CNDA Ceremony Celebrates 'New Beginnings'
The 15th annual Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards came at a difficult time for the nation – but a time of optimism that cities in general and Chicago in particular will receive renewed attention under the Obama Administration.
This year also marks the centennial of the 1909 Burnham Plan for Chicago, which among other achievements led to the creation of the lakefront park system. The February 9 event at the Hyatt Regency Chicago was thusly titled “NEW Beginnings: Make No Small Plans,” recalling Daniel Burnham’s famous dictum, “Make no small plans, for they have no magic to stir men’s blood.”
"It's an exciting time to be in Chicago, especially in the field of community development," said Andrew Mooney, executive director of LISC/Chicago. "Chicago's favorite son, and the world's most famous community organizer, has ascended to our nation's highest office, and his administration is turning attention to urban affairs like never before. In the centennial year of the visionary Burnham Plan, we face a new era as we remember Daniel Burnham's timeless words in this year's theme: 'New Beginnings: Make No Small Plans.' "
Valerie Jarrett has won the Friend of the Neighborhood Award.
CNDA featured a Friend of the Neighborhoods Award for longtime Chicago urban policy powerhouse Valerie Jarrett, senior advisor to President Obama, assistant to the president for intergovernmental relations and public liaison. She appeared via video hook-up to accept the award, given to an individual who has made an extraordinary contribution to Chicago’s neighborhoods and to the field of development in general.
Jarrett's work as an attorney, a deputy chief of staff, the Commissioner of Planning and Development, Chairman of the CTA and CEO of The Habitat Company has touched virtually every community in Chicago. With her leadership as a member of numerous boards, including both the Chicago and National LISC boards, the University of Chicago and the Chicago Stock Exchange, it is no surprise that her guiding hand has helped the nation elect our first Chicago-rooted, community organizing President.
This year’s ceremony featured one new award category, the Polk Bros. Foundation Affordable Rental Housing Preservation Award, presented this year in honor of the late John Pritscher, housing advocate and former president of Community Investment Corporation. The award recognizes achievements in preserving buildings that are reaching the end of their subsidies and would otherwise have become market rate – or have been bulldozed.
The award's first winner was Ehresman Management for the Lawndale Restoration project. Ehresman worked with all stakeholders – government agencies, funders and community members – to preserve 153 units of affordable rental housing in five buildings in North Lawndale, to ensure that buildings were completed quickly, efficiently and with the input of those most affected by the changes. By hiring local workers whenever possible, including teens for summer internships, and holding community meetings before construction even began, Ehresman made sure residents were an integral part of the process.
Ehresman Management won the first-ever Polk Bros. Foundation Affordable Rental Housing Preservation Award for the Lawndale Restoration Project.
The ceremony began with a return appearance from The Second City, which also kicked off last year’s ceremony. Their act touched on themes like the presidential transition, the Burnham Plan centennial, the 2016 Olympics bid, and a new era for Chicago more broadly, Goldstein says. Major co-sponsors of the event, along with LISC/Chicago, included Bank of America, The Chicago Community Trust, Harris Bank, Northern Trust, Charter One, Citibank, The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation, Chase, Community Investment Corporation, NationalCity, and State Farm Insurance.
"It is my privilege to be among so many people from all of the myriad fields that make Chicago's neighborhoods great: non-profit organizations, for-profit developers, architects, city officials and many others whose talents and dedication are both the wind in the sails and the hand at the helm of the most effective, well-respected neighborhood development projects in the nation," said event chair John A. Canning, Jr., Chairman of Madison Dearborn Partners.
"This year more than ever, we know that grassroots efforts that start in Chicago grow to influence many beyond our borders, up to and including the highest office in the land," Canning said. "So, as we face new beginnings at every level, let us celebrate those who give our city the strength and our neighborhoods the vibrancy that prepare us to face new challenges and create new opportunities that make our communities thrive."
"Chicago's neighborhoods continue to be models for the entire country, and what keeps those neighborhoods strong is the many individuals, organizations and partnerships represented here today," Mooney said, before the awards presentations and short video clips about each. In addition to Friend of the Neighborhoods and the new Polk Bros. Foundation awards, the other categories include:
The Cara Program, which operates Cleanslate, won The Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Strategy of the Year.
The Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Strategy of the Year, given to a non-profit development organization and/or collaboration of organizations in recognition of a successful strategy for comprehensive community development. This year's winner is The Cara Program, active throughout the city and especially in the Quad Communities area through the Cleanslate program, which helps individuals with significant barriers to employment get work experience and job training; the Center for Working Families, which provides essential services like career, employment and one-on-one financial counseling and benefits access; and the Career Pathways Initiative, in partnership with the University of Chicago and the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development, through which 97 neighborhood residents have found permanent jobs at the University in the initiative’s first 12 months.
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Outstanding Non-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project, given to a non-profit community organization for a real estate project that meets community needs, involved local residents in the planning process, overcame obstacles and demonstrated creativity in its design and financing. This year's winner is SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, added to the Villages’ twelve single-family homes and four duplexes to make its complex serve not only residents of the Village, but also members of the surrounding community. The inviting, colorful facility offers case management and counseling services as well as child care, after-school care programs, a computer laboratory and job training assistance to those who live in the Children’s Village and all of Auburn Gresham.
DL3 Realty, L.P. won The Outstanding For-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project Award for Roseland Medical Center.
The Outstanding For-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project Award, given to a for-profit real estate project that meets community needs, involved local residents in the planning process, overcame obstacles and demonstrated creativity in its design and financing. This year's winner is DL3 Realty, L.P. for the Roseland Medical Center, a 27,000 square foot medical office building that houses the Roseland Community Hospital’s outpatient care; Chicago Family Health, a non-profit health care provider; Fresenius Medical Care, the world’s largest provider of outpatient dialysis services; and greatly needed ground-floor retail space. The Center meets a community need and has also generated revitalization activity throughout the broader Roseland area.
Special Recognition Award, given to a group that has shown promise as a new or emerging organization, or has achieved a pivotal or innovative community development project, or has been a critical provider of services to the community development field. This year's winner is The United Neighborhood Organization (UNO), which began organizing communities around key quality of life issues in 1984 and has grown to become one of Chicago’s strongest and most effective community organizations. UNO employs grassroots leadership and inolves community residents to lead the way in advocacy and policy on a wide range of issues affecting the Hispanic community, which forms its base.
Rami Nashashibi, founder and executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, won the Norman Bobins Leadership Award.
The Norman Bobins Leadership Award, a legacy award created by LaSalle Bank created to honor the leadership, innovation and long-term commitment to Chicago communities embodied in Norm Bobins, retired CEO of LaSalle Bank. The award recognizes an emerging leader at a nonprofit community development organization, and this year's honoree was Rami Nashashibi, executive director, of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN). Nashashibi, who founded the agency, has been a tireless force in Chicago Lawn and beyond. Firmly rooted in his faith and the Islamic values of brotherhood, service, charity and faith, his work includes direct services like health care at IMAN’s free Health Clinic, arts and culture programming and events, and statewide organizing and advocacy on issues like criminal justice and human rights.
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design, which recognizes three developments that respect and strengthen Chicago’s architectural heritage, contributing to the social, visual and cultural life through quality of design, especially in neighborhoods confronting economic and social challenge. This year's top three finishers were:
Studio Gang Architects won first place for the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Architectural Excellence in Community Design for the SOS Children’s Villages Lavezzorio Community Center, which also received the The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Award for Outstanding Non-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project.
- Second Place: LCM Architects, LLC for Access Living Headquarters. The bright atrium embodies the group’s mission and philosophy of integration, access, openness and integrity. With myriad features that make the spaces and their functions visible, audible, chemically neutral and easy to navigate for people of all statures and levels of mobility, the building follows the principles of universal design by allowing easy accessibility for all users. From large elevators with plenty of room for multiple wheelchairs to smooth floors and lighting helpful to those with limited vision, the design details make the building easy and intuitive to use, regardless of an individual’s ability.
- Third Place: Kennedy King Architects, LLC for the new Kennedy King College. The new 40-acre Kennedy King College campus, designed by Kennedy King Architects, LLC, a partnership of Johnson & Lee, Ltd. and VOA Associates Incorporated, provides an element often lacking in urban colleges: a language of buildings with a dignity that reflects the seriousness of purpose inherent in the institution. In addition to state-of-the-art facilities that will make it a model for urban universities, the campus brings to the Englewood community a bookstore, graphic services and day care center that are open to the general public, as well as the elegant, student-run Sikia Restaurant, the first full-service restaurant in Englewood in decades.