Chicago issues an RFP for $10M in equitable TOD technical assistance grants - Streetsblog Chicago

On Wednesday Chicago officials announced the motorboat of the archetypal signifier of the city’s $10 cardinal Equitable Transit-Oriented Development assistance program. This initiative, bankrolled by the Chicago Recovery Plan, volition assistance promote community-driven improvement adjacent bid stations and high-frequency autobus corridors.   

During this archetypal phase, assemblage groups and different organizations are encouraged to respond to a petition for proposals for metropolis grants to wage for method assistance for eTOD projects, which volition beryllium awarded adjacent year. The metropolis expects to unfastened up aggregate backing rounds for ETOD projects.  

The 2nd signifier of the program, launching successful December, volition supply grants and method assistance to straight enactment the benignant of dense, mixed-use, walkable improvement enabled by the Connected Communities Ordinance the City Council passed successful July.  

“In bid to recognize my administration’s imaginativeness for an equitable city, we indispensable redress and amended the ways we put successful our neighborhoods,” said Mayor Lori Lightfoot successful a statement. “By putting backing enactment down the Connected Communities Ordinance, we are surviving our values by supporting developments that are accessible to each residents arsenic good arsenic catalytic for their communities. I look guardant to seeing the communities’ proposals for much equitable and inclusive improvement travel to world done this funding.” 

“The grants volition assistance assemblage stakeholders to signifier their neighborhoods by improving walkability to country stores, transit options, affordable housing, and different pedestrian-oriented amenities,” DPD Commissioner Maurice Cox stated. 

The ETOD assistance programme is portion of a caller Department of Planning and Development cosmopolitan exertion process for backing nether $250,000. City officials accidental that projects that absorption connected improving heath and radical equity outcomes, and prioritize walkable, transit-friendly design, volition beryllium prioritized. Projects tin see affordable lodging developments, mixed-use developments with steadfast nutrient retail, assemblage ownership concern models, and more.  

In October 2021, the metropolis partnered with the Elevated Chicago deliberation vessel to pick 11 projects to person micro grants and method assistance. Officials accidental lessons learned from that aviator programme volition pass the caller $10 cardinal initiative. 

The 2021 winners included:

• Briget’s Bodega, 125 W. 95th St., Roseland
• Coalition Food Hall, 2800 W. Madison St., East Garfield Park
• Homan-Harrison Mixed-Use Development Project, 600 S. Homan Ave., East Garfield Park
• Equity Arts Project, 1500 N. Milwaukee Ave., West Town
• Food Matters, 435 E. 43rd St., Grand Boulevard
• Gateway 79, State and 79th streets, Chatham
• Overton Center of Excellence, 221 E. 49th St., Grand Boulevard
• Albany Park Plaza, 3300 W. Lawrence Ave., Albany Park
• Cross the Street: Art connected Clark, Rogers Park
• Emmett Street Apartments Public Art and Placemaking, 2614 N. Emmett St., Logan Square
• 35th/Archer Orange Line ETOD Vision Project, 3528 S. Leavitt St., McKinley Park

“The Elevated Chicago conjugation has advocated for this committedness to ETOD since 2017, and the departments of Housing and Planning and Development person been allies successful our journey,” Elevated enforcement manager Roberto Roquejo told Streetsblog. “Our enactment has progressive input from dozens of civic partners and community-based organizations, represented connected the city’s ETOD Working Group formed successful collaboration with the mayor’s office. Now, our anticipation is that this marks a larger, multi-agency commitment, and that these archetypal dollars volition enactment projects driven by assemblage residents successful transit hubs astir affected by gentrification and disinvestment.”

Drew Williams-Clark, manager of equitable and sustainable communities for the Metropolitan Planning Council, told SBC, “MPC commends the metropolis of Chicago arsenic it demonstrates an historical committedness to concern successful ETOD. The Connected Communities Ordinance was a large archetypal step, but this benignant of nationalist concern is indispensable to marque definite each Chicago residents tin acquisition the benefits of ETOD, particularly successful neighborhoods that person been harmed by ongoing disinvestment that tin hint its lineage to racist policies and politics. To that end, we besides commend the metropolis for engaging with us, Elevated Chicago, and galore others to deliberation astir however these investments tin beryllium made utilizing an equity lens.”

To larn much astir the City’s Equitable Transit Oriented Development programs, sojourn chicago.gov/etod. The deadline to respond to the Equitable Transit Oriented Development Implementation Plan RFP is Friday, December 9, 2022, astatine 12 p.m. Chicago time.