Neighborhood Funds to Invest in Businesses Across Chicago

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Business

Lawndale News Chicago's Bilingual Newspaper - Business

Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the third round of investments from the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund directly into 33 small businesses in Chicago’s South, West and Southwest Sides. The businesses receiving a total of approximately $5 million in investment include a Grand Boulevard grocery store, a North Lawndale restaurant and a Little Village fruit market. The third round of funding is the largest to date for the program, which provides grants up to $250,000 for economic development projects along commercial corridors on the South, West and Southwest Sides of the City. The neighborhood projects supported by the third round of grants are expected to generate a total of $38.3 million of investment. The awardees were selected from more than 800 applications. The program is financed by voluntary payments made by downtown development projects in exchange for increased density for a given site. Eighty percent of those payments are earmarked for the Neighborhood Opportunity Fund for use on projects on the South and West sides. Third round awardees include:

A community art space on 91st Street in South Chicago
A community café and business incubator in Little Village
A family-owned barbecue restaurant on Chicago Avenue in Austin

A full list of awardees is available at www.neighborhoodopportunityfund.com.

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