Major
Urban Studies
Anticipated Graduation Year
2023
Access Type
Open Access
Abstract
The Covid-19 pandemic had a negative economic impact on many marginalized neighborhoods in Chicago which have already suffered from years of lack of investment. The Chicago Community Trust, aiming to help these communities not only recover to pre-pandemic economic levels, but to reach more equitable economic conditions, has begun investing through its We Rise Together initiative in neighborhood anchor sites. CURL, in collaboration with MAPSCorps, the Quinlan School of Business, and the Institute for Racial Justice, is assessing the impact of these investments using community-engaged evaluations, secondary economic data, and stakeholder engagement. Thus far in our research, it is increasingly clear that access to funding, opportunities for youth development, and ownership of businesses by community members are some of the major goals the We Rise Together Initiative should continue to strive for in its investments.
Community Partners
The Chicago Community Trust, MAPSCorps
Faculty Mentors & Instructors
Gina Spitz, CURL; Brett Coleman, CURL
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.
Assessing the Impact of Investments in Community-Based Organizations as a Method of Promoting Equitable Economic Recovery from the Covid-19 Pandemic in Chicago's South and West Sides
The Covid-19 pandemic had a negative economic impact on many marginalized neighborhoods in Chicago which have already suffered from years of lack of investment. The Chicago Community Trust, aiming to help these communities not only recover to pre-pandemic economic levels, but to reach more equitable economic conditions, has begun investing through its We Rise Together initiative in neighborhood anchor sites. CURL, in collaboration with MAPSCorps, the Quinlan School of Business, and the Institute for Racial Justice, is assessing the impact of these investments using community-engaged evaluations, secondary economic data, and stakeholder engagement. Thus far in our research, it is increasingly clear that access to funding, opportunities for youth development, and ownership of businesses by community members are some of the major goals the We Rise Together Initiative should continue to strive for in its investments.