Chicago City Treasurer Kurt Summers visited the Little Village Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, January 7th. Summers, who has been on the job about a month, is organizing community meetings in each of Chicago’s 77 communities within 77 days. Summers met with about a dozen chamber members, some of whom have owned businesses in Little Village for more than 20 years. Business leaders expressed an interest in having more support for local retail options and restaurants and were pleased to learn more about Summers’ plans to invest in Chicago businesses and neighborhoods.

Those in attendance were also happy to hear about Summers’ plan to leverage the city of Chicago’s scale and purchasing power to help lower the cost of doing business, especially for mom and pop shops. Summers is using the events to learn firsthand about the needs of each community and how he can be most helpful to Chicago’s residents in his new role as City Treasurer. Summers is meeting with residents across the city to engage, discuss and learn about the unique development needs and investment opportunities that each community faces, including Little Village.