Advocacy
WECAN leads an ongoing advocacy and policy debate over affordability, the threat of displacement of long-term residents, and the need for community-informed redevelopment strategies and housing policies. Woodlawn is a community in the midst of major redevelopment due to factors including:
- the selection of Jackson Park as the new home to the Obama Presidential Center;
- the $30 million U.S. Department of Housing and Development Choice Neighborhood grant awarded to the Preservation Of Affordable Housing (POAH) in 2011;
- 420 units of redeveloped housing on 63rd Street and Cottage Grove;
- the opening of a new Jewel-Osco grocery store; and
- the construction of Woodlawn Pointe, a mix of new infill and renovated homes in West Woodlawn by Greenlining Realty, in addition to numerous housing developments by other private investors.