Neighborhood Planning

With Alderman Willie B. Cochran's 20th Ward Office acting as the lead agency, Teska Associates, Inc. has been engaged in the preparation of a Quality-of-Life Plan for the Washington Park Neighborhood on Chicago's South Side. Washington Park was selected to be the 14th community to participate in the New Communities Program (NCP), which is a long-term comprehensive community development initiative directed by Local Initiatives Support Corporation/Chicago (LISC). Starting in February and continuing on through the end of this year, Teska has utilized its neighborhood planning experience to design and facilitate interactive workshops, consolidate strategies developed by the community, and mobilize the community through discussions, activities, and early action projects.

Working closely with a community-based Steering Committee, Teska provided guidance to plan for neighborhood-wide meetings as well as prepared committee members to assume greater leadership roles in the planning process and beyond. With a variety of strategies that include supporting healthy lifestyles, developing a diverse housing stock, forging partnerships to enhance employment options, and building community capacity to prepare for future development plans like the 2016 Olympic Bid (among others), the Quality-of-Life Plan for the Washington Park Neighborhood is slated to form the blueprints for revitalizing a vibrant and proud Chicago neighborhood.