What We Do

The Partnership for New Communities works in a number of ways and with many different organizations to bring economic opportunity to the people and places affected by public-housing transformation in Chicago.

Our role centers on making sure that these transitioning neighborhoods—formerly isolated and impoverished—develop into healthy, sustainable communities connected to the city's overall economy. Residents must have access to jobs with good wages and room for growth, as well as to nearby services and amenities that families want and need. The Partnership’s work helps provide residents the solid platform they need to build their community.

What exactly does The Partnership do, and how?

We engage Chicago’s business, civic and foundation leaders to stimulate new investments of time, talent and financial resources towards the Plan’s objectives.
We raise funds and invest them in initiatives – primarily related to workforce development and neighborhood development goals – that improve opportunities for residents and promote quality of life in and around the mixed-income developments. (Learn more at Our Initiatives.)
We connect key players operating at different levels and in different sectors to facilitate lasting improvements to systems that improve quality of life for people and neighborhoods affected by the Plan.

Why is it important?

The Plan for Transformation presents rare and exciting opportunities to improve the lives of thousands of Chicagoans—reinventing entire neighborhoods, redefining public housing and making the whole city a better place to live, work and visit. The Partnership was formed to help realize those opportunities to maximum effect.

As an approach to federal housing policy, mixed-income developments are not new. Cities across the country have utilized this approach to improve opportunities for low-income residents by providing them with quality housing that blends seamlessly into one attractive community. But the scale of Chicago's initiative is unprecedented and means profound change for neighborhoods in transition—to new landscapes, new neighbors and new expectations.

As part of a recently instated engagement requirement, heads of household in Chicago public-housing units must be employed or in training at least 30 hours per week to qualify to live in most mixed-income developments. Consequently, much of the Plan’s success hinges on ensuring that residents are qualified to live in the new infrastructure being constructed for them. The Partnership’s work helps more residents become and remain eligible for occupancy, eventually reducing their dependency on public housing.

Vibrant mixed-income communities also require a strong economic base that offers the goods and services neighborhood residents expect. Attracting and retaining the right infusion of business investment is critical to drawing new residents and ensuring the viability of these communities over time.

The Partnership's Program & Funding Strategy

The Partnership’s chief program areas—Workforce Development and Neighborhood Development— were identified as the two most effective ways to create economic opportunity in transforming communities. Through project-based investments, we help families move out of poverty through employment, and support those working to create vibrant neighborhoods with strong local economies. In keeping with our commitment to quality data, we also dedicate funding to tracking community change as a way to see multidimensional shifts within key neighborhoods over time.

At present, The Partnership is also part of a special initiative called Find Your Place in Chicago. Launched in fall 2008, Find Your Place offers a bundle of financial incentives—including a $10,000 cash grant from The Partnership—to buyers who purchase homes in one of five new mixed-income developments in the Near North, Near West and Mid-South Sides of the city. More information at FindYourPlaceinChicago.org.

Workforce Development
As its principal strategy, The Partnership’s workforce development programs help public-housing residents reach self-sufficiency through employment. Opportunity Chicago has been the vehicle for this work since 2006. A $25.9-million collaborative workforce development initiative, Opportunity Chicago was developed jointly by The Partnership for New Communities, the Chicago Housing Authority and the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (now the Chicago Department of Community Development and Department of Family and Support Services). It aims to place 5,000 public-housing residents in employment over five years (2006-2010).

Opportunity Chicago’s job training and placement programs have become adept at addressing disadvantaged job seekers’ most frequent and persistent employment barriers – such as little or no work history or experience, low education and literacy levels, and a global economy in which even entry-level jobs require highly developed skill sets often taken for granted.

Through Opportunity Chicago, The Partnership funds projects that use cutting-edge approaches like contextualized literacy, transitional jobs, bridge programs, job readiness training and other intensive employment services to help public-housing residents overcome these barriers and find good jobs that offer room to advance. A sector-based strategy targets five industries in the Chicago area that have a need for well-trained workers – healthcare, hospitality, manufacturing, information technology (IT) and energy efficiency.

The initiative’s success in reaching public-housing residents earned it the support of two national funder collaboratives: Living Cities and the National Fund for Workforce Solutions. And because of its coordinated approach, Opportunity Chicago stands to have an impact on individual lives and the broader workforce development system as well as to become a model for use by local and national audiences.

Visit Opportunity Chicago.

Neighborhood Development
The Partnership’s second program strategy rolls economic development and community building into Neighborhood Development.

Many of the neighborhoods undergoing transformation lack the basic business infrastructure required for community success. More than 50 years of disinvestment and failed public policy have left them isolated from the jobs and services that many communities take for granted.

Focused exclusively on the mixed-income developments tied to the Plan for Transformation and surrounding neighborhoods, The Partnership’s Neighborhood Development investments intend to enhance the continued viability of these communities so that the market alone can sustain them over time. Our track record reveals greater economic activity, collaboration and vibrancy in key neighborhoods than has been seen for years.

Funded projects support things like consulting services and technical assistance for new and existing businesses; physical improvements to business districts; community development corporations’ (CDCs) economic development activities; research and market analysis to identify economic opportunities in emerging neighborhoods; and neighborhood branding and marketing, among others.

Going forward, we also will begin to fund community building projects that support the stability and cohesion of the mixed-income developments themselves.

Visit Our Initiatives to learn about The Partnership’s funded projects or Applicants to read about the grantmaking process.

The Partnership for New Communities