What is "Dining on the 5"?

This isn't something I've taken advantage of, but it's great that the Greater Chatham Initiative is getting publicity for this. "Dining on the 5" is the subject of an article for the hyperlocal Block Club Chicago. The article is about dining on 75th Street - which over the years is known as Black Wall Street or Renaissance Row.

The potential here as I think was noted here on this blog, 75th Street could become a culinary, entertaining, or nightlife center. There are a number of restaurants or eateries on 75th, perhaps there's an opportunity there that the community should take advantage of. Perhaps "Dining on the 5" is key.

What is "Dining on the 5"?

Six of the strip’s most popular restaurants are offering discounts and outdoor seating to customers who come in through July 23.

“There are 77 neighborhoods in Chicago, and in greater Chatham we have four neighborhoods,” Greater Chatham Initiative director Nedra Sims Fears said. “We have to get our name out there to get our name recognition out there and have people come and visit us, and having an event like ‘Dining on the 5’ attracts people from all over.”

Fears said “Dining On The 5” started last year as a pilot program with help from the city’s Department of Transportation and Dept. of Planning.

Rebranding Chatham is at the core of organizing the event, Fears said. At previous events, people have traveled from as far as Ohio and Indiana.

The participating establishments:

• Original Soul Vegetarian, 205 E. 75th
• Lem’s Bar-B-Q, 311 E. 75th
• Mabe’s Deli, 312 E. 75th
• Brown Sugar Bakery, 328 E. 75th
• 5 Loaves Eatery, 405 E. 75th
• Flammin Restaurant, 641 E. 75th

Ahhhh very interesting line-up and dine on some Lem's on the sidewalk or grab a baked good from Brown Sugar - never been BTW. Better yet another establishment I've never eaten at get some chicken from 5 Loaves.

Either way there's an opportunity here. Can 75th attract more than locals and become a culinary, entertainment, or nightlife center for the south side?

Chatham Center Chicago launch

[VIDEO] Wednesday was the day of the official launch of the Chatham Center Chicago. The video above from WBBM-TV you will see many Chatham business owners, the people in charge of Chatham Center, and 6th ward Ald. Roderick Sawyer who talked about Chatham having good bones. With this event held at Chatham's Studio Movie Grill, this was a great presentation by the Greater Chatham Initiative to help get target markets to come to our community to shop & eat.

I also learned listening to the many speakers that the Chatham Center Chicago team got some help from Downtown Hyde Park. Wonderful things have been happening in Hyde Park and the commercial areas have looked much better in recent years especially along Lake Park, Hyde Park Blvd, and 57th Street.

I suppose in a way Chatham is getting "Hyde Parked". In the meanwhile, how many people are excited to see this move forward and where it goes.

BTW, here's another video from WLS-TV who was also there to mark the launch of Chatham Center. And more of the speech Ald. Sawyer gave to mark this occasion.

EnglewoodRising.com is live #englewoodrising

Was announced last night via Mrs. Aysha Butler ig (@mrs_englewood) who is the President of the Resident Association of Greater Englewood. There have been hints of this with other posts on ig with photos of Englewood Rising billboards around greater Englewood - which had been regrammed on The Sixth Ward's ig.

Support the good folks of EnglewoodRising.com and with great hopes that this will prove to be a success in rebranding that community.

The website is live! #EnglewoodRising

A post shared by Ay-Sha (@mrs_englewood) on Apr 26, 2017 at 9:26pm PDT

The Chicago Neighborhoods: Chatham & Englewood t-shirts now available!

Click image to go to the online store!

I noted when hearing that neighborhood t-shirts were available from them, certain neighborhoods that we know had been represented in a brand had yet to go on sale. Now they have such neighborhoods as Chatham, Englewood, and Greater Grand Crossing available!

Will you "represent your 'hood" with a t-shirt? Click here for the online store!

The Chicago Neighborhoods is now offering t-shirts...

Now you can buy t-shirts for the various neighborhood brands created by artist Steve Shanabruch. Sadly the nice brand for the Chatham neighborhood is unavailable and I'm sure many of you who identify with Chatham will buy those shirts off the rack like gangbusters.

Other nearby neighborhoods have their "Chicago Neighborhoods" brand on sale such as Woodlawn, South Chicago, Roseland, Pullman, Beverly and Morgan Park.

