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End of planning, new era for Washington Park

By Richard Muhammad on Sunday, December 7, 2008

Address: 6105 S. Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL

In Washington Park the effort to craft a Quality-of-Life Plan, or comprehensive road map to a revitalized neighborhood, started on a snowy December 2007 day at a south side restaurant. The planning moved into its final phase on a snowy Dec. 6 morning in a meeting room at St. Edmund’s Church at 61st St. and Michigan Avenue.

The snow didn’t dampen spirits and the room filled as Alderman Willie Cochran, whose 20th Ward Office has led the process, welcomed participants and thanked them for their sacrifices and contributions.

He invited the group to stay and enjoy some of his homemade beef or turkey chili at the conclusion of official business. This was the sixth Saturday and final Community Planning Workshop.

“We have continually worked to produce a good document, a document that involves people having input, talking about what they want their community to look like and the assets we want to bring into the community,” said Alderman Cochran.

The plan’s 10 strategy areas include Building Community Capacity, Wellness, Safety, Housing, History & Identity, Education, Youth, Jobs, Economic Development and Seniors.

Karen Norington-Reaves, the alderman’s chief of staff and lead staffer for the planning process, explained that the morning would be devoted to hearing some of the plan’s highlights. Then participants, or Task Force members, were to visit table displays in the back of the room to sign up for projects and areas of interest, she said. The plan’s success will ultimately rest on the ability of Washington Parkers and some outside partners to bring its wonderful ideas to life.

Some local political leaders, State Senator Mattie Hunter, State Representative Ken Dunkin and Third Ward Alderman Pat Dowell, joined and expressed support for the LISC-sponsored process.

It was also fitting that the revised planning effort concluded at St. Edmund’s, which led the first five years of the New Communities Program planning process. Additional sections of the plan, an expanded vision statement and portrait of the neighborhood, are still in development. The core of the plan, its strategies and initiatives, is essentially complete.

'Each of us have to participate' 

Norington-Reaves walked the group through the highlights of the Wellness initiatives, which include five points of emphasis. Using a PowerPoint presentation, she clicked through slides that focused on the need to “increase wellness through sports, recreation, exercise, nutrition, social and education programs for various ages” and improve wellness through greater access to fresh food—especially through nearby farmers markets and increased awareness of healthier food options.

The Rev. Jesse Knox, of the Church of the Good Shepherd, shared points from the Housing portion of the plan. His slides focused on expanded home ownership and mixed income opportunities linked to housing education and assistance programs. In the draft plan, the housing section includes nine recommendations for action. A major point of concern is ensuring that longtime residents are able to stay in the neighborhood, he said.

The Youth and Education summary was presented by Cece Hunt, of St. Edmund’s Redevelopment Corp. She listed increased parent involvement in schools and life skills and values training as major points. “Each of us has to take part, each of us have to participate,” said Hunt. No role or group is too small to help and this is an exciting opportunity, she added.

“One strategy to create jobs is to start businesses,” said Gregg Brown, of the South Side Community Federal Credit Union, flashing a slide touting small business creation and an entrepreneurship center. The items were culled from the plan’s Jobs and Economic Development strategy areas. A business incubator would offer things like shared marketing, accounting and secretarial services until enterprises are strong enough to move into a local storefront, Brown explained.

The Washington Park Chamber of Commerce is a major local partner along with the University of Chicago and other groups, he said. Partnerships with trade groups and unions will be sought alongside jobs in the medical, rail freight and the green industry. “These ideas came from you,” Brown reminded the audience.

Before the group broke up to view the displays, Alderman Cochran offered the participants a bulb to nurture at home over the winter. “When spring rolls out, we can plant flowers around the neighborhood to beautify the community, in your own yard or we can plant them in one location. Why? Because we will symbolize a new springing, a new flowering, a new era for Washington Park through the NCP program,” he said.

Participants studied the boards, signed up, moved back and forth talking with one another, exchanged business cards and had a helping or two of the chili.

Norington-Reaves noted that the process started with data collection and pulling together a leadership team and Steering Committee. They were recruited from local business, medical facilities, houses of worship, non-profits, youth agencies and ordinary residents. Their role was to bring more people into the process. Over 220 people participated in the workshops, which began with a visioning session and ended with clearly defined strategies. Some early action projects—including anti-foreclosure efforts by the South Side Federal Credit Union and a community technology center at the Washington Park Fieldhouse—are already underway. LISC also provided support for Friday Night Live, an evening social activity designed as a positive outlet for youth at the K.L.E.O. Community Center on Garfield Blvd.

The plan was revised no less than six times and, by January or mid-February, a final draft should be complete, Norington-Reaves said.

A new non-profit for the neighborhood

“When you’re going to implement the ideas that we’ve come up with for the plan, you’ve got to have an agency, an organization or an individual who is going to take ownership to actually make those things come into fruition,” Norington-Reaves observed.

A new non-profit organization, the Washington Park Consortium, is being developed to oversee the execution of the plan.

A key plan element is a commitment to building community capacity, she said. That means helping expand the capacity of groups that want to take charge of projects but lack experience, money or staff, so that they can handle the plan’s workload, she said.

Draft maps with possible physical changes were on hand to offer thoughts, but not final ideas, on how the neighborhood could develop.

“I think this whole process was much needed and very beneficial. We put together some great strategies and plans. I really feel as if things will be coming together collectively as far as new programs to be offered for the community, for the youth, for the seniors. It’s something that we can build off of. It’s something that will be invested in to make the community greater. And I actually feel like it was well thought out,” said Latoya Mills, who lives in a St. Edmund’s housing development. She has lived in Washington Park for 10 years and saw her ideas reflected in the draft document.

“I plan to stay here. I like the idea of everyone coming together,” said the 32-year-old.