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'Getting It Done' Conference Draws 800

By Ed Finkel on Wednesday, April 23, 2008

LISC/Chicago’s New Communities Program (NCP) lead agencies and their partners have been “Getting it Done” for five years now. On March 26-27, they shared their  stories at a conference by that name with more than 800 community development practitioners from 56 cities across the country.

The conference featured a reception during which 28 “Community Heroes” from NCP communities were honored, evening events in three NCP neighborhoods that ranged from salsa dancing lessons to a walking tour of Garfield Park Conservatory, bus tours of five NCP neighborhoods, “tool kit” workshops on key aspects of comprehensive community development, and roundtable discussions on issue topics such as the foreclosure crisis and the impact of immigration on community development.

The conference began with a “virtual tour” of NCP neighborhoods, during which attendees checked out the tabletop displays for each community. Auburn Gresham’s table featured a scale model of the emerging business node around 79th and Racine; East Garfield showed a piece of the mosaic from a youth-led project at the Central Park “El” stop; South Chicago displayed a diorama-like pastiche of its community gardens; and Washington Park put potential 2016 Olympics attendees on the scene with an aerial map of its signature park.

During the opening luncheon, two NCP leaders – Jesus Garcia of Little Village Community Development Corporation and Angela Hurlock from Claretian Associates in South Chicago – gave a “roll call” of Chicago communities and U.S. cities and towns, to rounds of hoots and hollers as each was recognized.

‘Dream no longer deferred’

Reflecting on the first five years of NCP, Bishop Arthur Brazier, chair of the NCP Woodlawn, sounded a hopeful note. “This has resulted in a dream no longer deferred,” he said. “LISC offers our communities the best hope for economic and cultural sustainability. It’s deeply gratifying to see our plans become reality.”

Brazier noted that during the past four decades, most communities represented within NCP have experienced a “cycle of decline” in spite of the best efforts of community-based groups. LISC provides the best of both worlds, he said, in that neighborhood resources are greatly augmented but without giving up local control.

“We should not see LISC as supplanting, or superior to, existing organizations,” he said. “The journey of 1,000 miles begins with the first step. We are well on the way. Can we do this?” With a nod to Democratic presidential candidate and Kenwood resident Barack Obama, Brazier added, to a booming chorus from around the room: “Yes, we can!”

Rami Nashashibi, executive director of the Inner City Muslim Action Network, who led the 2006 opening of the IMAN Health Clinic in Chicago Southwest, reached back four decades to chronicle the development of the area around Marquette Park. Once the site of an ugly clash between Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his followers, and the community’s then-mostly white residents, the area is now a diverse working-class enclave – but one that still faces challenges like gang violence and foreclosures, he said.

“NCP steps into that world as a vision of how it should be,” he said. “I cannot overstate the [positive effects of] the NCP process.” He credited LISC with looking at community-based organizations through “an entirely different lens” that provides the ability to see – and support – “fledgling, but promising organizations.”

Systematic work

Jonathan Fanton, president of The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation — which has committed $43 million for NCP over 10 years – expressed pride in the accomplishments of NCP. “There is significant progress underway, and a more systematic look at methodology,” he said. “The workshops will cover what has worked and, candidly, what hasn’t.”

Among the thornier challenges has been the housing market slowdown and foreclosure crisis, Fanton said. MacArthur a week earlier unveiled a new program to provide grants for homeownership counseling and low-interest loans to financial institutions to help put foreclosed homes back into use, through rental housing if necessary. “We always knew we would be tested,” he said. “This is a response to a threat to our shared community development goals.”

MacArthur wants NCP’s comprehensive approach to spread. “We’re meeting a moment of history that is full of promise,” he said. “America stands ready to reject passive acceptance of conditions antithetical to our ideals. But the energy must come from the neighborhoods, not Washington.”

NCP program director Susana Vasquez noted that the tools, communities and lead agencies within NCP are not necessarily new; what’s changed is the comprehensive approach, which values a $15,000 grant for a basketball league as much as a $1.5 million retail development.

“What’s new is how we got here,” she said. “It became clear that a bricks-and-mortar [only] approach was no longer working. After 11 years of learning while doing, we are able to host this conference. There are no outside experts here.”

Through NCP, lead agencies act as local intermediaries, building a big tent, organizing resources, connecting dots and then getting things done, Vasquez said. “We did not get here overnight, or without help,” she said. “But we do feel we have something to contribute to the field.”

The city perspective

During a breakfast panel session, leaders with the City of Chicago gave their reactions to what NCP has produced thus far and suggestions on how communities can work effectively with public officials.

