Chicago’s ETOD Plan: How communities, government and developers united
Wednesday, June 9, 2021
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Through an unprecedented process involving deep community engagement and cross-sector collaboration, the City of Chicago recently prepared its first Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Policy Plan. There are many lessons and insights applicable to other cities and regions. This webinar will delve into what it took to create the plan, recognizing that a lot of the work was path-breaking and painstaking, in terms of getting sectors to come together. How can this become a model for other communities?
During the webinar, the speakers and moderator will:
- Provide an overview of the Chicago transit and development situation as well as how they each came to be involved, both personally and via their roles with local or national organizations or initiatives.
- Speak to such fundamental questions as “Who benefits from ETOD?” and “What harms can ETOD repair?”
- Describe the effort to reframe the rules of engagement for cross-sector stakeholders, including addressing barriers of technical language and accounting for the history and mindsets that are part of place
- Tell the funding story, getting at the challenges of paying for collaborative work as well as opportunities to reshape public and private funding programs and assumptions
Featured Speakers
Juan Sebastian Arias
Mayor’s Office, City of Chicago
Website: City of Chicago – Equitable Transit-Oriented Development (ETOD)
Twitter: @_jsarias
Juan Sebastian Arias currently works for the Office of Chicago Mayor Lori E. Lightfoot as a Deputy Director of Policy. There he manages strategic policy and place-based initiatives across housing, neighborhood development and food security – from equitable transit-oriented developments to vacant lots. He has over 10 years of experience working to advance racial equity and social justice in cities through policy, research, community engagement, and cross-sector partnerships. He has previously worked with the Metropolitan Planning Council, Enterprise Community Partners, and Living Cities among other positions.
A proud Chicago native and son of Ecuadorian immigrants, Juan Sebastian grew up across Avondale, Logan Square and Jefferson Park. He has a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies from Harvard College and a masters’ degree in City Planning from the University of California – Berkeley. He now lives back in Logan Square and enjoys biking, hiking, visiting family, and playing with his niece and nephew. His preferred pronouns are he/him/his.
Leslé Honoré
Center for Neighborhood Technology
Website # 1: Center for Neighborhood Technology
Website #2: LesleHonore.com
Twitter: @lesle_honore
Leslé Honoré [LEZ-lay ON-or-ay] is a Blaxican Poet, activist, and author of Fist & Fire, a collection of powerful, unflinching poems that confront issues of social justice through the lenses of real people, and dive into the flames of love within the context of a relationship. Both in her poetry and in her life she works to empower youth to find their voices through the arts, and inspire people to stand in the gaps that social, economic, and racial inequities create.
Throughout her career, Lesle’ has weaved her artistic work within her community leadership. She co-created with Elevated Chicago the video-poem “The Revolution Will Not Be Televised,” and application for funding for the Pritzker Traubert Foundation Chicago Prize that earned a semi-finalist grant. As part of Elevated Chicago’s Steering Committee, Lesle’ has infused her poetry, art, expertise in youth engagement and leadership style into governance and programming. She convenes the Green Line South Community Table of Elevated, which brings together residents and organizations advancing ETOD in the area; she provides direction to cross-community arts and culture programs in support of ETOD; and she is one of the co-creators of the Equitable Development Ambassadors program, a two-way learning initiative that equips community residents with tools to advocate for equity in their communities and teaches and informs Elevated leadership through stories, lived experience, and expertise of people from Chicago.
Roberto Requejo
Elevated Chicago
Website: Elevated Chicago
Twitter: @Splanish
I am an urban planner specialized in transit-oriented development and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). During the past 20 years I have worked in collaborative projects in a variety of fields, including financing, public housing redevelopment, foreclosure prevention, and neighborhood revitalization. In my current job as director of Elevated Chicago, I lead a coalition of developers, community organizers, public health practitioners, artists, and sustainability experts, building equitable development near Chicago Transit Authority stations.
Melvin Thompson
Endeleo Institute
Website: Endeleo Institute
Twitter: @MelvinRT23
I am privileged to lead an organization rooted in social, economic, racial and environmental justice through the programmatic lens of health, education and community development. Birthed from both a nationally and internationally recognized black church on Chicago’s Far South Side (Trinity UCC), my role as executive director at Endeleo is to lead neighborhood revitalization in the Washington Heights/Greater Roseland Area, a complex, all-encompassing endeavor that aims to leverage investment in our 95thstreet commercial corridor and center a signature transit station as the nexus.
Mariia Zimmerman
MZ Strategies, Moderator
Website: MZ Strategies
Twitter: @MZStrat
Founder and Principal of MZ Strategies, LLC, an urban planning policy firm located in Richmond, VA working with communities across the country to create more inclusive, resilient and thriving regions. A partner in the SPARCC initiative focused on advancing equitable transit-oriented development. I am passionate about federal, regional and local community-driven strategies that tangibly make life better for all people and the planet. How we plan is as important as what we plan.