Thrive 2025 Quarter 4 AWN Special Section (2019)

December 11, 2019

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

RECOGNIZING THE NEED FOR A COMMUNITY-LED APPROACH PAGE 3 | HIGHLIGHTS FROM IMPLEMENTATION YEAR 1 PAGES 4-5 | BMO HARRIS BANK’S $10 MILLION INVESTMENT PAGE 7

AN AUSTIN RENAISSANCE

HAS BEGUN!

How a community is leading its own transformation Photo by Courtney Morrison, courtesy of United Way of Metro Chicago.

Dave Casper, CEO of BMO Harris Bank, and Darnell Shields, Executive Director of Austin Coming Together with United Way of Metro Chicago’s Jose Rico, Chief Partnerships and Initiatives Officer, and Sean Garrett, President and CEO while participating in Mayor Lightfoot’s Oct. 21st press conference.

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Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

Austin Coming Together (ACT) serves a network of 50+ organizations committed to improving the quality of life in the Austin community. Our strategic plan is called Thrive 2025 and outlines how we will mobilize our resources to achieve 4 impact goals by the year 2025: Quality Early Learning, Safe Neighborhoods, Living Wage Careers, and Stable Housing Markets.

ACT BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Officers

Larry Williams, Chair Broker, State Farm Insurance

Ruth Kimble, Vice-Chair Executive Director, Austin Childcare Providers’ Network

Angela Waller, Secretary Community & Government Relations Director, Advocate Aurora Health

Deborah Williams, Treasurer

Tenisha Jones

Jack Macnamara

Community Outreach & Engagement Specialist, Habilitative Systems, Inc.

Chief Program Officer, Chicago Child Care Society

Visiting Scholar, Center for Urban Research & Learning at Loyola University

Directors

Bradly Johnson Director of Core Programs, BUILD Inc.

Sharon Morgan Director of Community Outreach, Catalyst Schools

Reverend Reginald E. Bachus Pastor, Friendship Baptist Church

Reginald Little Mortgage Loan Officer for Residential Lending, Old Second National Bank

Founders Mildred Wiley, 1955-2019 Founding Board Chair

Dawn Ferencak Associate Publisher, Austin Weekly News

ACT STAFF Leadership Team

Service Delivery Team

Planning & Investment Team

Operations Team

• Darnell Shields*

• Jerome Sader

• Jose Abonce

• Erica Billings

• Sandra Diaz

• Ethan Ramsay

• Tanner Beck

• Jai Jones

• Christopher Banks

Executive Director

• Shavion Scott Director of Strategic Initiatives

• Alicia Plomin-Spitler Marketing & Development Manager

• Andrew Born

Research & Evaluation

*Ex Officio Member of the ACT Board of Directors

Neighborhood Network Manager Community Hub Coordinator Community Engagement Coordinator

Lead Organizer Project Coordinator

Operations Coordinator Office Administrator

Micro Market Recovery Program Coordinator

• Dollie Sherman

Youth Engagement Coordinator

• Aaliyah Phillips

Hub Engagement Associate

ACT MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS A House in Austin Accion Austin Childcare Providers’ Network Austin Weekly News Be Strong Families Beat the Streets Chicago Because I Care Beyond Hunger (fka Oak Park River Forest Food Pantry) BUILD, Inc. By the Hand Club for Kids Cara Catholic Charities Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures Chicago Community Loan Fund

College Mentoring Experience Cluster Tutoring Program Erikson Institute First United Church of Oak Park Friends of the Children Friendship Community Development Corp. of Austin Greater West Town Community Development Project Housing Forward I.C. Stars IFF Institute for Nonviolence Chicago Jane Addams Resource Corporation Kids First Chicago

KRA Westside American Job Center Legal Aid Chicago (fka LAF) Manufacturing Renaissance Mary Shyrese Daycare Mercy Housing Lakefront New Moms OAI, Inc. Oak Park Regional Housing Center Open Books Prevention Partnership Project Exploration ReDevelopment Management Resources, Inc. Sarah’s Inn South Austin Neighborhood Association

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St. Joseph Services St. Leonard’s Ministries The Catalyst Schools The Loretto Hospital The North Avenue District, Inc. UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work VOCEL Westside Forward (evolving from Bethel New Life) Westside Health Authority Worldvision Youth Guidance

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

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Recognizing the need for a community-led approach

F

By: Darnell Shields Executive Director, Austin Coming Together

rom the day Austin Coming Together (ACT) was founded back in 2010, we knew that the best way to help our community was to truly engage and listen. Only then could we position ourselves to help ignite a revolution of positive change.