People disagreed with the image used in the background for Englewood but most of these t-shirts emphasize the lettering of those brands not the background images. I'm sure there are those who would like to wear t-shirts to represent Englewood just as well.

Click the image at the top of this post to visit The Chicago Neighborhoods to see if your neighborhood is represented as a brand. Also let Shanabruch know that you want to represent your neighborhood with a t-shirt. Here's contact info below!

• E-mail  
• Twitter @chgohoods  
• Facebook

Finally my challenge still stands! Some of you out there are artists who could really utilize your their talents to show our communities in a positive light.

Hat-tip Chicagoist!

The Chicago Neighborhoods: Chatham

You thought we've forgotten about them? Well anyway on December 30th they unveiled their neighborhood logo for Chatham with a picture of a block of bungalows. The lettering almost evokes Pride Cleaners near 79th & St. Lawrence. I like it because it shows the neat character of that neighborhood and of course with this description:

Chatham has the "distinction of being the only neighborhood in Chicago that developed from a European American middle-class community into one composed of middle-class African Americans." The shift happened in the 1950s when these middle-class African Americans were drawn to the area because of the strict zoning codes and property standards, high levels of community organization, and good schools. African American residency of Chatham was less than 1 percent in 1950, but by 1960 it jumped to over 63 percent.

The racial transition, while rapid, was smooth compared to other parts of the city undergoing the same type of demographic change. For example, "several area churches welcomed blacks into their congregations, and the Chatham–Avalon Park Community Council began to include African American residents in their organization" in 1955. When the changeover was completed, African American residents worked "diligently to maintain the middle-class character of their community." Because of this, Chatham continues to thrive, and the neighborhood has served as a home base for numerous successful black-owned businesses, including Johnson Products Company, the Independence Bank of Chicago, Seaway National Bank of Chicago, and a branch of the Illinois Service Federal Savings and Loan Association.

There were comments that didn't like their logo for Englewood as it notes the serial killer H.H. Holmes and his building where he committed his crimes. Hopefully in the New Year many of you will like this entry for another one of our communities.

BTW, I will again make a call for those of you with graphic design or artistic experience to create your own neighborhood logos. Hopefully your visions will show the positive aspects of our communities!

JP Paulus on The Chicago Neighborhoods project logo for Englewood...

JP Paulus edited my post from yesterday about The Chicago Neighborhoods project logo for Englewood so his edit has become its own separate post. Some contact information was posted below, but if any of you reading this blog have some graphic design skills perhaps you can come up with logos for your particular neighborhood. All the same JP & I would invite you to offer your own input because as stated earlier the contact info for The Chicago Neighborhoods are posted at the end of this post. JP's words are below!

JP edit:  Here's what they did with Englewood.

While this looks historic and nice, here's what the descriptrion of the photo is

The hotel at the corner of 63rd and Wallace in Englewood, designed by, built for, and owned by Dr. Henry Howard Holmes, was much more than just a place to lay your head during the years around the World's Columbian Exposition. Holmes' hotel, which later became known as the "Murder Castle," was also the final resting place for handfuls of unsuspecting victims.

Holmes, who was constantly hiring and firing work crews, was the only person to fully understand the design of the hotel. The first floor contained his drug store, while the second and third floors "contained his personal office and a maze of over one hundred windowless rooms with doorways opening to brick walls, oddly angled hallways, stairways to nowhere, doors that could only be opened from the outside, and a host of other strange and labyrinthine constructions," all put into place with murder in mind.

Holmes, who mainly preyed on females, tortured and killed his victims in various ways. He would lock them "in soundproof bedrooms fitted with gas lines that let him asphyxiate them at any time," or he would lock them "in a huge soundproof bank vault near his office where they were left to suffocate," among other horrific methods. Holmes would then drop dead the bodies down a secret chute to the basement where they "were meticulously dissected, stripped of flesh, crafted into skeleton models, and then sold to medical schools."

While the total number of his victims has never been confirmed (it could be more than 200), Holmes confessed to 27 murders during his time in Englewood.

R.A.G.E. (Resident Association of Englewood) would probably strongly disagree with the notion that "My vision might not match yours, but I hope that we can agree that a neighborhood with a logo is better than a neighborhood without."  (RAGE is trying to change the image of Englewood as being a neighborhood of murders.)  