James Wilson of the city’s Department of Planning and Development said that in the past, he did not always see the value of working with community agencies – but he now recognizes the key role of the Quad Communities Development Corp., lead agency on the near South Side. “QCDC made my job a lot easier,” Wilson said. “They gave me hope that you can make a difference in the neighborhood.”

Public agencies will always have their naysayers, said Jamie Dircksen of Chicago Public Schools, but community groups should persist and search for sympathetic ears. “We believe we can make a difference, as corny as that sounds,” said Christine Raguso of the Mayor’s Office. “We have some great folks in the neighborhoods doing extraordinary things.”

Those approaching city agencies for funding or other support should do their homework ahead of time, said Joseph Lopez of the 311 Center. “From a business standpoint, identify clear deliverables,” he suggested. “You definitely want to do your research on the front end.”

“There’s only so much we can do on the city side,” Wilson agreed. “If you have a clear goal, and it’s mapped out, we can help you get there. And you have to be realistic.”

But definitely don’t be shy, Raguso said. “I would know your community’s programs, know what government processes are, and never be afraid to suggest something new,” she said. “Challenge [city officials], too. Be cognizant of the processes, and know that government is set up a certain way.”

Mayor Daley is a “big proponent of the New Communities Program. LISC has his attention,” she added. “Our mayor is Mr. Neighborhood. He knows every inch.”

Plans coming together

Attendees of a workshop on planning began with an exercise that nearly got down to street level, starting with a neighborhood zoning map and figuring out where to place different colored rectangles representing a new school, parks, housing and retail in relation to major arterial streets, a transit line and other existing uses.

NCP consultant Les Pollock, principal with Camiros Ltd., then led a discussion about the planning process used in NCP neighborhoods to elicit ideas and priorities. “The first issue meeting, everybody vents,” Pollock said. “The second issue meeting, everybody constructively organizes their ideas.” He added that it helps to “get the vision down in words – and pictures. Words mean different things to different people.”

Hurlock of Claretian Associates said planning “takes a leap of faith.” She advised those taking that leap to “become comfortable with being uncomfortable” and stepping outside the proverbial box.

NCP director Mike Tomas from the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, who first became involved in NCP as a volunteer, encouraged potential planners to “plan while doing” projects, engage as many stakeholders as possible and “never stop recruiting.” Try to find a common vision early, he said, launch a “small catalyst project to help kick-start implementation,” and always be mindful of lining up political support.

NCP director Álvaro Obregón of The Resurrection Project, who participated as a volunteer in Pilsen’s first planning process and as a staffer for the second, said TRP worked hard to be more inclusive the second time. “We had to find common ground,” he said. “We started collaborating on new projects. We also collaborated on old projects.” TRP and its partners adopted the attitude: “It’s OK if I’m not getting the credit, as long as it’s getting done.”

“So much of this is building trusting relationships,” Pollock said. “You have to work with people you may have opposed in prior times. You have to be willing to share credit.” The process sometimes requires grounding people in hard realities; for example, he said, many people are wistful for their retail sectors to return to the busy heyday of the 1950s.

Obregón described the “bucket exercise” through which many communities gained a sense of people’s priorities, giving them play money to put into buckets that represented issue areas like schools or public safety. “We were surprised at where everybody put the money,” he said. “It challenged us to think about: ‘What do we really need?’ ”

But he added: “Our biggest asset in this whole thing is not the money. It’s the relationships. That’s the most important part of the plan.”

Let’s make a deal

Money certainly helps, though. Those attending the session on “deal making” heard how Englewood landed a $1 million grant for five years to implement a public-safety-oriented “Weed and Seed” program from the U.S. Department of Justice, and how Quad Communities “bum rushed” an urban-oriented developer at the International Conference of Shopping Centers in Las Vegas to jumpstart a mixed-income development.

The Weed and Seed program provides services like tutoring and mentoring for high school students, “safe haven” facilities for youth to bond in a positive way, and a re-entry program for a community that’s home to thousands of formerly incarcerated people, said the Rev. Rodney Walker, executive director of NCP lead agency Teamwork Englewood, and Larry Sachs, director of grants management for the Chicago Police Department.

The deal-making process enabled Teamwork Englewood to build capacity and strengthen its opportunities to gain both public and private dollars, Walker said. Sachs said he easily achieved buy-in from the police, who want to be seen as a partner to a community reeling from the violence that has taken the lives of local children.