Funders are sharing this vision, and understanding that neighborhoods themselves know what efforts will catalyze the largest impact. Among them is United Way of Metro Chicago.

President and CEO of United Way of Metro Chicago, Sean Garrett, says “Real change at the neighborhood level starts with residents’ visions [like Quality-of-Life Plans]. We believe in this collaborative, communityled approach, and we look forward to working in partnership with the Mayor and other community investors to accelerate the implementation of these place-based strategies.”

Our long-standing partnerships with United Way of Metro Chicago and Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) have helped us encourage corporations to take on this new approach, too. An example is the $620,000 investment Wells Fargo made earlier this year to support Austin.

Austin’s Quality-of-Life Plan (QLP) has been a tool to spark discussions and generate new partnerships, in addition to being a roadmap for investment in the private sector. Now, we are also seeing public systems recognizing the need to endorse efforts like the QLP. Earlier this year, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s transition team of ten committees published a 100+ page report summarizing their recommendations.

The Planning with Neighborhoods chapter states “As the city recommits to comprehensive planning, engagement of neighborhoods is critical, and the first step should be to leverage the infrastructure of organizations that have created community-led plans.”

Doing so would “unleash the innovative and resilient leadership that exists across the entire city, creating self-sustained, self-determined communities.”

And the City is listening! They are now creating a Neighborhood Planning team within the Department of Planning, and the new Deputy Mayor of Economic Development Samir Mayekar has already met with neighborhood groups like the Austin African American Business Networking Association (AAABNA) and ACT. Mayekar oversees nine departments, from planning and development to housing.

Deputy Mayor Mayekar has assured us of the City’s dedication to working with neighborhoods to address their needs. He and his team will be

Photo by Courtney Morrison, courtesy of United Way of Metro Chicago.

Left to right: Alderman Emma Mitts; Commissioner Maurice Cox; Mayor of Chicago Lori Lightfoot; ACT Executive Director Darnell Shields; Malcolm Crawford, founder and director of the Austin African American Business Networking Association Inc. partnering with ACT to review what QLP projects require the City’s immediate attention in the next 6 months in order to be actualized by the plan’s completion goal of year end 2023.

True to the commitment stated in the Mayor’s Transition Report, the City has started connecting community plans to a citywide and regional growth strategy.

That citywide strategy includes a recently announced program called INVEST South/West, a groundbreaking collaborative aligning public, private, and philanthropic funding to create a support network for planned growth on Chicago’s South and West sides.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said, “Partnerships like this one will create lasting, measurable change and bolster our efforts to create a network of communities for transformative growth powered by our shared investments in infrastructure, commercial activity, and quality of life [improvement] projects.”

This shows movement towards restoring decades of inequity and a concerted respect for how neighborhoods like Austin are already affecting

Download the full version of the Austin Quality-of-Life Plan at austincomingtogether.org/QLP

their own revitalization.

The City’s Department of Planning and Development Commissioner Maurice Cox says, “This unprecedented level of coordination between City departments will reinforce neighborhood centers as destination points for local residents and visitors, especially in terms of economic vitality, jobs, and community cohesion.”

The Austin community has been empowered and enabled to plan for itself. But now, the resources needed to actualize what the community has put forth must be generated.

The initial cost of implementing Austin’s QLP within the central part of Austin alone is estimated to be around $100 million.

Investments like the recent $10 million from BMO Harris Bank and support from United Way of Metro Chicago have helped move Austin’s community renaissance one step forward.

We hope the level of support the QLP has seen in year one will continue to gain momentum. The plan has 83 remaining actions to be completed and will need millions more to achieve them all.

“Partnerships like this one will create lasting, measurable change and...transformative growth powered by our shared investments in infrastructure, commercial activity, and quality of life projects.”

