Beginning in the Summer of 2016, the Great Cities Institute (GCI), in collaboration with the Back of the Yards community, has engaged in a planning process to create a community plan. This ground-up planning process involves key neighborhood stakeholders such as community organizations, service providers, elected officials, property owners, business owners, and residents.
To engage the community and gather information about resident’s hopes and dreams for Back of the Yards and specific actions and strategies that should be included in the plan, GCI designed a ground-up planning process. The process includes a multi-faceted approach to engaging the community in a participatory process.
To date, community engagement and participation has included the following activities:
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- October 25, 2016: Community visioning meeting with over 160 residents, elected officials, and representatives from community-based organizations. At the meeting, residents were asked to share their vision for the Back of the Yards neighborhood by writing their ideas down (in Spanish or in English) on large index cards and posting them on a large wall for everyone to see. All of the ideas have been translated into both English and Spanish.
Several more participation opportunities will be available as the process moves forward.
Resident Vision Ideas English (PDF) »
Ideas de Visión Residente Español (PDF) »