In its nearly 40 years, the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation has funneled more than $120 million into affordable housing and commercial projects in North Lawndale, among other things. While the organization boasts a long list of accomplishments, its leaders have an ambitious agenda for the future.
“We’re on our road to being a very thriving community that is community development without displacement,” said Richard Townsell, executive director of LCDC, which started in 1987 as a Bible study for teenagers on Chicago’s West Side.
Townsell spoke at a luncheon for the media, hosted by LCDC, where he shared the organization’s history and gave an update about its current plans.
When LCDC was first founded nearly 40 years ago, most Lawndale residents bought homes on contract, he said.
“You would rent a home, thinking that one day you would actually own the home,” said Townsell. “If you missed one payment, or if you were late, then you would be evicted.”
This, Townsell said, led to redlining, absent landlords and overcrowding in homes. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who lived in North Lawndale for eight months in 1966, started a campaign to end slum housing in the area, Townsell said. But he moved back to Atlanta because Chicago was more racist than the South, according to Townsell.
When King was killed in 1968, riots erupted throughout Lawndale on 16th Street, Roosevelt Road and Madison Avenue, and stores on those stretches were burned down. Many of those streets have not been rebuilt since, Townsell said.
LCDC works to fix that, constructing over 490 housing units, including 124 single-family homes, since its inception.
In August, LCDC opened the Lazarus Apartments at 1859 S. Pulaski Ave. The affordable 48 units were built for over $10 million, funded by private philanthropy, a state grant and Chicago’s Department of Housing.
And the organization has big plans on the horizon.
In the next five to eight years, LCDC plans to construct 1,000 new homes on vacant city-owned lots in Lawndale, selling new houses, often to first-time homeowners, at affordable prices.
So far, the 23 homes that LCDC has built and sold within the last year are under $250,000 but have a development cost of $400,000.
“That’s instant equity that these homeowners are getting. But more importantly to them and their families, it’s an improvement in the quality of life,” said Whittney Smith, deputy director for LCDC. “It’s stability, it’s certainty, and it’s security for their families.”
Occupants who own the buildings they live in help attract local goods and services to the area, said Townsell. And home ownership also encourages occupants to have more of a stake in their neighborhood.
“The more people we get who own in this community, the more people you have who are willing to fight for the community,” Smith said.
LCDC is largely hiring West Side and Black architects and general contractors to help build the 1,000 homes.
“That is the impact of not just being mindful of what you’re doing, but how you’re doing it,” Smith said.
Another one of LCDC’s new projects is creating a worker cooperative called Lifting Lawndale.
“It’s giving our residents the power to not just determine what businesses they frequent, not just have stable employment, but to have ownership and control over their labor,” Smith said.
At 1600 South Lawndale, LCDC is planning for a 10,000-square-foot project that will house Lifting Lawndale, Art West Gallery, plus retail and office space.
Chicago Chocolate Rebellion will also be located inside the 1600 South Lawndale building. The chocolate cooperative has a partnership with cocoa growers from around the world. It aims to reclaim the narrative around cocoa production while providing artisanal treats, made in North Lawndale, to those who live there.
LCDC is also partnering with Kennedy-King College in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood to build the Reconstruction West Trade Center at 2711 W. Lake St. The trade school will offer programs for those ages 18 to 24, or people changing jobs mid-career.
The trade center’s programs will be up to a yearlong and include job placement assistance and a loan program for trade-specific tools and vehicles.
Also in the works, LCDC is developing One Lawndale, an 80,000-square-foot athletic facility including basketball courts, soccer fields, and an overall investment in local youth, Smith said.
The Tapestry, a supportive housing development, will also open down the line as an affordable housing option.
“We spent 30-plus years making sure that people were surviving,” Smith said. “Our next era is about making sure that people are thriving.”