LORI LIGHTFOOT Mayor of Chicago

Over the next couple pages, you will see highlights of what has already been accomplished in the plan’s first year of implementation. Check out page 7 to learn more about INVEST South/West and the BMO Harris Bank investment.

The path has been paved. So let us continue walking in this direction together, and we will realize our common vision for a thriving Austin!

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Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

Austin’s Quality-of-Life Plan Highlights Over 20% of Total Actions Initiated in Year 1 FEBRUARY

JUNE

M AY

In partnership with the Chicago Westside NAACP, three political forums were hosted, one for 29th Ward Alderman and two for the Mayoral race. These efforts were part of Civic Engagement Action 1.2* “Educate voters and increase voter turnout.”

$275,000

$620,000

Wells Fargo’s most recent investment, awarded to 10 A dozen youth came together to build relationships and take part in one of Territory’s design studios.. These studios give youth an opportunity to articulate their current relationships with public space in Austin and receive an introduction to technical skills in community planning. This was part of Youth Empowerment Action 1.1* “Involve young people in the community in the leadership of the QLP”

organizations committed as an Implementation Partner for the QLP, in amounts that ranged from

Territory and BUILD participants discuss their vision for safe spaces in Austin with Alderman Taliaferro.

Total investment in our community through the Safe & Peaceful Grant which received over 120 applications from Austin, more than any other community this year. ACT provided technical assistance with grant writing to some of the awardees.

$50,000 TO

$75,000

APRIL ACT and its members were given a seat at the table to voice Austin’s plan when asked to hold a position on Mayor Lightfoot’s Transition Team. ACT, Cara, and West Side Forward were representatives on the Business, Economic and Neighborhood Development Transition Committee where Darnell Shields and Maria Kim served as Co-Chairs with Ed Coleman as a member. Ruth Kimble of Austin Childcare Providers’ Network (ACPN) and Natasha Smith-Walker of Project Exploration were members of the Education Transition Committee.

FIRST ACTION COMPLETED! Michele Clark High School has been selected by the City to offer an International Baccalaureate (IB) program beginning in 2020, accomplishing Education Action 4.1*, to “Establish a high-quality high school IB program and other options for students.” Clark becomes the first IB High School on the West Side and means elementary students part of the IB program will no longer be forced to leave Austin to continue their chosen education.

The Collective Impact Forum hosted their annual event on May 14-16 in Chicago, bringing out hundreds of community development professionals from all over the world. Austin was chosen among only two neighborhoods for a community tour for these international guests. This tour highlighted the sites of QLP Implementation Partners, and even helped guests learn about the QLP Focal Project to transform the closed Emmet Elementary School into the Aspire Workforce Innovation Center. *These reference numbers coincide with the full list of Strategies and Actions in the plan.

READ THE PLAN AT austincomingtogether.org/QLP

Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4 ustin’s Quality-of-Life Plan (QLP) is a set of 23 strategies and 84 actions created by and for the community to address 7 Issue A Areas over the next 5 years.

An organization who carries out the plan’s actions is called an Implementation Partner (IP). Here are the number of unique IPs currently committed to one or more actions:

Community Narrative ........12 Economic Development.......9 Education ............................7 Housing ...............................5 Public Safety .......................8 Youth Empowerment ...........5 Civic Engagement................5

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Although implementation just began in 2019, ACT is already leveraging the plan as a tool to develop resources and investment in Austin. These two pages feature just some of the accomplishments in the plan’s first year.

Want to learn more about these highlights? Find the interactive digital version of this publication at AustinComingTogether.org/QLP

J U LY

NOVEMBER

The South Austin Neighborhood Association (SANA) helped form the Austin Garden Collective to generate awareness and support of the area’s 15 community gardens. The Collective hosted volunteer days and educational seminars in the Summer of 2019 as part of Community Narrative Action 3.4* “Build a sense of community through activities such as creating and maintaining community gardens.”

177 Volunteers | 11 Gardening Volunteer Days | 2 Gardening Seminars

SEPTEMBER

$1 million Investment from the Waddell Family that was facilitated by United Way of Metro Chicago. It will support QLP efforts such as the expansion of Austin’s community garden initiative, as well as workforce and professional development programs offered

by ACT Member organizations.

