Community-Wealth City: Chicago, Illinois

In the 2000 census, Chicago had a population of nearly 2.9 million residents. The city’s population is 36.8% African American, 26% Hispanic, 4% Asian, and the remainder mostly non-Hispanic white. After decades of losing population, Chicago gained population during the 1990s, with a wave of new, young immigrants. Median household income grew at twice the national average. Community wealth building institutions have played an important role in the city’s turn-around.

Chicago has been a national trendsetter in many community wealth-building areas. Shorebank, founded in the city’s South Shore neighborhood, is now the nation’s largest community development bank with over $1 billion in assets. A number of Chicago’s community development corporations have earned national recognition. Both DePaul and the University of Illinois, Chicago, have actively promoted community partnerships. And the Co-op Market chain of supermarkets in Chicago remains one of the nation’s largest food cooperatives.

Community Development Corporations

Bethel New Life
www.bethelnewlife.org
A faith-based community development organization serving residents of the West Garfield neighborhood of Chicago since 1979, Bethel New Life has created over 1,000 units of affordable housing, facilitated the development of a mixed-use, transit-oriented development project around the “West Garfield” elevated transit stop, and has been a leader in developing a comprehensive asset-based approach to community development.

Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation
www.bickerdike.org
Bickerdike Redevelopment Corporation is a CDC on the northwest side of Chicago that works on issues of housing development and preservation, economic empowerment, leadership development, and organizing. Since 1983, it has developed over 800 units of affordable housing. Within the CDC world, Bickerdike has been a leader in the development of member-controlled limited equity cooperatives, including the 31-unit Nuestro Hogar Cooperative, founded in 2002, and the 18-unit Harold Washington Unity Cooperative, which opened in April 2005.

Greater Southwest Community Development Corp.
www.greatersouthwest.org
Established in 1974, Greater Southwest Development Corporation (GSDC) has been a CDC leader in commercial and industrial development. Successes include developing a supermarket, attracting the interest of developers seeking to build a ten-screen movie theater, and bringing a newly constructed plastics manufacturing plant owned and operated by an African-American female entrepreneur to a previously underutilized site at 77th Street and Columbus Avenue.

The Woodlawn Organization,
www.thewoodlawnorganization.org
Founded in 1960, the Woodlawn Organization’s mission is to build community through advocacy, social service programs, and community development initiatives. In 1972, the group created Woodlawn Community Development Corporation (WCDC) to serve as the umbrella for its real estate development and management activities. Over the years, WCDC has developed more than 1,659 units of single family and senior housing in 14 different developments.

Community Development Financial Institutions

Chicago Community Loan Fund
www.cclfchicago.org
Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) provides low-cost, flexible financing to nonprofit community development organizations for affordable housing, commercial development, and nonprofit facility initiatives. Since 1991, CCLF has grown from an initial investment of $200,000 to over $13 million in total capital under management. In that time, the fund has closed 108 loans totaling nearly $17.6 million in financing for community development initiatives in 51 communities across the metro Chicago region.

Shorebank
www.shorebankcorp.com
ShoreBank is the nation’s largest community development bank, with over $1.5 billion in total assets. Founded in the South Shore neighborhood in Chicago, it now also operates in Cleveland, Detroit, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, and the Pacific Northwest. In 2003 alone, within its targeted areas ShoreBank loaned out $166 million for affordable housing, $51 million to minority and small businesses, and $40 million to non-profit organizations.

Cooperatives

Co-op Markets
www.coopmarkets.com
Co-op Markets, then called the “Hyde Park Co-op,” began on December 1, 1932 as a buying club in an apartment above a bookstore near the University of Chicago. Today, it is one of the largest food cooperatives in the nation, with two large supermarkets, 30,000 members, and annual sales in excess of $30 million.

Qumbya Cooperative
www.qumbya.com
Founded in 1989 by students at the University of Chicago, the Qumbya Cooperative now provides housing for roughly 50 student and non-student members in three houses in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood.

Seminary Bookstore Cooperative http://semcoop.booksense.com
Founded in 1961 by 17 book lovers who invested $10 each, this consumer-owned bookstore cooperative now has three locations and has built up its holdings to over 100,000 titles ranging widely across the humanities and social sciences. The flagship store on University Avenue is widely considered to be among the country’s best academic bookstores.

Employee Stock Ownership Plan Companies

Herbst, Lazar, Bell, Inc.
www.hlb.com
Herbst LaZar Bell Inc. is an employee-owned, product design consulting firm with nearly 100 employees. Founded in 1963 in Chicago, the firm opened a second office just outside Boston in 1991; and a third in LA in 2001. In 1996, HLB became the first 100% employee-owned product design firm in the country.

Kennicott Brothers
www.kennicott.com
Kennicott is one of the oldest continuing operating businesses in Illinois. Dr. John A. Kennicott founded The Grove Nursery in 1836. Kennicott Brothers Company, which incorporated in 1881, became the first wholesale florist company in the Midwest. It currently operates six floral stores in the metropolitan Chicago region. In May 2000, Kennicott became a 100% employee-owned company, as the Kennicott family used an ESOP to transfer ownership to the firm’s employees.

Social Enterprises

Anixter
www.anixter.org
The Anixter Center Businesses began as a means to provide work skills training to people with disabilities. Today, Anixter runs three businesses — a microfilm and CD-ROM service bureau, a packaging service, and a janitorial company. In recent years they have generated over $3 million in revenue, equivalent to roughly 10% of the nonprofit’s total annual income.

Chicago Lighthouse
www.chicagolighthouse.org
The Chicago Lighthouse was founded in 1906 by a group of women volunteers who were both blind and sighted and offered housing, clothing, and food assistance to people who were blind. Chicago Lighthouse Industries, founded in 1977, employs people who are blind or visually impaired. The business provides clocks to the federal government, as well as serving architects/interior designers for both public and private sector customers. The business generates about $2 million in revenue a year or roughly 25% of the nonprofit’s total annual income.

Thresholds
http://thresholds.org/home2.asp
Since 1959, Thresholds’ mission has been to provide people with mental illnesses the tools they need to create meaningful lives. Threshold began its social enterprise ventures in 1978 to give people with psychiatric disabilities gainful employment and to raise revenue to support its core mission. Businesses include a laser cartridge manufacturer, a packaging and assembly business, a janitorial company, a photocopy firm, and a full-service florist. Today these enterprises generate over $4 million a year in revenue or roughly 10% of the nonprofit’s annual income.

University-Community Partnerships

Depaul University, Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-Based Service Learning and Community Service Studies http://cbsl.depaul.edu
Established through a $5 million challenge grant from philanthropist, banker, and DePaul trustee Harrison I. Steans, the Center helps students develop a lifelong commitment to service, civic engagement, and leadership. Since the Center was established, more than 7,000 DePaul students have participated in direct service delivery, project development, technical assistance, and community research as part of their academic coursework, benefiting nearly 100 community organizations.

Univ. of Illinois-Chicago, Great Cities Institute
www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci
The UIC Great Cities Institute is a research center committed to creating, disseminating, and applying interdisciplinary knowledge to urban affairs. It implements dozens of teaching, research, and service programs designed to improve the quality of life in metropolitan Chicago and other urban areas. Among its programs is its Neighborhoods Initiative, which provides technical assistance to local community groups on health, technology, leadership development, and other issues.