Austin Coming Together for the Austin Quality-of-Life Plan

Despite being Chicago’s geographically largest and second most populous community, Austin has long been defined by the media and pundits by its losses rather than its assets. By 2017, leaders of many local organizations came together to change both perception and address the challenges that fed it. Their method – the creation of a Quality-of-Life Plan (QLP) to chart a course for Austin’s future. The leaders agreed that the local 50-member collaborative, Austin Coming Together (ACT), was the logical organization to guide the process and appointed a 20-person steering committee to begin to create the blueprint. Over a two-year period, ACT and the broadly representative steering committee brought together hundreds of community residents and public officials to design an action agenda, that was made public in December 2018. Austin’s Quality of Life Plan consists of 23 strategies and 84 actions that address the seven areas most essential issues: Community Narrative, Economic Development, Education, Housing, Public Safety, Youth Empowerment, and Civic Engagement, as well as a focus on two critical locations: Chicago Avenue from Central to Laramie, and the Madison Street–Central Avenue intersection. As evidence of their commitment to changing the community, all of the organizations took responsibility for the implementation of one or more aspects of the plan. As a testament to the power of the plan, the enthusiasm and work continues. Since its release, at least one Priority Action has been identified for each strategy and an impressive 36 unique organizations have committed to the plan as Implementation Partners. At Madison and Central, Austin’s West Side Health Authority has reclaimed the long-shuttered Emmet Elementary School, turning it into the education/retail/incubator hub, Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation Through community ties to city-wide forces, Austin’s Michele Clark High School became the first west side high school to offer the rigorous International Baccalaureate program The Economic Development Task Force is tackling the challenge of connecting Austin’s disparate workforce development efforts to each other and to potential employment Addressing the issues of the built environment, task forces are making strides in assessing needs and amassing resources for housing, green space, and renewal of the neighborhood’s commercial corridors As to impact, life-long resident and Austin Coming Together Executive Director, Darnell Shields, says, “While the projects are great, what has transpired feels even more profound. From our disparate, but always grounded in the community, perspectives, we have reclaimed our own history, and together are creating our future.” For its powerful vision, the collaborative process that made it possible, and the extraordinary commitment to its implementation, this year’s recipient of the Chicago Community Trust Outstanding Community Plan Award is the Austin community’s Quality-of-Life Plan.