Austin Coming Together 060822

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AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

June 8, 2022

THE AUSTIN COMMUNITY PUBLISHED ITS FIRST QUALITY-OF-LIFE PLAN CALLED AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. (AFT) IN 2018.

THIS QUARTERLY PUBLICATION DESCRIBES HOW AUSTIN COMING TOGETHER (ACT) IS SUPPORTING THE COMMUNITY TO IMPLEMENT AFT AND OTHER EFFORTS.

FROM AN EYESORE TO A

BEACON OF HOPE

How the Austin community is transforming a closed school into the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation

ASPIRING TO CHANGE LIVES PAGE 3 | THE ASPIRE CENTER: A TIMELINE PAGE 4 A LOOK INSIDE THE ASPIRE CENTER PAGE 7 Special thanks to these Austin Forward. Together. quality-of-life plan legacy investors:

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Austin Weekly News • June 8, 2022

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

Since 2010, Austin Coming Together (ACT) has facilitated collaboration to improve education and economic development outcomes in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood.

Today, we serve 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

Tenisha Jones

TREASURER

LaDarius Curtis

Senior Director of Community Engagement & Health, West Side United

Officers

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

CHAIR

Darnell Shields

Larry Williams

Austin Coming Together

Broker, State Farm Insurance

Angela Waller

Community & Government Relations Director, Advocate Aurora Health

Sharon Morgan

Bradly Johnson

Director of External Affairs, BUILD Inc.

ACT STAFF

Strategic Initiatives

Darnell Shields

Service Delivery Enhancement Manager, Austin Community Hub

Leadership

Sandra Diaz*

Executive Director

Deirdre Bates

Hub Coordinator, Austin Community Hub

Andrew Born Strategic Advisor

Grace Cooper

Aaliyah Phillips

Natalie Goodin

JeVon D. Moore*

Nicholas Galassini

Engagement Specialist, Austin Community Hub

Engagement Coordinator, Austin Community Hub

Bethel New Life

Defy Ventures Illinois

Beyond Hunger

Erikson Institute

BUILD Inc.

Friends of the Children

Austin Childcare Providers Network

By The Hand Club For Kids

Austin Community Family Center

Catholic Charities

Friendship Community Development Corp. of Austin

Beat the Streets Chicago Because I Care

Jack Macnamara 1937–2020

FOUNDING BOARD CHAIR

Mildred Wiley 1955–2019

Project Coordinator, Austin Forward. Together.

Micro Market Recovery Program Coordinator

Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures

Greater West Town Community

Chicago Community Loan Fund

Housing Forward

City of Refuge

i.c.stars

Cluster Tutoring Program

IFF

Development Project

Marketing & Development Alicia Plomin*

Marketing & Development Manager

Scott Prywitch

Marketing & Development Coordinator

Maria Romero Luther Marketing & Development Associate

Lead Organizer, Austin Forward. Together.

Academy of Scholastic Achievement

Cara

BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Ethan Ramsay

A House in Austin

Be Strong Families

Founder & CEO, Austin Childcare Providers Network

Dollie Sherman

ACT MEMBER ORGANIZATIONS

Austin Weekly News (Growing Community Media)

In Memoriam

Planning & Investment Manager, Micro Market Recovery Program Austin Forward. Together.

Intern

Emone Moore

* Also part of the ACT Leadership Team

Max Komnenich

Dawn Ferencak

Engagement Associate, Austin Community Hub

Janelle Martin

Director of Operations

Law Clerk, Illinois Appellate Court Associate Principal, Lamar Johnson Collaborative

Community Outreach & Engagement Director of Graduate Support & Community Specialist, Habilitative Systems, Inc. Outreach, Catalyst Schools Ruth Kimble Pastor, Friendship Baptist Church

Jerrod Williams

Mortgage Loan Originator, Fifth Third Bank

Deborah Williams-Thurmond

Reverend Reginald E. Bachus

SECRETARY

Reginald Little

Senior Marketing Strategist, Chicago Parent

Directors

VICE-CHAIR

Senior Director of Strategy & Operations, West Side United

Institute for Nonviolence Chicago

Oak Park Regional Housing Center

Stone Community Development Corporation

Jane Addams Resource Corporation

Open Books

The Catalyst Schools

PCC Community Wellness Center

The Journey Forward

Kids First Chicago KRA Westside American Job Center

Project Exploration

The North Avenue District, Inc.

