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:

1. the selection of Jackson Park as the new home to the Obama Presidential Center;
2. the $30 million U.S. Department of Housing and Development Choice Neighborhood grant awarded to the Preservation Of Affordable Housing (POAH) in 2011;
3. 420 units of redeveloped housing on 63rd Street and Cottage Grove;
4. the opening of a new Jewel-Osco grocery store; and
5. 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.