First Ever Quality-Of-Life Plan Unveiled For Austin Community

CHICAGO — The first-ever quality-of-life plan for the city's Austin neighborhood was unveiled Saturday at a summit on the West Side. The "Austin Forward!" strategy is to revitalize the community through youth empowerment, public safety, economic development, civic engagement, better housing and education.

Headed by the group Austin Coming Together, the plan was created by a steering committee of 20 local leaders. Over the past 18 months, the committee and ACT partnered with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC Chicago) to bring together more than 400 Austin community stakeholders, including elected officials, residents and representatives from local organizations and businesses to voice what they felt were Austin’s needs and priorities.

The summit was held Saturday morning at Michele Clark Magnet High School, 5101 W. Harrison St., and included a performance by the Chicago Children's Choir.

To help Austin realize its vision for neighborhood revitalization, stakeholders have identified 23 strategies and more than 80 actions.

A central focus of the plan is to "change the narrative" about the neighborhood and its portrayal. One of the plan's first initiatives was to work with the Chicago Architecture Center to bring Open House Chicago to Austin for the first time in October. The event "opened the door to a world of visitors who had a chance to experience the neighborhood through its hidden architectural gems," organizers said.

“Since Austin Coming Together (ACT) was first established in 2010, we’ve always understood the power of collaboration. That is why we place great value on the care and time it takes to connect the dots between resources and those who need them," said Darnell Shields, ACT's executive director, in a statement. "We remain dedicated to actualizing the vision of a thriving Austin community.”

The committee said other major parts of the plan include:

• Increasing student enrollment in Austin public school: when Chicago Public Schools issued a request for new IB High schools, the Education Task Force leadership and Principal Anderson of Michele Clark "jumped into action," organizers said, engaging elected officials, generating a petition of over 1000 names and testifying at the Board of Education.

• Safe spaces for youth: this summer, leadership from the Public Safety Task Force and the Youth Empowerment Task Force demonstrated this commitment with ten weekly “Light in the Night" events at Hubbard Park, ACT said.

• Increasing home ownership by Austin residents: recognizing the need to "bridge the gap," the Housing Task Force is taking early action with on-going credit-building workshops that will position current residents to become future homeowners, ACT said.

• Minimizing the impact of violence when it happens: ACT and Public Safety Task Force leadership collaborated with the 15th District police to create the Austin Response Team. The team supports blocks that have been directly impacted by violence by mobilizing outreach to offer support and connect residents to services. This initiative exemplifies the "power of collaborative action," and continues to show that "when our neighbors in Austin experience harm, the community responds together," ACT said.

LISC Neighborhood Program Officer Jack Swenson said the plan "lays out a collective vision" for the community.

“This is how capacity building is taken to the next level – with communities defining a vision for themselves in their own neighborhood where they feel empowered to take ownership over their futures,” Swenson said in a statement.

The MacArthur Foundation provided a four-year, $1 million Vital Communities grant to assist with implementing the plan.

Photo credit: Vashon Jordan Jr.