Center for Neighborhood Technology

Congratulations and thank you for the opportunity to speak last Saturday 12/14 to Teamwork Englewood: Their 8th Annual Small Business Plan Competition Pitch Day featured Shark Tank style presentations where small business owners won more than $40k total for mental health, food and cleaning services from and for the Englewood community, followed by a gallery walk of planned developments, lunch, and a panel discussion about economic development in the community. On the panel, CNT CEO Nina Idemudia, AICP shared our work adding the “equitable” to equitable transit-oriented development as part of a conversation with 16th Ward Alder Stephanie Coleman, Deputy Commissioner of Planning and Development Mary O'Connor, and Ja'Net Defell, PMP, LEED Green Associate of Community Desk Chicago moderated by Cecile De Mello executive director of Teamwork Englewood. These folks know how to throw an event!

With jokes about zoning and parking spots, developers celebrated a year of equitable transit-oriented development success Wednesday. Community-based developers shared completed construction project stories alongside Elevated Works coaches who helped them navigate zoning, parking, and other challenges -- such as Zack Schrantz of St. Leonard's Ministries and Chelsa Moore of MUSE Community + Design, who described their collaboration on an open house event featuring St. Leonard's as the Near West Side agency rehabs its campus to better house, train and welcome people back to the community after being incarcerated. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e_y-DkDC

We’re excited to announce a new partnership with the Chicago Architecture Center to develop the Chicago Community Planning Academy. This pilot program offers neighborhood residents and leaders knowledge about planning, governmental, and financial processes that drive community development. The program begins on January 28th and it is encouraged to apply by December 15th for better consideration. You can learn more and apply here: https://lnkd.in/gDSTtmvm

The Future of Public Transit town hall is happening tomorrow (12/12) at 5:30 p.m. - hosted by Transportation Equity Network and Garfield Park Community Council. Learn more about the Better Streets for Buses plan and make sure your voice is heard on future improvements to Chicago public transportation. To register call 708-948-8989 ext 190

The past year has been one of change and evolution at Center for Neighborhood Technology. We'll continue the process in 2025 with work to develop a new Theory of Change, Strategic Plan, and Impact Statement. We hope you'll review our Request for Proposals and consider applying or spreading the word so we can find the right consultant to partner with on this project. Our timeline is to select a consultant early in the new year (Deadline for questions: 5 p.m. Friday, Jan. 3, the deadline to submit a proposal is 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 21), kick off the project in March, with anticipated completion including dissemination of polished final materials by next December. https://lnkd.in/gmki7tx8

Housing, flooding, equity: our November Visionary Voices panelists — Meleah Geertsma from Alliance for the Great Lakes, Kennedy Moehrs Gardner from Equity Legal Services, Inc., Sheila Sutton of Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance (CAFHA) and our own Cyatharine Alias as moderator — discussed the intersection of all three, talking about places like Centreville IL (now Cahokia Heights) where residents have fought raw sewage inundations and regular flooding for decades -- but also how infrastructure investment in communities in Chicago and elsewhere tracks with race-based practices like redlining, and other issues. https://lnkd.in/gD-WzFXd

In 2024 we advocated for transit with our Transportation Equity Network and Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition. With the Chicago Metropolitan Area for Planning, we helped author and send the Illinois Legislature a new Plan of Action for Regional Transit to avoid a fiscal cliff that threatens the entire Northern Illinois region. #GivingTuesday

In 2024, the American Planning Association Illinois honored our Civic Innovation Hub project with its annual “best practice in planning award” in September for the program to provide community leaders opportunities to learn water policy and planning ‘from the inside’ by meeting with experts. This project is also inspiring other programs to support grassroots leaders' access to planning and policy skills. #GivingTuesday

This year we invested nearly $3 million in community-based organizations as well as coaching and other support—about a third of our budget. This ranged from stipends for steering committee members in programs like RainReady and Civic Innovation Hub to covering costs for specialized services like legal, marketing, and real estate consulting in Elevated Works to collaborative grant projects and consulting fees for user testing of online tools. #GivingTuesday

To grow our capacity to invest in sustainable, thriving communities, we’ve set a goal to raise $30,000 more than we did last year. Help us raise $3,500 on Giving Tuesday toward that goal!