Legal Aid Chicago (fka LAF)

Renaissance Social Services, Inc.

Manufacturing Renaissance

Sarah’s Inn

Mary Shyrese Daycare

VOCEL

Maryville Academy

South Austin Neighborhood Association

Mercy Housing Lakefront

St. Joseph Services

West Side Forward

New Moms

St. Leonard’s Ministries

Worldvision

OAI, Inc.

Towers of Excellence UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work Westside Health Authority

Youth Guidance

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

Austin Weekly News • June 8, 2022

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Aspiring to change lives

By Darnell Shields Executive Director, Austin Coming Together

O

nce an abandoned, decaying school building, the busy corner of Madison and Central Avenue is now a construction site and a symbol of a community-led renaissance that has been underway in Austin for years.

13% between 15-24, according to the 2010 U.S. Census Bureau and forecasts for 2019.

However, more than half of working-age youth are struggling to find jobs, and many do not have their high school diploma.

The combination of a poor education system, student decline, rising costs of living, and stagnant wages have led to an unstable economy. These conditions have created a great need for workforce training and life skills development.

A COLLECTIVE EFFORT

Fortunately, hundreds of civic leaders This intersection will become the future home have mobilized around a powerful vision of the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation, for a healthy and prosperous future for a central location Austin set forth in the for career training community’s quality-ofand support that will life plan Austin Forward. improve the pathway to The community always Together. (AFT) that was further postsecondary published in 2018. felt like the school was a education and financial ASPIRE was born out opportunity for Austin very visible symbol of our of the AFT plan, and is youth and families. a set of projects that failures to meet the needs This is a meaningful includes the renovation moment for Austin of our young people and to of the vacant Robert because the Emmet Elementary community’s vision put youth on a path to have School into the Aspire is coming to fruition. careers, to be employed, to Center for Workforce The Aspire Center Innovation. ASPIRE will will catalyze Austin’s also bring a new early improve the quality of life economic development learning, health and and overcome the for young adults in the city recreation center called community’s legacy of The Aspire Education of Chicago, particularly in disinvestment, limited & Wellness Campus to opportunities, and Austin and on the West Side. the community; new fragmented services. programs and support to increase enrollment at MORRIS REED, CEO OF WESTSIDE A LONG TIME HEALTH AUTHORITY AND OWNER the Austin College and COMING Career Academy; and OF THE EMMET PROPERTY. Since the 1970s, Aspire Housing, a multipublic and private tiered approach to provide homeownership disinvestment have caused a crisis state of assistance, plus new or renovated units for sale. severe social and economic decline in Austin, Both ASPIRE and the AFT plan were created and as a result, the population has decreased by and for Austin, and have been made by 17% (over 20,000 residents) since 2000. possible by an unprecedented level of Austin has a significant youth population collaboration and large-scale support. with 15% between 25-34 years old and

After two years of community engagement, planning, research, and resource development, the ASPIRE Initiative will finally launch with The Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation.

AN ANCHOR FOR COMMERCIAL REVITALIZATION The Aspire Center will serve as a destination for top-notch workforce training. It will: •C reate linkages among programmatic initiatives and shared facilities; •E xpand and support local career pathway resources for skills training in high demand economic sectors, such as advanced manufacturing; and •S upport small businesses and entrepreneurs.

The now-closed 69,100-square-foot Chicago Public School building on the three-acre site located at 5500-5536 W. Madison Street will be transformed into a state-of-the-art multi-use facility with a business incubator for startups, a high-tech manufacturing training center, and a financial opportunity center.

In a future development phase, a new 10,000 sq. ft. Commercial Center will be built on the former school parking lot.

