More than 215 residents, leaders and business people from the Quad Communities neighborhoods gathered at visioning sessions in 2003 to discuss the community and how it might be improved. Seventy-five resident leaders met on Aug. 2, fifty institutional and religious leaders participated on Oct. 23 and about 90 business owners and leaders met on Nov. 20.
The three-hour meetings included small-group sessions on topics of interest to residents.
This summary is a compilation the major topic areas discussed:
I.
II.
Education
Employment
III.
Social, recreational and health services
IV.
Commercial and business development
V.
Housing
VI.
Safety
VII.
Arts/cultural programming
The groups also discussed general strategies to improve the Quad Communities service area, which consists of the 4th Ward sections of Oakland, Douglas, Grand Boulevard and North Kenwood. They suggested:
 Expanding communication among residents, using not only newsletters and web sites but people, organizations, youth, churches and networks.
 Taking advantage of the area’s great location to create a viable and vibrant walking community with access to the lakefront, shopping streets, el stops and institutions.
 Breaking down barriers that separate neighbor from neighbor by addressing splits related to income, CHA residency, organizational affiliation and geography.
 Acknowledging the rapid changes underway as the neighborhood redevelops and using this momentum to create a new community that works well for existing residents as well as newcomers.
Education in the Quad Communities has for many years been under-appreciated and under-funded, resulting in poor student performance and limited prospects for longterm academic achievement. Participants want to make the schools comfortable, safe
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places for learning and social development. Everyone – regardless of income – should be able to procure a quality education for his or her children within the neighborhood.
Some strategies to pursue:
1. Create a community-wide effort to improve schools
Schools must be improved or some people will leave the community to gain access to better education.
 Uplift surrounding schools to feed into quality local high schools
 Improve discipline and academic programming through a joint effort of parents, teachers, community and principals.
 Hold principals accountable for low achievement.
 Renovate school buildings and beautify their campuses.
 Address enrollment declines at Doolittle East and other local schools.
 Initiate more partnerships with the Chicago Park District, area universities and social service agencies.
2. Develop new and improved programming for students
Participants suggested many approaches to improving the academic, social and community programming at schools, such as:
 Magnet school development.
 After-school programs/social centers/park district programs.
 Peer mentoring and tutor mentoring programs.
 Technology in classrooms.
 Saturday school (tutoring, supplemental instruction) at DuSable.
 Arts and cultural programming.
 Youth leadership development.
 Alternative education options.
 College prep courses.
 Foreign languages.
 Sex education to address teenage pregnancy/young mothers.
 Expanded physical fitness programs.
 Smaller class size.
 Better teacher training.
3. Increase parental and community involvement
Changing the community mindset about local schools will require participation by parents and community members who support change and bring new resources into the buildings. Ideas include:
 Development of parent and community councils, PTAs, PTOs.
 Community-based leadership programs such as at Reavis, Fuller Schools.
 Community forums/meetings.
 Mentoring or tutoring by community residents and older people.
 Block clubs and neighborhoods “championing” or adopting schools.
 Involvement of newer residents and non-parents.
 Evening programming such as adult education, computer training.
 Stronger Local School Councils with quality parent representatives.
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 Resources to help parents develop parenting skills and help their children.
Access to jobs and to programs that improve one’s ability to earn a good living can help residents connect to the mainstream economy while providing a local economic boost as those residents increase their spending and investment. Some strategies include:
1. Develop programs to improve skills and links to nearby jobs:
 Develop specialized training around cultural skills, motivation and career paths.
 Create a training center for job readiness, acquisition and retention.
 Distribute a directory of job training organizations.
 Create links and partnerships with minority- and women-owned businesses.
 Connect residents to jobs at hospitals, retail stores and nearby industries.
2. Address specialized needs and provide supportive services, such as:
 Individual and family counseling.
 Alternative sentencing (employment) for ex-prisoners.
 Drug treatment, health and other social services.
 Child care.
3. Create or expand employment-related programs for:
 Youth who are seeking part-time entry-level jobs.
 Adults aged 20 to 24 who need a living-wage income.
 Ex-offenders who have returned to the community.
 Men who have little experience in the mainstream job market.
 CHA residents seeking a permanent home in the redeveloped mixed-income communities.
Recreational programs, good health care and basic services like child care help residents lead healthy and productive lives. The neighborhood also needs programs that address domestic violence, mental health, family crisis, addiction or past incarceration. Some ideas to improve or add these supports include:
1. “Break the cycle” by focusing on children and families
One way to help build healthier families is to communicate with, greet and encourage children and their parents. Ideas include:
 Pitching participation by parents at all community meetings.
 Developing personal commitments among teachers and parents.
