AUSTIN FORWARD. TOGETHER. 2025 QUARTER 4
November 26, 2025
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.
POWERED BY COMMUNITY: ASPIRE CENTER SHOWS WHAT AUSTIN CAN BUILD TOGETHER PAGE 3 ASPIRE CENTER FOR WORKFORCE INNOVATION: OUR FIRST 90 DAYS PAGE 4 ANCHOR TENANTS PARTNER FOR THE COMMUNITY PAGE 7
Special thanks to these Austin Forward. Together. quality-of-life plan legacy investors:
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 four impact goals by the year 2025: Quality Early Learning, Safe Neighborhoods, Living Wage Careers, and Stable Housing Markets.
Officers
CHAIR
Larry Williams
Broker, State Farm Insurance
VICE CHAIRMAN
Bradly Johnson
Interim CEO, BUILD Inc.
SECRETARY
Jerrod Williams
Law Clerk, Illinois Appellate Court
Leadership
Darnell Shields
Executive Director
Research & Evaluation
Andrew Born*
Senior Director of Community Impact
Mia Almond Research Associate
Operations
TREASURER
LaDarius Curtis
Director of Community Engagement, Greater Chicago Food Depository
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Darnell Shields
Austin Coming Together
Directors
Sharon Morgan
Director of Graduate Support & Community Outreach, Catalyst Schools
Reverend Reginald E. Bachus Pastor, Friendship Baptist Church
Deirdre Bates* Director of Operations
Dearra Williams
Executive
Operations Lead/ Assistant to the CEO
Londen Mance
Office Administrator
Alfred Jackson Community Liaison/ Receptionist
Sandra Diaz*
Service Delivery Enhancement Manager, Austin Community Hub
Emone Moore
Engagement Coordinator, Austin Community Hub
Dollie Sherman
Engagement Specialist, Austin Community Hub
A House in Austin
Academy of Scholastic Achievement
Austin Childcare Providers Network
Austin Community Family Center
Austin Weekly News
(Growing Community Media)
Be Strong Families
Beat the Streets Chicago
Bethel New Life
Beyond Hunger BUILD Inc.
By The Hand Club For Kids Cara Catholic Charities
Chicago Austin Youth Travel Adventures
Chicago Community Loan Fund
City of Refuge
Defy Ventures Illinois
Erikson Institute
Friends of the Children
Friendship Community Development Corp. of Austin
Greater West Town Community Development Project
Housing Forward
i.c. stars
IFF
Tenisha Jones
Executive Management Professional
Reginald Little
Business Development Specialist, Great Lakes Credit Union
Deborah Williams-Thurmond
Founder & CEO, D.W. Provision Consulting Services
Ruth Kimble
Founder & CEO, Austin Childcare Providers Network
Clara Bonnlander
Social Services Coordinator, Austin Community Hub
Ethan Ramsay* Planning and Investment Manager
Grace Cooper Lead Organizer
Nyla Larry Project Coordinator
Natalie Goodin
Special Projects Manager
Institute for Nonviolence Chicago
Jane Addams Resource Corporation
Kids First Chicago
KRA Westside American Job Center
Learning Edge Tutoring (fka Cluster Tutoring)
Legal Aid Chicago (fka LAF)
Max Komnenich
Associate Principal, Lamar Johnson Collaborative In Memoriam
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Jack Macnamara
1937–2020
FOUNDING BOARD CHAIR
Mildred Wiley 1955–2019
Arewa EKUA Community Organizer
La’Shawna Bundy Community Land Trust Coordinator
Mary White Community Resource Coordinator
Krystal Cano
Community Resource Coordinator
Marketing & Development
Robbie Gorman Director of Development
Jon Widell
Marketing and Development Specialist
Sydni Hatley
Marketing and Development Specialist
*Also part of the ACT Leadership Team
Manufacturing Renaissance
Mary Shyrese Daycare
Maryville Academy
Mercy Housing Lakefront
New Moms
OAI, Inc.
Oak Park Regional Housing Center
Open Books
PCC Community Wellness Center
Project Exploration
Renaissance Social Services, Inc.
Sarah’s Inn
South Austin
Neighborhood Association
St. Joseph Services
St. Leonard’s Ministries
Stone Community Development Corporation
The Catalyst Schools
The Journey Forward
The North Avenue District, Inc.
