HUMBOLDT PARK — Seven new city cultural districts are now eligible for millions in state funding for wide-ranging preservation efforts, local leaders announced Monday.
Gov. JB Pritzker announced the program at a Monday press conference at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture, 3015 W. Division St.
The program, at least three years in the making, selected designated areas “with a historical or cultural identity that binds them together,” Pritzker said.
The money will run through community organizations and include cultural districts in Bronzeville, Chinatown, Clark Street/Camino Clark in Rogers Park, Mahalia Jackson 79th Street in Chatham, Little Village, South Chicago and Puerto Rico Town in Humboldt Park. Three additional districts were created in Champaign and Springfield.
The money is intended for economic development, tourism and local entrepreneurship; the preservation of historic buildings, traditions and languages; and the promotion of culturally informed education, officials said.
Each can now apply for a portion of $3 million in state funding, which will be made available later this year.
Areas eligible for the money had to be at risk of losing their cultural identify because of gentrification, the pandemic or a history of economic disinvestment, officials said.
Ald. Jesse Fuentes (26th), whose ward include Humboldt Park, praised Pritzker for putting money behind an effort to “finally intervene in decades of displacement and historical disinvestment.”
“We have the right to generational wealth, thriving communities and affordable housing. Having those things shouldn’t mean the eradication of our place,” Fuentes said. “The state-designated cultural districts is going to allow us to invite those families back.”
Jose Lopez, executive director of the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and longtime organizer, called the Puerto Rico Town designation a “humbling moment” in a career which included efforts to open and name Roberto Clemente Community Academy in the early ’70s.
“This is our counter narrative to the politics of hate and division,” Lopez said. “Culture can become an enterprise, and it must be what drives us.”
Other elected officials including Reps. Lilian Jiménez and Delia Ramirez said the program was an example of efforts to flow funding through neighborhoods instead of private corporations.
Sen. Omar Aquino, who said he met and married his wife at the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture, called the program an opportunity to promote and protect the history of Chicago’s diverse communities.
“We have state dollars to make sure my kids get to learn about what it means to be Puerto Rican, to learn about all the contributions of Chinatown, of Bronzeville, of Springfield, of all these different communities they get to also call their own,” Aquino said.
An additional five cultural districts will be selected in 2025, with a focus on downstate and rural communities, according to a press release.
Pritzker called the program a testament to how America is “a nation of immigrants.”
“I’m really excited to see the build-up of tourism that will come from these districts, the build-up of opportunity for people that live in these districts,” Pritzker said. “It will make a difference in the lives of Chicagoans because we are one Chicago, we are one Illinois.”
Pritzker did not address the city’s migrant crisis as shelter eviction deadlines loom at the start of next month and plans to fund migrant services remain in flux.
Support Local News!
Subscribe to Block Club Chicago, an independent, 501(c)(3), journalist-run newsroom. Every dime we make funds reporting from Chicago’s neighborhoods. Already subscribe? Click here to gift a subscription, or you can support Block Club with a tax-deductible donation.
Listen to the Block Club Chicago podcast:
