| Two of the most impoverished neighborhoods in the United States - Greater Grand Boulevard and Douglas - are located in the community adjacent to Chicago's Illinois Institute of Technology (ITT). The area - called Bronzeville - is a community of paradox. Despite its poverty, Bronzeville is experiencing a $450 million influx of capital investment from the private sector, local institutions, government, and not-for-profit agencies. Although numerous social service and support services are available in the community, many residents are still undereducated, unemployed, and poorly housed. While part of Bronzeville is in the Chicago Empowerment Zone, few businesses have taken advantage of financial or tax incentives to bolster the community's commercial, retail, or industrial activity.
The Douglas and Greater Grand Boulevard communities have very high concentrations of low-income households and were ranked, respectively, the sixth and third poorest community areas in Chicago in 1989. In 1990, only 20 percent of the population in both neighborhoods was employed, compared with 43 percent of Chicago's population. In that same year, median household income in Douglas ($10,477) was 40 percent below poverty level, while the median income for Greater Grand Boulevard ($8,371) was 65 percent below poverty level. Chicago's median household income was $39,000.
Education, housing, and economic development are high priorities for the COPC at IIT. In recent years, 12 Bronzeville schools have been placed on probation or been assigned for reconstitution for failing to improve test scores, graduation rates, and overall performance. On the housing front, 20 percent of the 32,000 total housing units in the COPC target area were vacant in 1990. The neighborhood's three public housing developments - which comprise almost a third of the area's housing units - are characterized by deteriorating physical conditions and lack of recreational facilities. Two developments are currently slated for phased demolition, which promises to help revitalize the area but is contributing to a general sense of uncertainty among residents.
Through IIT's COPC grant, the university's Center for Community Development and Technology will:
Provide technology skills to public school students. Coordinate job programs so Bronzeville residents can move from welfare into good paying jobs. Lay the groundwork for a practical affordable housing strategy. Develop databases that document ongoing physical redevelopment and human capacity projects.
COPC partners include the Southside Partnership, the Mid-South Planning and Development Commission, and Support and Training Result in Valuable Employees (STRIVE). The Southside Partnership was established in 1989 to identify, articulate, and facilitate the resolution of community issues. STRIVE is a nonprofit organization that targets low-income, chronically unemployed individuals.
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