Other neighborhoods also had much of at least the current character of the neighborhood missing, such as Uptown and Rogers Park, which showed no hint of the diversity of these neighborhoods.

Let's contact the artist so that we can get a more accurate view of Chatham, Greater Grand Crossing and Burnside.  

Here's his contact info:

• E-mail  
• Twitter @chgohoods  
• Facebook

The Chicago Neighborhoods: neighborhood brands

READ MONDAY'S FOLLOW-UP POST WHICH FEATURES JP'S THOUGHTS ON ENGLEWOOD'S LOGO!

In the past I've taken pictures of neighborhood identifiers in particular the ones near 71st/Dan Ryan identifying Grand Crossing and Park Manor. I posted an "open blog" no one responded to about neighborhood identifiers in Chatham. In fact methinks that should be bumped up.

This morning I discover this website - The Chicago Neighborhoods - which seeks to provide logos for the 77 Chicago Community areas and the various neighborhoods around the city. You can see that a few neighborhood logos are up already where you can click on them to see the full image.

I look forward to seeing how they plan to represent the various neighborhoods in The Sixth Ward. Especially Chatham, Park Manor, or even Englewood. With an honorable mention for Roseland Heights which though it's not actually recognized officially by the city of Chicago it's certainly a neighborhood that's more fitting of the idea of village in the city more so than Beverly.

Hat-tip Gaper's Block!

Urban Partnership Bank Request for Fun Facts about Chatham

A marketing manager at Urban Partnership Bank has asked for our help in finding some fun facts about the Chatham neighborhood for marketing purposed. Here is the actual e-mail posted publicly with permission:

Hi Sixth Ward Blogspot Volunteers,

I am the Virtual Marketing Manager for Urban Partnership Bank. I have been following your blog for the past 3 years. Thank you for all the wonderful write-ups you’ve done about the bank in the past.

We are currently working on ways to promote the diversity and vibrancy of our neighborhoods, including Chatham. I wanted to find 3 fun facts about Chatham and Google and my colleagues are failing me! I thought I’d go straight to the source.

Do you happen to have 3 interesting tidbits about Chatham that I might share with the Urban Partnership Bank national customer base? If so, do you think you might send them to me by Friday?

Any assistance you can provide would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks a million in advance for your time and assistance in this matter.

I look forward to your response.

Regards,

Sarah

Worlee also came up with some tidbits such as the film Ali with Will Smith was filmed along 79th Street. Also Chatham was the home of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. Another tidbit was written on the FB page by Worlee I believe that zipcode 60619 is the haircare capitol of the nation.

Do you know anything that can be added to these fun facts? Post a comment in this post, write on our FB page, or send an e-mail. Hopefully there will be lots of facts to be turned in by this Friday.

RELATED:

• Chatham from Hands on Chicago 
• Description of the Chatham neighborhood 

Does anyone have any graphic design experience?

From filmmaker Jamal Cole via e-mail:

LOCAL GRAPHIC DESIGNER NEEDED FOR ‘CHATHAM: THE PRIDE OF CHICAGO’

A talented local graphic designer is sought to participate in an exciting documentary featuring Chatham’s rich history. Local resident, author, and speaker Jahmal Cole is currently seeking the talents of a local graphic artist to produce the cover design for the groundbreaking release of Chatham: The Pride of Chicago.

“I’m particularly interested in local talent for this project—someone who is not only talented, but who also has a personal understanding of Chatham’s rich history. This individual should be able to produce an appealing cover for the documentary that arouses enthusiasm and reflects the past, present, and future attitudes, culture, people and places in our community,” explained Cole.

Chatham: The Pride of Chicago is being developed by Jahmal Cole and Role Model Movement to recognize the instrumental role Chatham has played in Chicago’s culture. This feature film and the correlating book will document and preserve Chatham’s rich history and culture. It is hoped to create attention and awareness toward returning community pride and dignity to our neighborhood.

Residents of Chatham who have the talents and skills to make a powerful and positive contribution to these projects are encouraged to apply. Contact Jahmal Cole at:

Jahmal Cole
Author/Speaker
Role Model Movement
http://www.rolemodelmovement.com

P.O. Box 6132
Chicago, IL 60606
(312)882-5028 Direct
(877)592-1066 Fax

"Role Models can be found anywhere. As long as you keep an eye open for them."