Adjacent, a public plaza will be shared with the Aspire Center. Opening in 2025, the Commercial Center will have a mix of local and national restaurants plus retail, such as a bank. Local and minority-owned businesses will be prioritized.

A THOUGHTFUL APPROACH The project team is creating long-term capital that will empower the Aspire Center development to be nearly debt-free.

Strategic investments from committed funding partners

along with above-market lease rates from commercial tenants will enable the Center to offer nonprofit tenant rents to be within or below market. Almost the entire amount of revenue necessary to operate the center will be achieved within five years of operation, covering dedicated staff, operational expenses, and future capital maintenance and improvements.

“The community always felt like the school was a very visible symbol of our failures to meet the needs of our young people and to put youth on a path to have careers, to be employed, to improve the quality of life for young adults in the city of Chicago, particularly in Austin and on the West Side,” said Morris Reed, CEO of Westside Health Authority, owner of the Emmet property.

By reimagining the former school, the site will no longer serve as a reminder of failure and instead, will help shape people’s lives in a positive way once again.

Keep reading for more information on this exciting new asset for our community! n

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Austin Weekly News • June 8, 2022

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

The Aspire Center: A timeline The Austin community’s ASPIRE Initiative will kickstart this year with the launch of the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation project. Here is some background information on how this important effort began:

2019

2018  The Austin Forward. Together. (AFT) quality-of-life plan is created to address a set of comprehensive, communityled strategies for neighborhood change. Over 500 community stakeholders contributed ideas that aim to attract, coordinate, and support opportunities to improve the community’s narrative, education, housing, youth empowerment, economic development, public safety, and civic engagement.  Westside Health Authority (WHA) purchases the Robert Emmet Elementary School property from Chicago Public Schools in 2018, after sitting vacant since it closed in 2013. WHA commits to allow the AFT plan to inform the redevelopment of the school.  A visioning session is hosted by the planners at Teska Associates to brainstorm ways the community could address critical needs through projects like ASPIRE.

 The architectural firm Lamar Johnson Collaborative (LJC) begins working with ACT on a pro-bono basis to develop a plan for repurposing the vacant Robert Emmet Elementary School into Austin’s Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation.

Later LJC was contracted to complete the schematic design and design development for the unique opportunity to bring economic vitality and social change to the intersection of Madison and Central.

This connection was made possible through United Way of Metro Chicago.

LEARN MORE AT AustinComingTogether.org/ASPIRE

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

2020

Austin Weekly News • June 8, 2022

2021  Years of work advances in just several months due to the Chicago Prize opportunity. Although not selected as the winning project, the process confirms the need for prioritizing one of ASPIRE’s four projects. With this in mind, the ASPIRE Center for Workforce Innovation was selected to serve as a starting point to catalyze the development of ASPIRE’s full set of Initiative Projects.

 The ASPIRE Initiative was developed in response to the $10 million Chicago Prize opportunity provided by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation. The effort incorporates several goals and ideas from the community’s AFT plan and outlines how Austin can build a stronger cradle-to-career pipeline through four investments strategically clustered around existing assets in an area bound

by Madison, Chicago, Central, and Laramie Avenues: The Aspire Education & Wellness Campus; Aspire Austin College & Career Academy; The Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation; and Aspire Housing. The $121-million-dollar ASPIRE project is a collaboration between ACT, Westside Health Authority, and By The Hand Club For Kids, and supported by IFF, Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, Krista Inc., Purpose Built Communities. ASPIRE is named among the six finalists and starts garnering investments.

 Prioritization of the Aspire Center leads to several funding commitments: $250K from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois; $10K from Chicago Community Trust; $50K from The Joyce Foundation; $22K through contributions from Austin community stakeholders; $500K from The Pritzker Traubert Foundation; $5.09M from the United Way of Metro Chicago; $10 million from an IL DCEO grant from a capital bill, sponsored by IL State Representative, La Shawn K. Ford.  The Emmet School property zoning is changed from RT-4 to B3-2 by the city’s department of planning and development in December 2021.

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2022  Brown & Momen, Inc. is selected as the general contractor to build the Aspire Center.