Towers of Excellence
UIC Jane Addams College of Social Work
VOCEL
Westside Health Authority
West Side Forward
Worldvision
Youth Guidance
JBy Darnell Shields Executive Director, Austin Coming Together
ust months after opening its doors in June 2025, the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation is demonstrating what is possible when a community’s long-held dreams are met with sustained commitment, collective action, and real investment. For years, many of the ideas behind this project were dismissed as too ambitious or out of reach. But here in Austin, we always knew what we were capable of. Now, we’re watching those once-distant concepts come alive in real time—translated into programs, services, and opportunities that are already changing lives.
The Aspire Center was built with a clear, urgent purpose: to confront the barriers that have held too many of our residents back from achieving economic mobility. At Austin Coming Together (ACT), our vision has long been to create a truly thriving Austin community. With the Aspire Center, located at the former Robert Emmet Elementary School on Madison and Central, we are closer than ever to realizing that vision.
From day one, the services inside the Aspire Center were intentionally designed to address the needs our residents voice most consistently— access to quality jobs and job training, opportunities to build generational wealth, and accessible legal support. These offerings, led by ACT’s Hub team and delivered in partnership with our anchor tenants, are helping us meet both the immediate and long-term priorities of the community. Already, the early impact has been unmistakable.
Westside Health Authority (WHA), a lead partner in the Center’s development and operations, is providing critical wraparound support that many job seekers need in order to succeed. Residents are accessing case management, job readiness training, transitional employment, permanent job placement assistance, and more—services that ensure people are not
navigating life’s challenges alone while trying to secure stable work.
Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) is scaling access to hands-on welding and advanced manufacturing training for the West Side through their presence at the center. Participants are gaining industry-recognized skills that lead to living-wage employment, and the demand for these programs continues to surpass expectations.
BMO is offering on-site financial education, coaching, and banking access— helping residents build financial stability, repair credit, open accounts, and plan for the future. On-site legal assistance is available at no cost, including support with expungement, criminal defense, and other services that remove long-standing barriers to employment and opportunity, thanks to the Cook County Public Defender’s Office and Legal Aid Chicago.
Each of these offerings is part of a larger system of support—one that reflects how Austin has always worked best: collaboratively, with shared responsibility and shared vision.
The Aspire Center is not just meeting its goals—it is living out the promise we made to our community. We set out to build a place where residents could access pathways to better jobs, stronger financial futures, and greater stability. Today, we are seeing those pathways fill with neighbors determined to move forward.
This is what we envisioned. And as we continue to grow, we intend not only to fulfill our commitments but to exceed the hopes we all carried into this project. Austin deserves nothing less.
In September, Comcast opened the Flagship Lift Zone at the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation. This massive $500,000 investment provides free highspeed WiFi and technology offerings including laptops, digital cameras, and meeting pods for virtual or in-person meetings, collaborations or interviews.
This also brings with it a partnership with scaleLIT, with the help of ACT’s Hub team to provide digital skills programming and its Career Pathways Navigators training to the Aspire Center, helping job seekers in the area.
In September, Freedom Defense Center of Austin, in partnership with the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago and Westside Health Authority, hosted a 3-on-3 basketball tournament and community legal resource fair as part of My Block My Hood My City’s #SaveStreetball initiative. Teams were sponsored by Anchor Tenants: ACT and WHA, along with BUILD and Contextos (in-house creative partner of FDCA.
The day showcased the strength and intentionality of not only the interior, but also the exterior of the Aspire Center. A day outside featuring free haircuts, food, and drinks, in addition to legal and community resources to help people know their rights, and come together to celebrate the community.
In October, fellow ACWI Anchor Tenant, BMO opened their second Austin branch inside the Aspire Center, further establishing the bank’s commitment to the West Side. BMO’s Zero Barriers to Business program will have a strong presence at this branch, aiming to expand access to capital and address the structural barriers that have historically stunted business growth in underserved communities. BMO’s involvement in the Aspire Center is part of a larger, collaborative effort to reimagine the former Emmet Elementary School as a regional hub for job training, small business development, and building community wealth.
In late October, Open House Chicago hosted their annual architecture and urban exploration festival, and in our first year of operation, the Aspire Center was chosen as a participation site!
The Aspire Center was featured across Chicago Architecture Center platforms as one of Open House Chicago’s new sites, and we are also thrilled to share that the Aspire Center was listed as a top recommendation by Chicago Sun-Times’ Lee Bey!
With nearly 500 guests visiting and touring the space this was an opportunity to help spread the word around the great work of everyone in the Aspire Center and bring some additional attention to the beauty within the Austin community.