“REAL CHANGE AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD LEVEL STARTS WITH RESIDENTS’ VISIONS.” SEAN GARRETT

President and CEO of United Way of Metro Chicago

$335,000

Grants given to Forty Acres Fresh Market to expand pop-up markets and food delivery service in Austin.

Forty Acres is an Implementation Partner for Community Narrative Action 3.2* to “create environments that foster health and wellness in the community by promoting healthier food choices across Austin.”

115

OCTOBER

Total Gateway credit hours earned by Symposium attendees.

Credits are helpful towards a professional certification or even towards accessing government funding. As part of Education Action 1.2* “Improve the early learning environment in Austin by helping existing providers become accredited and more deeply prepared for child development,” the Austin Childcare Providers’ Network (ACPN) and ACT hosted the 8th Annual Early Childhood Symposium on October 12, 2019.

Austin sites like the historic Austin Town Hall were included in Chicago Architecture Center’s free annual Open House Chicago for the first time in 2018 and again in 2019.

ACT’s Executive Director Darnell Shields was invited to do a video interview for Comcast Newsmakers, a short-form news platform where leaders and innovators exchange ideas and tackle issues facing communities across America. Shields used this opportunity to create awareness for Austin’s community plan.

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Units of affordable housing being developed

by Westside Health Authority (WHA) to be available for their clients.

These efforts move forward Housing Action 3.2* “Build new quality transitional housing for populations facing specific challenges.”

*These reference numbers coincide with the full list of Strategies and Actions in the plan.

READ THE PLAN AT austincomingtogether.org/QLP

DECEMBER

Coming up On December 14th, Austin Coming Together will be presented with the Burnham Award for its coordination of Austin’s Quality-of-life Plan.

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Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

Austin Quality-of-Life Plan Leaders Community Narrative Task Force Committee Chairs: Briana Shields - Briana Janeé Arts Kenneth Varner - Healthy Schools Campaign Strategy Leads: Lasondra Kern - Resident Suzanne McBride - Austin Talks Michael Romain - Austin Weekly News Cindy Schneider - Spaces-n-Places

Economic Development Task Force Committee Chairs: Jerrod Williams - Community Resident & SANA member Thomas Gary - Community Resident Strategy Leads: Heather Sattler - Community Development Consultant Emily Peters - Jane Addams Resource Corporation

Melody Lewis - Austin Chamber of Commerce Roxanne Charles - West Side Forward

Education Task Force Committee Chairs: Natasha Smith-Walker - Project Exploration Crystal Bell - Ella Flagg Young Elementary Charles Anderson - Michele Clark High School Strategy Leads: Ruth Kimble - Austin Childcare Providers’ Network Pam Price - Chicago Public Schools Sean Schindl - Kids First Chicago Natasha Dunn - VOCEL Cata Truss - Community Resident

Housing

Youth Empowerment

Task Force Committee Chairs: Athena Williams - West Cook Homeownership Center Allison McGowan - Community Resident Strategy Leads: Shirley Fields - Hunter’s Realty Rosie Dawson - Westside Health Authority Athena Williams - West Cook Homeownership Center Chris Banks - Austin Coming Together

Task Force Committee Chair: Carmen Scott-Boria - BUILD Inc. Strategy Leads: Deonna Hart - BUILD Inc. Jeramie McGill - St. Joseph Services Frederica Malone - Catholic Charities Gina Young - Catholic Charities

Public Safety Task Force Committee Chairs: Bradly Johnson - BUILD Inc. Juan Villalobos - BUILD Inc. Marilyn Pitchford - Heartland Alliance Strategy Leads: Edwina Hamilton - BUILD Inc. Adam Alonso - BUILD Inc. Bradly Johnson - BUILD Inc. Jordan Bester - Westside Health Authority

Civic Engagement Task Force Committee Chair: Deborah Williams - Habilitative Systems Inc..

Strategy Leads: Arnold Bearden - South Austin Neighborhood Association (SANA) Sharif Walker - Austin Resident

Interested in joining the Implementation Task Force?

