Strong local economies are essential to addressing public safety challenges in Chicago’s neighborhoods. When communities have thriving businesses, active commercial streets, and meaningful employment opportunities, they become safer places to live and work.
The Civic Committee has made community economic development a cornerstone of our comprehensive approach to reducing violence in the city we love. By focusing on the restoration and revitalization of historic commercial corridors, we aim to complement our other violence reduction strategies and implement a multi-faceted approach to building safer communities.
Get Involved!
Whether you're a potential investor, a community leader ready to collaborate, or an individual eager to contribute, there are numerous ways to participate in this transformative initiative.
Strategic Approach
The Civic Committee takes a comprehensive view of community development, recognizing that business investment can drive positive change across multiple dimensions of neighborhood life.
We help our Member companies identify strategic ways to invest that align their business strengths and goals with community needs and interests. Whether through expanding operations to underserved areas, buying goods and services from a neighborhood business, investing capital in development projects, or creating innovative services, our Members have so much to offer.
Our approach is guided by a holistic framework that recognizes six interconnected components of a healthy neighborhood: Housing, Built Environment, Social Cohesion, Employment, Education, and Health. By using this evidence-based framework (see the Resources section below), we help members explore investment opportunities that may address multiple components simultaneously, creating more comprehensive impact.
Over time, we envision Civic Committee Members using multiple levers to increase economic opportunities at the neighborhood level, creating lasting positive change in communities across Chicago.
Community Areas of Focus
Our initial focus is on commercial corridor development, a strategy that has shown promise in reducing violent crime in other cities.
Civic Committee Members are currently making investments in the commercial corridors of the Austin and Auburn Gresham neighborhoods.
Chicago map highlighting Community Areas of focus for community economic development. View interactive Chicago map of our public safety strategies.
Auburn Gresham: 79th Street between Halsted Street and the Dan Ryan Expressway
Austin: Central Avenue between North and Madison Avenues
Partners
Community Partners
Our community partners serve as vital bridges between business initiatives and neighborhood residents. These organizations provide local expertise, ensure investments align with community priorities, and coordinate the essential services that transform commercial development into genuine community prosperity.
Business Investment Opportunities
Strategic partnerships that connect corporate resources with neighborhood potential are central to our community development approach. These initiatives create powerful models for business investment that generate jobs, revitalize underutilized spaces, and build economic opportunity in Chicago's South and West Side communities.
Resources
The link between safety and neighborhood economic vitality is a robust area of research among social scientists, business, and public policy researchers. The following resources have informed our approach to commercial corridor investment and our initial areas of focus.