 Encouraging parents to monitor their child’s appearance when going to school.
 Creating block clubs and other groups to support kids, buy book bags and supplies, create scholarships: “Shock them by showing you care.”
2. Develop and coordinate a range of quality social services
Partnerships and communication among local organizations can bring broader and higher-quality services to residents. First steps might include:
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 Developing quality case management and adequate funding.
 Demanding accountability from programs and organizations.
 Creating a “one-stop” center to provide links to all social services.
 Developing an inventory of church services.
 Providing services for the community’s aging population.
 Monitoring of CHA’s Service Connector program.
 Ensuring quality child care including 24-hour care.
3. Create quality recreational and social opportunities
Helping youth and adults maintain healthy lifestyles requires a variety of social and recreational outlets. Some possible approaches:
 Developing a state-of-the-art field house and new open space.
 Upgrading existing facilities and expanding programming.
 Creating arts initiatives, art fairs, storytelling.
 Adding structured youth programs such as basketball teams, peer tutoring, sex education.
 Helping youth and adults develop lifetime skills such as balancing a checkbook, filling out job applications, parenting and communication.
 Using churches as a source of community recreation.
 Encouraging residents to develop and support youth programs.
4. Ensure a broad range of health service options
 Increase the number and quality of smaller clinics.
 Entice physicians and dentists to the community with incentives if needed.
 Attract pharmacies as part of any retail development strategy.
 Increase access to and support for mental health services.
 Build connections to University of Chicago Hospitals and Mercy Hospital.
The Quad Communities neighborhoods lack the variety and quality of retail stores and commercial services that residents want, forcing most people to leave the community to meet their needs. Participants said the neighborhood today is a gray expanse with little color, beauty or unity. To attract retailers and shoppers, the neighborhood should
“banish the gray” and beautify retail areas with landscaping, banners, artwork, renewed facades and plenty of shoppers.
1. Develop streetscaping plans for the major corridors
 Fix broken sidewalks, curbs and other infrastructure.
 Add landscaping and ornamental streetlights.
 Create standards for uniform signage.
 Promote façade beautification and city façade rebates.
 Create green spaces along retail strips and add public artwork.
2. Develop unified districts that are safe, walkable and busy
The three main corridors (Cottage Grove, 43rd and 47th) should be developed with unified plans that match existing and planned uses of the street. For instance, 47th Street
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might have an arts theme because arts groups are building new homes there. A pedestrian orientation was widely endorsed.
 Create streetscape links to Drexel at major intersections.
 Encourage new development that fits with existing architecture.
 Promote a mix of uses including residential and late-evening businesses to encourage all-hours pedestrian traffic (for safety).
 Encourage use of walking and biking police officers.
3. Attract a range of businesses for a mixed-income clientele
Business leaders and residents want the neighborhood to provide all the basic services one needs within walking distance or a short transit or auto trip. They also called for a variety of other retail, service, entertainment and cultural uses.
 Bring in necessary businesses including groceries, clothing, dry cleaners, furniture, sit-down restaurants, cafes, convenience, housewares, hardware, childcare, produce stands, health food, beauty supply, office supply, copy centers, banks, sandwich shops, vision/eyecare, shoe repair, gas stations, mechanics and car washes.
 Attract “non-essential-but-nice” businesses including spas, cooking schools, novelty shops, crafts stores, card shops, nail salons, candle stores, pet stores, teacher supply stores and upscale liquor and wine shops.
 Bring in practical businesses like internet/computer, bakery, Dunkin Donuts, electronics, fabric stores, florist, hotels/motels, health clubs and parking garages.
 Locate anchor and “big-box” stores to support smaller businesses. Big stores such as supermarkets, Linens and Things, and Target can help bring customers to the area, but the locations and design should preserve a pedestrian environment and avoid traffic problems.
 Develop cultural and entertainment attractions such as bookstores, art galleries,
Afrocentric stores, music stores, antique and architectural shops, movie theaters, bowling, skating, nightclubs, beer gardens and family-oriented complexes like
Dave and Buster’s or Chuckie Cheese.
 Support “mom and pop” and minority-owned enterprises.
4. Organize a local chamber of commerce
A chamber of commerce could become a vehicle for business owners to communicate with each other and work together. It could:
 Organize existing business owners/leaders.
 Support new businesses through promotions and outreach.
 Organize job training programs.
 Develop marketing, promotions and joint advertising and facilitate shared use of facilities.
 Create a community web site or sites to share information.
5. Create a business development center
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A business development center could support a culture of entrepreneurship and smallbusiness development by making available the services necessary to a company’s survival and growth:
 Provide technology resources and assistance.
