Neighborhood Mobile Tours Showcase How-To Strategies for Strengthening Community Vibrancy & Social Infrastructure
Chicago served as home to this year’s International Downtown Association Conference and Teska was grateful for the opportunity to join our community partners for some educational, boots-on-the-ground fun. Over 1,500 community leaders from across the world attended and were invited to take part in mobile workshops exploring the City's eclectic neighborhoods. Teska joined our friends in the Lincoln Square and Chatham neighborhoods to help showcase and speak to the projects, investments, and placemaking adventures that have taken root thanks to strategic planning and partnerships. Please read on to learn more about the great work and people involved. Resource links to market studies and project/tour highlights are provided as well.
Welcome to Chatham, Chicago
"Sustaining Communities By Building One Business at a Time"
Chatham, a vibrant neighborhood and proud home of many well-known restaurants and businesses, including Lem’s Bar-B-Q, Soul Veg, and Sizzlin Skillets, has been a predominantly Black, middle-class neighborhood for generations. Its central location straddling the Dan Ryan Expressway between 79th and 95th Street attracts visitors and diners from throughout Chicago and beyond. In addition to the restaurant row, Chatham houses small service businesses that do big things in the community such as Country Insurance and Majestic Florists and large businesses such as the Discover Call Center and Garrett Popcorn.
In partnership with the City of Chicago, Chatham Business Association, service provider for the Chatham Cottage Grove SSA #51, and Teska were fortunate to interview and photograph many of the businesses that make the community so unique. This was all done as part of a larger Market Study and Marketing Brochure commissioned by SSA #51. Attendees from the International Downtown Association conference visited ‘Restaurant Row’ on 75th Street, iconic businesses along Cottage Grove and 79th Street and Mahalia Jackson Court at 79th and State Street—a vital public place that celebrates the former South Side gospel singer and inspiration for the civil rights movement. Our visitors from across the U.S. were given swag bags filled with goods from local businesses along with the Market Study and Marketing Brochure.
"Chatham is an exciting place to be. It is one of the only places that is a true South Side neighborhood that has businesses with owners who can tell you how to stay in business for decades."
- Stephanie Hart, Owner of Brown Sugar Bakery
Fun Chatham Facts & Findings
- Chatham is well-connected: 3 CTA Red Line Stations + 6 Metra Stations
- Chatham’s population has been growing, reaching over 31,000 residents
- 66% of residents have pursued higher education
- Over half of all local businesses are in the service industries, with over 200 businesses in Chatham, including Discover Financial Services which employs 1,000 people
TailoRite Dry Cleaners launders the Chicago White Sox's uniforms – they have been a vendor for the team since 1992
A tight-knit set of local businesses, from Nadia’s Beauty Salon to Majestic Florist, anchor the local economy
Chatham entrepreneur, Jackie Jackson, is opening Chicago’s first Fatburger and holds the franchise agreement statewide
To find out more, contact Chatham Business Association at www.cbaworks.org.
Click here to view the Chatham Cottage Grove 2023 Marketing Brochure!
Lincoln Square, Chicago
Consensus Around a Vision – Planning Lincoln Square’s Future
Snapshots from the 2023 International Downtown Association (IDA) site tour in Lincoln Square
To call Lincoln Square a special place would be an understatement – visitors know it as a hip neighborhood with a quaint, walkable shopping street, unique local restaurants, and lively community events. For the 40,000+ residents, businesses and institutions who call Lincoln Square home, this is also a neighborhood of folks who care deeply about their community and the happenings within. An extension of the community, the Lincoln Square Ravenswood Chamber of Commerce (LSRCC) are strong supporters of Lincoln Square’s commercial districts and the neighborhoods which abut them.
The LSRCC, founded in 1949 as the “Lincoln Square Chamber of Commerce,” worked to evoke an Old-World European style street. The success of this effort is evident today, and Lincoln Avenue - with its pedestrian friendly amenities and beloved small businesses - has become a model for other streetscapes.
Pages from the Lincoln Square 2023 Informational Brochure
However, Lincoln Square has seen its fair share of development challenges. Recent trends in the residential market include the deconversion of two and three-flats to single family homes, and suburban style commercial developments continue to limit pedestrian use and comfort. Public plazas and streets need functional and aesthetic improvements to meet the demands of this growing community. Various modes of transportation need to be better supported, including CTA bus and rail, bicycle and pedestrian access throughout.
Adopted in 2019, The Lincoln Square Master Plan is the culmination of a 12-month collaboration between residents, business owners, city stakeholders and many others to address neighborhood needs, challenges, and aspirations. Central to the Plan was a robust outreach process that generated thousands of poll responses, mapped input, and creative ideation on the future of Lincoln Square. The Master Plan distilled this feedback into actionable objectives and presented an opportunity for dialogue with aldermanic offices and City agencies that set the stage for future project implementation.