The 2018 NLCCC Quality of Life Plan includes many mentions of the 16th Street corridor in North Lawndale as a space for increased housing, green space, art installations, commercial activity, and more. A "half mile" street that once had a bustling commercial presence (and which was home to Dr. Martin Luther King for several months), over the past few decades has seen disinvestment and neglect lead to many abandoned buildings and vacant lots.
There has been some progress in the past decade-plus: the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation built the King Legacy Apartments, which feature affordable housing and ground floor amenities, and is in the process of creating MLK East, an exciting new initiative featuring a workers cooperative, arts, education, and elements. A new project, Starling, is a community building that is open to all and home to Monday Coffee, a Black-owned business. Multiple other businesses, restaurants, schools, nonprofits, and residents are helping 16th Street move forward.
From a greening perspective, residents came together with the North Lawndale Greening Committee and others to create the MLK District Garden at 16th & Ridgeway, and the Resilient Corridors project, a multimillion-dollar effort to help with Stormwater mitigation, beautification, and Community engagement, was installed by the City of Chicago, which produced a comprehensive Stewards Guide that is still in use (see below). Unfortunately, the installation of these gardens was not followed up by appropriate funding and care by City officials. Many of the perennial gardens that were installed were mowed over, and fruit trees removed.
Beginning in 2022, the GROWSS Committee set out to improve the stewardship of 16th Street, including with tree planting via TREEmendous Lawndale, improved care for the five Green Infrastructure gardens between Lawndale and Springfield, and MLK District Garden, playful learning activations with Open Books and the Chicago Children's Museum, art installations with the Lawndale Pop-Up Spot, and more.
Beginning in 2024, Design Workshop Foundation provided a capacity building award to the 16th Street project to help coordinate residents, stakeholders, and others in the process of caring for and engaging with the possibilities of this historic and bountiful corridor.
Stewards Guide
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