“There’s an emotional component in choosing to provide services to Englewood,” he said. “We want to demonstrate that we care; that we’re not just about arresting people. … There’s probably no better work we can do than to help them bring resources into their communities.”

QCDC put together what might have seemed an unexpected deal for the Shops and Lofts at 47 project along a formerly trash-strewn stretch of Cottage Grove Avenue. The agency first worked to clean it up through The Cara Program and its Cleanslate initiative, which teaches job skills to difficult-to-employ people as they collect garbage and recyclables, said Bernita Johnson-Gabriel, NCP director for the lead agency.

They next turned to the Little Black Pearl Art & Design Center, which commissioned local youth to create banners to project an optimistic new retail vision. Prior to attending ICSC, the agency researched four or five urban-oriented developers and approached their booths without appointments, Johnson-Gabriel said.

“They bum-rushed us, and they did it successfully,” recalled Adam Troy, principal with Mahogany Ventures. “What got them in the door is that they were deal-ready. They came in with the information. They had the data. They had a plan for land assembly. … They had relationships with elected officials. They had funders in their corner.”

As Mahogany crunched the numbers, it realized Quad Communities was poised for a rebirth, Troy said. “We’re not magicians,” he said. “We can’t drop down in your community and turn it around overnight. They were at a tipping point.”

The deal turned out to be something of a retail “perfect storm,” said Frank Petruziello, another principal with Mahogany. “At first glance we thought Bernita and [consultant] Chinwe [Onyeagoro] were out of their minds. Then we looked a little further.”

Between the location at the intersection of two main streets and statistics from LISC/MetroEdge that showed 90 percent of retail dollars were leaving the Quad Communities, Mahogany became convinced, he said. “We developers like the concept of main-on-main (streets),” he said. “We were able to see that we had an opportunity to capture those retail dollars and provide a base for this building.”

Johnson-Gabriel said the deal would not have happened without the impetus of the NCP quality-of-life planning process. “It’s a direct mandate from 18 months of meetings,” she said.

Morning roundtables

Roundtables on the second morning of the conference covered topics like building green, safe streets, the foreclosure crisis and bringing business and shopping to your neighborhood. One session focused on getting people involved.

Johnnie Muhammad of Teamwork Englewood said his group created an inclusive planning process that incorporated residents, businesses, nonprofit agencies and faith-based organizations. A 12-person task force still meets monthly to make funding decisions.

“This is not a Frank Sinatra contest,” Muhammad said. “We don’t do things ‘my way.’ ” While the quality-of-life plan lays out priorities, he added, “It’s an organic document. Projects may no longer be desirable or timely.”

Raul Echevarria, former outreach worker for Bickerdike Redevelopment Corp., recalled that agencies in Humboldt Park had worked together loosely for many years, but the NCP process strengthened partnerships and brought together agencies that sometimes had been adversaries. Bickerdike is now running a mini-planning process to create an addendum to the original plan, Echevarria said, in part to reignite that sense of partnership.

 ‘I hope to use some of your tools’

A random sampling of those who attended the conference revealed a hunger to find out what’s working in Chicago – and how to transplant it.

Correy Eimer, community impact associate at United Way of Northern Kentucky, said he’s involved in a neighborhood-based initiative in Covington, Ky. “I’m hoping to learn a little more about the process, and what goes into the planning initiative to make it work,” he said.

Della Clark, who works for a community development corporation in West Philadelphia, said collaborations there are not as far along as NCP. “Seeing how it works here reinforces the importance of it,” she said. “No one single organization can be all things to all people.”

Jeff Stys of United Way of Greater Houston, which works closely with LISC as a funder and partner, has been struggling with how to evaluate and select neighborhoods for its Financial Stability for Families initiative. He said funders should follow the lead of MacArthur and LISC/Chicago by providing technical assistance in addition to dollars. “It’s important that we see ourselves as more than just people who write checks.”

Glenn Hudson of LISC/Richmond said he relished the opportunity to hear about NCP’s “holistic approach to sustainable communities – beyond bricks and mortar, concentrating on families, doing healthy community check-ups. One group doesn’t have to do it all. It’s critical that you’re bringing all the right partners.”

Sarita Turner of the West Broadway Business Area Coalition in the Twin Cities said her local LISC office organized a “fairly large group of people” to attend the conference to figure out how to recreate NCP’s success. “How do we develop teams with certain geographic focuses? Who’s responsible for achieving what deliverables and outcomes? What can each partner bring to the table?”

Troy of Mahogany Ventures said the conference could lead to future deals like the Shops and Lofts project. “It gives guys like us a chance to connect with non-profits who may need our help in the future,” he said.