Special grocery deals in the mail

Still have yesterday's mail? What i mean is -- the ads that come in the Tuesday mail? If you just automatically throw them out -- you might want to think again!

They have some special local-only deals in them.

One is from Chatham Food Market. They have stopped hand delivering their sales paper in the neighborhood, but have instead put it in the mail. They've got some good deals and have added the store's personalities on the top. The Market has apparently disassociated itself with Certified Grocers, at least as far as ads (where other stores in the Certified chain/alliance have had similar items on sale, including lesser-known brand labels).

Also, the Jewel's (yes, i know the sign says Jewel, without an 's'...but this is Chicago!) on 87th also has some special deals just for that location. And those do NOT appear in the Sunday Tribune!

Let us know what you find!

Anatomy of Buzz update

An update on the "Anatomy of Buzz" event, which was posted on Tuesday.

A location has been secured on the campus of the University of Illinois - Chicago.


University of Illinois at Chicago
Student Center East-Illinois Room C
750 South Halsted Street
Chicago, IL 60607-7011

Parking: A visitor parking garage is available directly across the street from the Student Center East. A parking fee applies.

Reminder: This is a FREE event.

See you there!

How we can reach our youth -- FREE event at UIC

Please pre-register for the event described before April 2nd, as a room assignment will be made based on pre-registrations. e-mail JulieHenschel at jhenschel(at)isac.org

You may recall a few days ago a previous post about the Reload Urban Youth Workers conference at North Park University on Saturday, April 4. In it, I had some editorial on the (percevied, by me) the lack of connected effort by community churches to reach out to the youth. Every day, I see some youth in the neighborhood who look like they could be up to no good.

However, we do have resources, whether churches or after shcool clubs, that can help these kids. And we need youth to reach out to youth.

They (the youth) do it all the time, anyway...and they create this thing called "buzz" which promotes different ideas, movements, media, etc. Could be negative, but it the buzz can also be positive.

The author of the book "Anatomy of Buzz" is in town, and providing a special FREE event at UIC this upcoming Monday at UIC. A specific room will be assigned once pre-registration is complete Thursday morning, April 2.

Join ISAC for Free Lecture with Author of The Anatomy of Buzz

The Illinois Student Assistance Commission (ISAC) is pleased to invite our friends and partners in education, social policy, and community economic development to a free lecture with Emanuel Rosen, author of the national best-seller The Anatomy of Buzz. The event, co-hosted with the College ofUrban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Illinois College Access Network, will be held on April 6th from 10:30 a.m. - 12 p.m. at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

To register for the event, and for location information on campus, please e-mail JulieHenschel(jhenschel(at)isac.org) before April 2nd.

Many of you will recognize The Anatomy of Buzz from ISAC presentations and our professional development series. In our nationally recognized "Guide to Outreach" a number of successful outreach strategies utilizing the principles from Rosen's book are highlighted.

This event is a must attend for anyone involved in college access marketing, community outreach, policy implementation, or any endeavor in which traditional forms of marketing and promotion are impractical or financially out-of-reach.

If you have ever wondered how to get better turnout at your public events, how to reach your target audience, how to launch a new program, how to differentiate your programs and services, or simply how to make more effective use of a limited marketing budget, you are sure to leave this session with more than a few very practical ideas. Emanuel Rosen is the author of the national best-seller The Anatomy of Buzz (Doubleday, 2000) and The Anatomy of Buzz Revisited (Doubleday,2009).

Prior to writing these books, he was VP of Marketing at Niles Software where he was responsible for launching and marketing the company's flagship product EndNote, which spread to a large extent by word of mouth. It was during this time that Rosen became interested in buzz and especially in how it can be accelerated. He started his career as a copywriter in Israel. For his work in advertising he won the Bronze Lionfrom the Cannes International Advertising Festival, as well as several national awards including two gold medals. He holds an MBA from of San Francisco and lives in Menlo Park, California. The Anatomy of Buzz "has managed to generate quite a bit of buzz itself," as BusinessWeek Online noted. The book hit The Wall Street Journal's business best-seller list and is now available in twelve languages.

How much do you know about "word-of-mouth" marketing? Take the Buzz Quiz and find out.

More information about the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs

More information about the Illinois College Access Network