 In May, the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation is awarded $7.25 million in funding from the City of Chicago’s Department of Planning and Development as part of the Chicago Recovery Plan, a citywide effort to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Out of all grantees in round one, Aspire is given the largest funding amount. This support means the Aspire Center has 90% of the funds needed to proceed with construction, which is anticipated to begin as early as October 2022.

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Austin Weekly News • June 8, 2022

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

Economic Development

Education

Housing

Public Safety

TASK FORCE CHAIRS

TASK FORCE CHAIRS

TASK FORCE CHAIRS

TASK FORCE CHAIRS

Crystal Bell

Athena Williams

Bradly Johnson

Jerrod Williams South Austin Neighborhood Association

Plan Leaders Community Narrative TASK FORCE CHAIRS

Briana Shields

Briana Janeé Arts

Kenneth Varner Healthy Schools Campaign

Dearra Williams

Community Resident

STRATEGY LEADS

Lasondra Kern

Community Resident

Suzanne McBride Austin Talks

Michael Romain

Austin Weekly News

Alicia Plomin

Heather Sattler Community Development Consultant

STRATEGY LEADS

Erica Staley

Manufacturing Renaissance

Emily Peters

Jane Addams Resource Corporation

Tina Augustus Austin Coming Together Cindy Gray Schneider

Spaces-n-Places

Chicago West Side Chamber of Commerce

Roxanne Charles West Side Forward

Ella Flagg Young Elementary School (retired)

Charles Anderson Michele Clark High School

STRATEGY LEADS

Ruth Kimble

Austin Childcare Providers Network

Madelyn James

West Cook Homeownership Center

Allison McGowan

Community Resident STRATEGY LEADS

Shirley Fields Hunters Realty

Rosie Dawson Westside Health Authority

Athena Williams

BUILD Inc.

Marilyn Pitchford Heartland Alliance

STRATEGY LEADS

Adam Alonso BUILD Inc.

Edwina Hamilton BUILD Inc.

Gina Young

Catholic Charities

Youth Empowerment

Civic Engagement

TASK FORCE CHAIRS TASK FORCE CHAIRS

Carmen Scott-Boria BUILD Inc.

Deborah Williams-Thurmond

Habilitative Community Stakeholder Systems Inc.

D’elegance Lane

STRATEGY LEADS

STRATEGY LEADS

Deonna Hart

Arnold Bearden

BUILD Inc.

Gina Young

Catholic Charities

South Austin Neighborhood Association (SANA)

Aisha Oliver

Crystal Gardner

Bertha Purnell

Protest to the Polls

Mothers OnA Mission28

Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago

Jose Abonce

Helen Slade

Bethel New Life

Chicago Public Schools

The Policing Project

Territory NFP

Cata Truss

Ruby Taylor

Dollie Sherman

Austin Childcare Providers Network

Pam Price

Community Resident

Sean Schindl

Kids First Chicago

West Cook Homeownership Center

Taproots, Inc.

Sharif Walker

Austin Coming Together

INTERESTED IN JOINING AN IMPLEMENTATION TASK FORCE? Contact ACT’s Lead Organizer, Ethan Ramsay at 630.474.4016 or eramsay@austincomingtogether.org for more information

Austin Weekly News • June 8, 2022

AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2022 QUARTER 2

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A look inside the Aspire Center

By Alicia Plomin Marketing & Development Manager, Austin Coming Together

A

ustin-based partners Austin Coming Together (ACT) and Westside Health Authority (WHA) are codevelopers for the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation project, the transformation of the Emmett School building and property at Central Avenue and Madison in Austin into a into a centralized location for both supportive services and complementary career development programs.

In addition to ACT and WHA being anchor tenants at the Center, both organizations have been working together since 2019 to craft the detailed project vision in addition to leading the fundraising and community outreach that have enabled the project to be ready to begin construction this year.