Contact ACT’s Lead Organizer, Jose Abonce, at 773-417-8615 or jabonce@austincomingtogether.org for more information.

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THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

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Photo by Courtney Morrison, courtesy of United Way of Metro Chicago.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot during her announcement of INVEST South/West, the City’s new initiative to support ten historically underserved communities on Chicago’s South and West sides.

BMO Harris Bank’s $10 Million Gift to Austin

O

By: Lacey Sikora Contributing reporter Austin Coming Together

n October 21, Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot announced a neighborhood investment initiative to support revitalization of the city’s South and West Sides at an event in the city’s Austin Neighborhood. The INVEST South/West alliance is an unprecedented collaboration of government, businesses, philanthropies, and community leaders which will allocate more than $1 billion over the next three years to revitalize the core of ten underinvested Chicago neighborhoods.

In a press release, Mayor Lightfoot stated of the initiative, “These public-private partnerships are crucial to reverse historic levels of disinvestment and decades of neglect in many neighborhoods, and ultimately build safer and more economicallyvibrant corridors throughout our city.”

BMO Harris Bank spearheaded INVEST South/ West’s first corporate sponsorship by committing

$10 million to United Way of Metro Chicago. With the gift, the largest in United Way of Metro Chicago’s history, BMO Harris is working to deepen its impact in Chicago neighborhoods, with a specific focus on resident-led efforts guided by Austin Coming Together (ACT).

In 2015, United Way of Metro Chicago launched the Neighborhood Network with BMO Harris as a cornerstone investor working to create and implement strategies to reduce economic disparity in Chicago. That same year, Austin Coming Together, funded by the United Way, created a ten-year strategic plan, Thrive 2025. That strategy positioned them to facilitate the creation of a community-wide Quality-of-Life Plan (QLP). Supported by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), stakeholders and residents in the Austin community are using this QLP to improve education outcomes, create local businesses and jobs, increase access to living wage employment opportunities for Austin residents and develop affordable housing for purchase by Austin families.

Darnell Shields, Executive Director of Austin Coming Together, notes that the Austin community

is Chicago’s second-largest neighborhood by population and the largest by geographic area but has struggled with lack of investment and support while battling an image of prevalent crime and violence.

Shields says that BMO Harris’ extraordinary gift to the United Way will be part of the solution for Austin. “Austin is now at this tipping point. Everyone is poised to take action on the things that they have all identified as holding them back. Without United Way’s Neighborhood Network Initiative and supporters like BMO Harris Bank, I honestly don’t think Austin Coming Together would have evolved into the force we are today leading this community renaissance.”

BMO’s donation, the majority of which will be heavily concentrated in the Austin neighborhood, will help the community implement its QLP and will support programs, social service infrastructure and capital improvement.

United Way of Metro Chicago is also contributing $25 million over five years to help support community-led projects and address challenges in several West and South Side Chicago neighborhoods

“A ustin is poised to take action on the things that they have all identified as holding them back.”

DARNELL SHIELDS

Executive Director of Austin Coming Together as part of its Neighborhood Network Initiative.

Sean Garrett, President and CEO of United Way of Metro Chicago, points out that Austin Coming Together’s ten years of relationship-building efforts have positioned Austin to leverage the help of United Way and corporate sponsors such as BMO Harris to create significant impact in Austin, saying, “Darnell and his team at Austin Coming Together have laid out a framework to bring [Austin’s Qualityof-Life Plan] to life. We’re honored to help accelerate the implementation of that vision, and inspired to see the leadership of Mayor Lightfoot and BMO Harris Bank to bring the resources and focus needed to support the residents of Austin.”

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Austin Weekly News December 11, 2019

THRIVE 2025: 2019 QUARTER 4

AUSTIN COMM U N I THAS Y BEGUN! A NEIGHBORHOOD RENAISSANCE S U M M I T SUMMIT AUSTIN COMMUNITY

For more information, contact QLP Lead Organizer Jose Abonce 773-417-8615

SCAN ME

SAVE THE DATE!

March 28, 2020

Join us in celebrating our 10 year anniversary at our annual dance party fundraiser!

AustinComingTogether.org/SpringSocial

For sponsorship info, contact Alicia: apspitler@austincomingtogether.org