For our workshop this week we welcomed Dennis Mondero, Executive Director at Chinese Mutual Aid Association (CMAA) and Jenni Han, President of their Board of Directors, who shared the history of CMMA as well as some of the current work that their organization does serving the community in Uptown – north side neighborhood known as the Ellis Island of Chicago. CMAA was founded in 1982 by Vietnamese residents, and has grown to 400 members while offering multiple services and programs focused on immigrant and low-income populatoin including: Youth development: more than 135 youth (originally designed for 35) through their development program; successfully supported by a strong network of volunte
Do you ever wonder what high schoolers are up to these days? They’re just taking #selfies and dabbing on Snapchat right? Well, maybe a little bit, but during the past City Open Workshop meeting, Helen Slade, Executive Director of Territory NFP, shared how design thinking and design studio programs are creating opportunities for young people to express themselves, improve their reputation in the community, and take up the slack of older design professionals to improve their public spaces. Territory offers programs that teach young people design skills and facilitates design-build interventions throughout Chicago’s Albany Park and Uptown neighborhoods. Utilizing curriculum from the Stanford
City Open Workshop convened in Uptown on October 7th for a tour of the neighborhood to better understand the area and look for design-based project opportunities. We started at Bridgeview Bank, looked at the Broadway Street redevelopment and Uptown Theater. We then continued down Lawrence Avenue to think about improvements on the street and then the changing retail and demographics of Clark Street. Dennis Mondero, Executive Director of Chinese Mutual Aid Association, joined us and spoke about balancing development, displacement and the role of intensive public services and social programs in Uptown have shaped the environment. We looked at the Wilson Red Line redevelopment, Lincoln Park on t