Let’s get to know the organizations that will operate the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation:

ASPIRE CENTER DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATIONS WHA has owned the property where the now closed Emmet School resides since 2018 and has been providing support to residents through community reentry, youth development, and employment services for over 30 years. They focus on economic development projects that revitalize and rebuild the Austin community and surrounding areas by leveraging the power of ordinary citizens.

WHA’s real estate development team is one of the most skilled and experienced nonprofit property development teams on the west side. With neighborhood people, WHA has built commercial space for Cook County’s Health Center, office space for medical providers, and rehabbed almost 40 vacant homes using local contractors.

Since 2010, ACT has facilitated collaboration among its member network to collectively impact education and economic development outcomes in Austin. ACT assisted the community in creating its first-ever quality-of-life plan called Austin Forward. Together. and manages its ongoing implementation, in addition to engaging with residents to get them connected to resources.

After first engaging with ACT probono, Lamar Johnson Collaborative became the architectural firm contracted to create the designs for ASPIRE. They also designed the POPcourts! on Chicago Avenue in Austin, a vacant lot transformed into an outdoor event space that community members helped paint and customize.

IFF is a mission-driven lender, real estate consultant, and developer that works with nonprofits to create opportunities for low-income communities. They assisted with the financial feasibility planning for ASPIRE and the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation.

Founded in 1988, Brown & Momen, Inc. is an award-winning general contracting and construction management firm located on the Southside that will oversee the preconstruction and construction of the Aspire Center.

ASPIRE CENTER TENANTS

integrated services of income support, financial coaching, and employment services to help them become financially stable and connect to the economic mainstream.

residents, while also addressing the human resources needs of local businesses. Free services include job readiness training, job placement, job club, overcomers’ support group, case management services, and vocational training.

Since 1985, JARC has trained low-income adults in manufacturing and will continue their free on-site skills training at the Aspire Center, teaching Computer Numerical Control machine operation, welding, and mechanical assembly.

The Austin Community Hub— Austin Coming Together ACT’s Austin Community Hub will operate out of the In conjunction with Aspire Center and leverage its the organizations seamless intake and referral located within the Aspire Center and in ACT’s system, powered by the expansive member network, a partnership with electronic software NowBMO Harris will ensure residents have access to Pow, to connect residents to a coordinated suite of workforce training and social support services offered by over 50 organizations within ACT’s member network.

Happy to see

Chicago funding

incredible projects in neighborhoods that

As the project continues to evolve, other tenants will be added such as an employer partner, a federally qualified health center, and a cafe.

so desperately need

The first phase of the redevelopment will begin this year and will include the building’s shell, core structure, as well as the first MAX KOMNENICH, and second floors. Two more ASSOCIATE PRINCIPAL phases will follow and will be focused on the third floor Westside Health Authority’s AT LAMAR JOHNSON and the Commercial Center Austin Employment Center COLLABORATIVE Building. Overall construction The Austin Employment is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023, Center specializes in helping residents find with the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation pathways to employment and long-term career aiming to open in early 2024. n success, from youth, returning citizens, veterans, handicapped, unemployed, and even homeless

them.

Partnerships are key drivers for the Center and for the ASPIRE Initiative (ASPIRE) as a whole, which includes four total projects.

LEARN MORE AT AustinComingTogether.org/ASPIRE

We We We

about AUSTIN. about OUR CITY. about EQUITY.

Chicago’s Austin community is full of incredibly passionate individuals and groups who truly care for one another. It has beautiful architecture, housing stock, and an immense potential for growth. But it is also struggling now more than ever from health inequities ranging from job loss to food insecurity.

Austin Coming Together (ACT) has worked alongside our 50+ member network to serve and care for Austin families since 2010. Since March 2021, we have supported the equitable distribution of vaccine to Austin that resulted in:

51K+

masks distributed

62%

of Austin’s resident population fully vaccinated

10 recurring vaccination sites 5 temporary vaccination sites

Show how much you Join the #AustinCares campaign today!

29 recurring vaccination events 77+ one-time vaccination events

In order to continue supporting Austin families right now, we need your help. Make an impact where it’s needed most!

DONATE ONLINE AT

AustinComingTogether.org/AustinCares