Chicago Rising: NCP's Annual Assembly

Adolfo Carrion, Jr. addresses the annual NCP assembly.

With a keynote speech by Adolfo Carrión, Jr., director of the new White House Office of Urban Affairs, and “recovery” roundtables where neighborhood leaders and volunteers rolled up their sleeves to talk about issues facing their communities, this year’s annual New Communities Program (NCP) assembly brought together the local and the national, showcasing Chicago-style community development as a model for the country.

Carrión recognized the importance of that model, saying that President Barack Obama’s urban policy team is looking to Chicago, and especially to the tools and tactics of NCP, as they craft a new, “bottom up” federal approach to neighborhood revitalization.

“At the street level, people have been coming up with smart, innovative solutions,” Carrión told the 500 neighborhood leaders, activists and volunteers gathered for “Chicago Rising: What a Community Can Be.”

“You’ve been doing it here in Chicago,” he said. “We want to follow your lead.”

This story first appeared in the Winter 2010 edition of Working Capital, the newsletter of the LISC/Chicago. To see this issue and back issues, please click here.