AustinTalks (http://austintalks.org/tag/soul-city-corridor/page/2/)
West Side residents received updates Friday on the status of the Laramie State Bank building development and new businesses opening along the Soul City Corridor, which stretches from Austin Boulevard to Cicero Avenue on Chicago Avenue.
About 50 Austin residents came out last weekend to clean up several blocks for Wecycle’s first annual spring cleaning rally. Wecycle CEO David Fleming said Saturday’s cleanup went great, but there’s still work to do. “We’re going to get this place nice. We’re going to go green. And we’re going to get it beautiful,” said Fleming, an Austin native.
Austin native Marseil Jackson plans to open an art gallery, wellness lounge and recording studio along a stretch of Chicago Avenue being developed as the Soul City Corridor. He’s purchased a vacant building in the 5800 block of Chicago Avenue to house Soul City Studios, which after renovations he aims to open early next year.
Gov J.B. Pritzker visited L. May Creations, an event space on Chicago Avenue, last week to announce the release of millions of dollars in emergency relief funding. L. May Creations is one of 4,000 businesses across the state that has received a grant. There is about $175 million left to distribute, state officials say.
Dozens of West Side residents gathered to commemorate Nelson Mandela and call for economic empowerment in Austin.
The businesses – Avery and Pryor Construction, DLV Printing Service, L. May Creations and T&C Fitness Club – will receive a total of $717,320 from the city’s Neighborhood Opportunity Fund. It was started in 2016 to help support commercial corridors in Chicago’s underserved neighborhoods. In the latest round of funding, 32 businesses on the West, South and Southwest Sides will be getting a total of $5.4 million.
The donadtion – the largest corporate gift in United Way of Metro Chicago’s history – will be used to help implement Austin’s quality of life plan and to support social service infrastructure and development in the city’s most-populated community area. The investment was announced last week at an event hosted by Mayor Lori Lightfoot and attended by several local elected officials.
Malcolm Crawford, head of the Austin African American Business Networking Association, urges business owners operating along the “Soul City Corridor” on Chicago Avenue to apply for the grants because they’re located in a retail thrive zone.