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Executive Summary
"Creating Realities in South Chicago with an Asset-Based Approach"
Research Intern: Maria Campos, University of Notre Dame
Community Partner:
Centro Comunitario Juan Diego
 The community of South Chicago is defined as located between 79th to 95th streets and South Chicago Avenue to Lake Michigan. In the 2000 census, 29.7% percent of the population was living below the poverty level. One cannot do research in South Chicago and not mention U.S. Steel South Works, which employed mush of the community from the 1870s through the 1970s when heavy layoffs began. Although the steel mill helped the economy of what was a small community early on, when it closed down in 1992 it sent the neighborhood into an economic decline. Not only did businesses and residents suffer, but quality department stores closed along with some small businesses, leaving empty, abandoned buildings. Recent economic development has led to gentrification in recent years.
go to map of area land use >>
The Research Question(s):
 Research focused on gentrification and the socioeconomic status of the neighborhood.The research addressed the problem of how people who live in South Chicago could get involved in the decision making process around their land, while at the same time addressing the delicate balance between the economic development and destruction of the neighborhood.
Methods:
Participant observation, and informal and semi-structured interviews were used to collect the data.
Key Findings:
Gentrification
- Affordable housing is becoming more and more of a problem for the people who live and do business in South Chicago. Business owners along Commercial Avenue, dependent upon the population of the immediate area, lose profits when locals must leave due to the rising cost of housing. In an area where nearly one-third of the residents are below the poverty line, people have no choice but to move elsewhere just to be able to pay their rent and/or mortgage. Due to the economic status of the neighborhood they are worried about not being able to afford even the cheapest substandard housing.
Economic Development
 The economic decline of the neighborhood began when the steel mills closed down. Although it seems as though th socioeconomic status of South Chicago is in desperate need of a boost and would welcome economic development, the problem is not solved simply. Due to the gentrification of the neighborhood in the last five or six years, the cost of everything has gone up, including rent, land, houses, business and general living expenses. The boost that the gentrification has given the neighborhood has not been a positive one for the residents due to the fact that they cannot afford and do not have use for the many new things that are being brought into the neighborhood. The neighborhood needs a boost, but an affordable one so that the residents currently living in South Chicago will not be displaced and consequently change the entire makeup of the community.
Toward a Beautiful and Safer Neighborhood
- Some community organizations, such as Centro Comunitario Juan Diego (CCJD) have developed community gardens on vacant lots with the help of organizations such as Neighbor Space and Greencorps which provide gardening classes and then tools/materials and finally the land, which they buy but give over to the community for their use as a garden. Reducing the number of these vacant lots in South Chicago would help not only to build a sense of community but it would also help to lower the number of places where crimes could potentially be committed, and in the process, make South Chicago safer and more beautiful for everyone.
Findings in Action:
A different economic strategy is needed in South Chicago.
 One possibility is to try to link all the assets of the community, and in the process, make them stronger. Right now, the assets of South Chicago are scattered all over the neighborhood and there are no strong links between them. There are many spaces for a cafe to open where local businesses, entrepreneurs and organizations could converge and set up shop. People in the community would then be more aware of what was actually going on within their own community by making just one stop instead of having to travel more than ten blocks to see everything that it has to offer. The close proximity of the different businesses and organizations to the café would help a great deal to gather forces within South Chicago and all the while helping the community regain some of its former strength. The money people are earning would then stay within the community rather than disappearing into cash registers, never to be seen again.
Mobilize seniors for positive social change in South Chicago.
- Seniors in South Chicago are active and have ideas about marking senior-friendly businesses with a specialized logo and creating a publicly accessible calendar for the listing of activities and resources.
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