With the release of the AFT Highlighted Agenda, ACT is going “on the road!” Our team will be on tour and available to co-host discussions about the new phase of Austin’s AFT quality-of-life plan and its vision and strategy, with block clubs, churches, community organizations, coalitions, etc. Other ways we’ll ensure to update the community on the progress of implementing the Highlighted Agenda are through newspaper sections like this, emails, and social media.
Community
Narrative
TASK FORCE CHAIRS
Kenneth Varner
Healthy Schools Campaign
Dearra Williams
Austin Coming Together
Reesheda Graham
Washington
The Kehrein Center for the Arts
STRATEGY LEADS
Suzanne McBride
Austin Talks
Cindy Gray Schneider
Spaces-n-Places
Maria Sorrell
Community Resident
Megan Hinchy
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago
Andraya Yousfi By the Hand Club for Kids
Jai Jones PSPC, The Chicago Community Trust and Community Resident
Adrienne Otkins Community Resident
Michael Romaine The Culture
Keli Stewart Front Porch Arts Center
Kenn Cook Westside Historical Collective
TASK FORCE CHAIR
Roxanne Charles West Side Forward
STRATEGY LEADS
Emily Peters Jane Addams Resource Corporation
Tina Augustus Community Resident
Melissa O’Dell Defy Ventures
Fanya Buford-Berry Community Resident
Baxter Swilley Community Stakeholder
Ed Coleman Austin Chamber of Commerce
Education
TASK FORCE CHAIR
Charles Anderson
Michele Clark High School
STRATEGY LEADS
Pam Price Director of Parent University at CPS
Ruth Kimble
Austin Childcare Providers Network
Cata Truss Community Resident
Housing
TASK FORCE CHAIRS
Athena Williams Oak Park Regional Housing Center
Allison McGowan Community Resident
STRATEGY LEADS
Shirley Fields Community Resident
Rosie Dawson Westside Health Authority
Public Safety
TASK FORCE CHAIRS
Bradly Johnson BUILD Inc.
Marilyn Pitchford Heartland Alliance
STRATEGY LEADS
Edwina Hamilton BUILD Inc.
Jose Abonce The Policing Project
Ruby Taylor Taproots, Inc.
Youth Empowerment
TASK FORCE CHAIR
D’elegance Lane
Community Stakeholder
STRATEGY LEADS
Aisha Oliver Root2Fruit
Helen Slade
Territory NFP
Dollie Sherman
Austin Coming Together
Chris Thomas YourPassion1st
Civic Engagement
TASK FORCE CHAIR
Deborah Williams-Thurmond
D.W. Provision
Consulting Services
By Jonathan Widell Marketing & Development Specialist, Austin Coming Together
Recently, in September, two Aspire Center Anchor Tenants, Westside Health Authority (WHA) and Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) came together for the community to launch a forklift certification training program. The entire program takes place inside of the walls of the Aspire Center.
These cohorts take place over a two week period, and consist of three days of job readiness training from WHA, followed by two days of forklift certification training through JARC. Westside Health Authority helps them get interview ready through mock interviews, builds relationships with their case managers and career specialists/ job coaches, in addition to leaning into the group aspect of the cohort which adds another element where they can help and learn from one another as well. WHA helps make the participants comfortable and reminds them what makes them unique, before helping with job placement upon completion.
Jane Addams Resource Corporation offers the forklifting certification training on site at
the Aspire Center. The training is led by Jose Ramirez from JARC and the training is very hands on, involving both exams they need to pass, filling out the necessary paperwork, and learning about the standing forklift. This program is unique because JARC is not only able to offer the necessary information for people to learn, but they can receive direct training so they are prepared when they are taking the next step in their careers.
While the program is led by WHA and JARC, this is a collaborative effort that leverages other Aspire anchor tenants as well . ACT plays a key role in helping refer people to the program, screening them, and making sure community residents are aware of its existence. Our Hub team serves as the intake coordinators and first point of contact, ensuring that people are being helped and being placed properly. There is also a financial literacy aspect at the end of the training that allows BMO to potentially play a role. This was what we envisioned when this idea started. This program coming together demonstrates the intent and optimization of what was envisioned for the community through the Aspire Center.
The demand has already been so high that the first cohort had to be expanded to accommodate interest, which shows the need for, and the impact programs like this can have in a community like Austin. n
This shows the power of collaboration, when two likeminded organizations come together with the vision of wanting to empower the community with a resource that becomes a service not only for the community, but for Chicago.
JOSEPH GREEN, WHA
