auditorium at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Saturday—many of them arriving from their neighborhoods in yellow school buses— to hear the city’s mayoral candidates talk about their plans for helping neighborhoods, which they say have been left out of Chicago’s growth.
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More than 1,000 people pack UIC's mayoral candidate forum focused on improving all Chicago neighborhoods
- Bill Ruthart, Chicago Tribune, Jan 12, 2019
A standing-room-only crowd of more than 1,000 people packed the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum on Saturday morning to watch a Chicago mayoral forum focused on doing more to improve all of the city’s 77 neighborhoods.