Chicago Neighborhoods Now-West Side Planning Area Kicks Off Action Planning Process

Posted on by North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council

The Chicago Department of Planning and Development hosted a kick off of the Chicago Neighborhoods Now-West Side Planning Area on March 22, 2016. The West Side Planning Area consists of the Humboldt Park, East Garfield, West Garfield, Austin and North Lawndale communities. Valerie F. Leonard, a member of the NLCCC Executive Sub-Committee, served as one of the meeting facilitators, representing the North Lawndale Community and the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council.

Leonard provided the welcoming remarks, and Brad McConnell, Deputy Commissioner for Planning Operations provided an overview of the Chicago Neighborhoods Now program, with an emphasis on the West Side Planning Area.  The audience of about 50 people were then asked to map issues with respect to several quality of life areas, including arts and culture, housing, places of worship, transportation and workforce development.

The audience returned to their seats and had an open discussion of the issues, and did a real-time survey to prioritize them. After that, the audience was instructed to think about what types of investments the city should be making in communities between now and 2017. Discussion ensued, and responses will be compiled to inform the next phase, which will include more in-depth discussions with a broader base of community stakeholders, and action planning. The plans should be completed by 2017, and will include steps communities can take now to make a difference.

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Richard Townsell (right), the Executive Director of the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation and NLCCC Housing Sub-Committee Chair, engages in sidebar conversation with Brad McConnell, Deputy Commissioner for Planning Operations.

 

 

Register for the North Lawndale Community Planning Conference

Posted on by North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council

Please take a few minutes to complete the registration form below.  You will need to scroll down in order to get to the questions.  Be sure to hit the “Submit” button so that we receive the data.

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Volunteers Needed to Administer Surveys

Posted on by North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council

The North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council will be surveying North Lawndale stakeholders to get a sense for what their planning priorities are, through an online survey developed by CMAP, as well as through hard copies to make sure that we can reach people who may not have access to computers. Please let us know if you and your church, block club, organization, business establishment, school, or institution would be willing to help administer and collect surveys. These are the following options:

1. Administer and collect surveys door to door.
2. Administer and collect surveys at a public location.
3. Administer and collect surveys at an apartment building.
4. Administer and collect surveys at a church
5. Administer and collect surveys at your organization’s meeting(s)
6. Administer and collect surveys at public meetings (with permission from the host)
7. Administer and collect surveys to school students in school.
8. Administer and collect surveys to school students during an after-school or summer programs.
9. Administer and collect surveys during your block club meeting.
10. Administer and collect surveys at a place of business.
Surveys should be ready by March 21st. We will be collecting data for at least 1 month, no longer than 2 months. We will probably need to develop a separate tool for business owners.

If you are interested, please email us at nlcccplanning@gmail.com

Conference Sponsorship Opportunities

Posted on by North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council


As you may be aware, the North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council will be hosting our first annual North Lawndale Community Planning Conference on April 16, 2016, from 11:00 am until 3:00 pm at DRW College Preparatory High School, 931 South Homan Avenue. We expect 200 community stakeholders to attend and provide input into the planning process.  We are blessed that Kevin Sutton, Vice President of the Foundation for Homan Square, has agreed to be the chairman of the conference planning committee and we thank him.

We want to make sure the event is accessible to anyone who’d like to attend.  Although the event will be offered free of charge, there are still costs associated with notifying the entire community and producing a top-notch event with food and materials to facilitate discussion.  We are asking each of our Steering Committee members to make a contribution of $100.00.  We are asking rank and file NLCCC members to contribute whatever you can.  We are asking everyone to reach out to your organizations, neighbors, local businesses and other stakeholders to ask them to consider sponsoring the event or making a tax-exempt contribution to a cause that will benefit the community greatly. If we do this work as intended, we will have improved the physical environment in North Lawndale while improving the capacity of our residents, organizations and businesses to take advantage of the benefits the changes to the physical environment will bring.

 

Save the Date! April 16, 2016

Posted on by North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council

The North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council and CMAP are partnering to sponsor a North Lawndale Community Planning conference.

We will get an overview of the CMAP planning process; the state of the North Lawndale community and learn how to assess the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats that the community planning process presents. After that,we will break out into groups to identify issues within various sectors of the community, including housing, transportation, education, infrastructure, job creation, economic development, et cetera.

When you come to the conference, help us generate a buzz on social media. Please take pictures and share them on FB and Twitter. Our hashtag for the event is #NLCCCConference.