Empower Austin: A Journey through BUILD and Aspire

This event is now open to Nonmembers.

Join us for a tour of two recent projects in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago. BUILD and the Aspire Center are both projects focused on providing resources for the community.

In 2018, over 400 leaders from Chicago’s Austin neighborhood came together to develop a neighborhood revitalization plan. The resulting Quality-of-Life Plan, Austin Forward. Together. (AFT), serves as a blueprint for healthy growth and development in Austin. AFT is in active use, and as a lead member of that coalition, BUILD was asked to lead two critical strategic areas—Youth Empowerment and Public Safety. BUILD (Broader Urban Involvement & Leadership Development) is a nationally respected gang intervention, violence prevention, and youth development organization based on Chicago’s West Side. LBBA worked with BUILD to develop their programming and design for an expansion of their existing facility located in the Austin neighborhood. Conceived of as a campus, the project includes the rehabilitation of BUILD’s existing building, and the new construction of a 37,000 sf facility.

Since its completion in 2022, the new campus has become a community hub for the Austin neighborhood. Directly off I-290, BUILD not only serves as a powerful and visible reminder that new opportunities have arrived, but it plays an active part in revitalizing the neighborhood through its many and continually expanding programs—youth services, community work zone, locally-owned café, and community garden.

The Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation aims to convert a site indicative of historic disinvestment into a beacon of resources and economic development for the Austin community. The currently closed Robert Emmet Public School’s renovation will restore the existing classrooms to functional spaces that meet current workforce development and training needs – from advanced manufacturing to small business incubation. Including new retail space, the center will create 50 new jobs within the first five years within the targeted geography. By 2030, the initiative will increase the income of 500 Austinites and help 250 more acquire financing for businesses or purchase properties.

Required PPE will be provided. Please no open toed shoes or skirts/dresses.

After the building tours, we will head to MacArthur’s for a group dinner.

Speakers:
Cambrie Barowski
Lamar Johnson Collaborative

Jeff Bone
LBBA

Members & Nonmembers $45

The pick up point for the tour to begin will be at 30 W Monroe St.