- Credibility:
SOUTH CHICAGO — The $10 million “Chicago Prize,” awarded to a community-led initiative to transform a South or West Side neighborhood, will be announced Thursday afternoon, ending months of anticipation for groups vying for the game-changing windfall.
The prize issued by the Pritzker Traubert Foundation funds projects that address “systemic poverty, economic exclusion, and inequity.”
The announcement will be made live on the Chicago Prize website at 2 p.m.
Six finalists were announced in December 2019. They represent South Chicago, North Lawndale, Auburn Gresham, Austin, Englewood and Little Village. Each neighborhood’s project was drafted by a coalition of community groups.
Each finalist received $100,000 to continue developing their plans for the grand prize. Finalists include:
- Nearly 80 units of affordable housing, the renovation of a vacant building into a cafe and seven other projects for South Chicago.
- Affordable housing developments and renovations, career readiness programs and public art for North Lawndale.
- The renovation of a vacant building into a full-service health center, the nation’s first renewable energy and urban farming campus, and plans to redevelop a vacant high school into affordable housing for Auburn Gresham.
- A neighborhood high school, 60 units of affordable housing, a jobs center and an early learning, health and recreation center for Austin.
- A cooperative market, a mixed-use development and the renovation of a vacant school into a recycling center for Englewood.
- A “solidarity economy” creating access to professional equipment to food cart operators, a worker-led cooperative kitchen and other community food and compost initiatives for Little Village.
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