OUR INITIATIVES
Build Bronzeville is comprised of five closely-linked initiatives that merge social, economic, civic, and creative approaches to achieve comprehensive community development.
Through these initiatives, we embrace Bronzeville’s unique assets, including its people, culture, and location, and engage the local talent best able to leverage these invaluable resources to build financially and environmentally sustainable enterprises to serve the community.
Please follow this link to register as a client. Select “new client sign-up” on the left, and request Illinois SBDC at Build Bronzeville when prompted to select a Center.
BOXVILLE
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Chicago’s first shipping container mall, located just east of 51st and the Green Line, serves Bronzeville residents and visitors with one-of-a-kind products and everyday necessities while offering local entrepreneurs engaging and affordable spaces for building their enterprises.
bronzeville incubator
Sun-filled offices and unique outdoor spaces just west of 51st and the Green Line bring together local entrepreneurs and professionals, host capacity-building seminars, and provide high-quality co-working and event spaces and community engagement opportunities.
the forum
For 75 years, starting in 1897, The Forum has been a formidable presence at 43rd Street and the CTA. Today, we’re working to restore it as a home for cultural performance, a catalyst for the revitalization of 43rd Street, and a complement to the emerging 51st Street restaurant row.
Bronzeville cookin’
Good food is good community. Our celebration of Black cuisine within our 51st Street culinary facility is fast becoming a unique dining destination, a culinary launch pad, and a platform for job creation.
engage bronzeville
Beauty brings us together and engagement keeps us close. We employ a wide variety of art forms, public events, community gardens, music, and more to create beautiful spaces that nourish our body and nurture our soul, while connecting neighbors to opportunity and engaging patrons.
Bronzeville Murals Project
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Next Stop: Chicago Activation
Build Bronzeville (Urban Juncture) is proud to partner with Gertie, a civic and cultural agency expanding the impact of Chicago's creative economy founded by Abby Pucker, for Next Stop: Chicago.
Next Stop is a series of public art activations by community-based organizations across the city addressing infrastructure inequity in Chicago, showcasing the ways in which the arts, alongside the beautification of and investment in infrastructure, drives economic growth.
Nearly 60 years ago, the Wall of Respect — a mural painted in the heart of Bronzeville — sparked a people’s art movement and helped fuel the Civil Rights Movement. The first large-scale outdoor community mural in the United States, the Wall of Respect's celebration of iconic Black leaders made it a focal point of community activism and a destination for thousands of visitors. While it lasted only a few years, its impact endures.
The Bronzeville Murals Project (BMP) builds on this foundation of cultural placemaking in order to facilitate creative enterprises and drive community progress.
BRONZEVILLE HISTORY
A century ago, Bronzeville was the Chicago destination of the Great Migration, becoming the home to hundreds of thousands of Blacks fleeing oppression in the South. Commerce flourished, jobs were abundant, and innovations in music, literature, theater and beyond attracted people from across Chicago and defined America. It was the Black center of Chicago. Today, following decades of disinvestment and the exodus of three-quarters of its population, Bronzeville is marked with vacancy, blight, and crime.
The successful revitalization of Bronzeville necessitates an embrace of its unique assets, including its people, culture, and location, and the engagement of the local talent best able to leverage these invaluable resources to build financially and environmentally sustainable enterprises to serve the community.
Learn more about Bronzeville’s important history, and about Build Bronzeville’s unique vision for comprehensive revitalization.
BUILD BRONZEVILLE EVENTS
Stay up to date on all Build Bronzeville programming from workshops, classes, and socials at The Bronzeville Incubator to community events, wellness programs, and community markets at Boxville®.
SBDC AT BUILD BRONZEVILLE
Announcing the new Illinois Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Build Bronzeville!
In line with SBDC network goals to offer one-stop assistance to individuals and small businesses by providing a wide variety of information and guidance, a new center was established as a part of Build Bronzeville initiatives. The SBDC at Build Bronzeville is committed to helping you sustain your business during this time, as you recover, and as we look ahead to business growth.
Please visit “Register Today” below to register as a client. Select “new client sign-up” on the left, and request Illinois SBDC at Build Bronzeville when prompted to select a Center.