 Help businesses access lines of credit and other funding.
 Develop linkages to job-training programs.
 Help to develop long-range business plans.
 Offer finance/accounting training programs.
 Build connections to existing business resources and programs.
Proximity to the lakefront, good transportation and historic neighborhoods make the
Quad Communities a prime choice for residential life. Participants stated a strong preference for a mixed-income neighborhood that supports existing residents and is open to newcomers. Strategies:
1. Maintain a balance of low-, middle- and high-income residents by:
 Developing a mix of housing choices and addressing the impact of rising property taxes.
 Making sure there are ownership options for households earning in the $40,000 range.
 Having units where pricing is based on income (such as Section 8).
 Offering credit counseling for potential homeowners.
 Developing resources to link people to affordable housing opportunities.
2. Support improvement to existing housing stock and management through:
 Quality housing management services.
 Programs to encourage beautification, maintenance and code compliance.
 First-time-homeowner assistance and training.
 Assistance for senior homeowners on fixed incomes (a safety net).
 Elimination of vacant lots; repairs to deteriorated buildings.
 A system to review and monitor management of housing units.
 Strong tenant councils, good partnerships with CAPS community policing.
3. Keep gentrification from becoming a negative and keep neighborhood inclusive by connecting neighbors and building relationships:
 Engage neighborhood residents including CHA residents and keep them apprised of redevelopment activity, such as the Ida B. Wells and Madden Park redevelopments and private development of new homes.
 Integrate CHA residents more fully through training in life and job skills and by creating forums for communication among community residents.
 Develop a bridging program for CHA residents and other low-income residents to keep them involved even if they have temporarily relocated outside the area.
 Work to make sure that what may start out as a class issue doesn’t become one of race.
 Make sure African-American middle and working class aren’t pushed out.
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 Develop units for a range of people including seniors, intergenerational groups, people with special needs, CHA residents and higher-income families, and without significant concentrations by income.
 Organize social events that support inclusiveness and create connections between different lifestyles.
 Encourage developers to include affordable units in their developments.
A coordinated effort to reduce crime and the perception of danger on area streets is essential. Some strategies:
1. Create a more pleasant environment that feels safe, using:
 Coordinated efforts that improve the physical environment.
 Walking/biking police.
 Block clubs that create neighborhood watches, call city for services.
 Tree trimming, street cleanups and lighting improvements.
 Business owner cleanup and accountability for their immediate area.
 Control of weeds/landscaping in overgrown areas and vacant lots.
 Improved lighting by homeowners, businesses.
 Identification and response to abandoned buildings/squatter locations.
 Organizing against drug dealing and street crime through CAPS, block clubs and coordinated strategies.
 Expansion of U. of C. security patrols and emergency phones to 39th St.
2. Address ongoing safety and crime problems, including:
 Prostitution on area streets.
 Curfew violations by youth.
 Poor building management/problematic individuals and families.
3. Improve community involvement and “minor incident” enforcement through:
 Citizen involvement in CAPS community policing meetings.
 More effective response to 311 service calls and 911 emergency calls.
 Participation in block clubs, phone trees, tenant councils.
 Enforcement of minor incidents: public drinking, urination, fornication.
 Enforcement of “No Loitering” signs.
 Police response to groups that double-park and occupy streets for talking.
Participants envision the area as a destination for arts and recreation programming for local residents and others from throughout the region and beyond. The area’s long history and attractive buildings can contribute to this cultural renaissance.
1. Make the area a “destination” community by:
 Capitalizing on the history and elegance of the culture beyond music.
 Building upon the neighborhood’s history as a place to hear live blues.
 Identifying other historical draws of interest.
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 Encouraging linkages between arts developments along 47 th Street in the QCDC service area (Muntu and Little Black Pearl at Greenwood Ave.) and farther west
(including Harold Washington Cultural Center at King Dr.)
 Preserving historic structures and keeping consistency of architectural design when developing new buildings.
 Creating a local historical society or historically themed monument.
2. Use QCDC or another vehicle to encourage collaboration between existing agencies. This is needed to:
 Leverage existing power to fullest extent.
 Share resources and ideas.
 Create new initiatives.
3. Help existing and successful arts organizations to expand their programs and create new ones. Participating agencies and ideas might include:
 Little Black Pearl – arts programming for youth and adults.
 Muntu Dance – professional dance plus local programming.
 Sutherland Hotel redevelopment – jazz and banquet facilities.
 Bronzeville Arts Trust.
 Live-work spaces for artists.
Send comments to:
Sonya Malunda
Interim Executive Director
Quad Communities Development Corporation: smalunda@uchicago.edu
fax 773-834-0379 phone 773-702-4568
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