THE STIGMA attached to public housing in America is well known in any large city. The bleak, massive structures amid asphalt parking lots, mud playgrounds and postage stamp lawns on the perimeter of downtown areas have become a familiar if depressing sight to urban dwellers and visitors. In Chicago, it has even been suggested that City Hall punishes its enemies by locating housing projects in their constituencies. Even urban experts who supported public housing projects for years have become more and more pessimistic. Public housing, however, will not go away in Chicago, and as long as it continues to provide housing for many of Chicago's less fortunate, life must be made bearable for its residents.

A recent effort by agency executives from the public and private sectors is designed to revitalize the Lower North Side of Chicago and the Cabrini-Green public housing project in the area. Organized as the Chicago Alliance for Collaborative Effort (CACE), in 1973, these executives represent Boy Scouts of America, Chicago Boys Clubs, Chicago Community Trust, Chicago United, Chicago Youth Centers, Council for Community Services, Girl Scouts of America, United Charities and the YMCA. Joining the CACE from government are executives from the Chicago Housing Authority, Department of Human Services, and the Mayor's Office of Manpower. Loyola University's Institute for Urban Life provides staff for CACE.

CACE sought to bring these agencies together to improve the Lower North Side, attract additional resources to the area and insure the private sector's long-term commitment to the revitalization of an impoverished inner-city community. CACE has given collaborative support to a number of projects on the Lower North Side, including the new YMCA and a pilot security project which remodeled first floors of selected high rises into indoor lobbies equipped with electronic security systems to deter robbers, muggers and vandals. Another example of a CACE initiative which brought various agencies together is the Lower North Program, an employment program funded by the federal Economic Development Administration and administered by the Mayor's Office of Manpower.

The main target of the CACE effort is the Cabrini-Green Homes, a 3,569-unit public housing development covering 70 acres. Located in an area once inhabited by working class families, it is now the home of many welfare families. Only 21 per cent of the Cabrini-Green apartments are occupied by two-parent families, and 83 per cent of the families receive some form of public assistance. Shops and businesses have vanished in the area, increasing unemployment and pushing the crime rate upward.

Symbolic of the business community's commitment to the Lower North Side was the Montgomery-Ward decision to build its new corporate headquarters on the western edge of the Lower North Side, across the street from Cabrini-Green. The area is also affected by the prosperous Upper Michigan Avenue-Rush Street Complex as it inches westward and increases the value and desirability of land for business. The city of Chicago acquired land in the area for urban renewal and the "Chicago 21" Plan, a strategy for urban redevelopment, gave the Lower North Side a priority rating.

It is within this framework of business and government determination to halt urban blight that CACE embarked on Phase One of its most ambitious program: the creation of four building centers in five Cabrini-Green high rises designed to individualize the buildings and humanize the delivery of social services. The intention was to dismantle the project image so residents could enjoy an address at which they could be proud to live. The Chicago Youth Centers and the YMCA each operated two building centers. The objective was to work directly with the residents and to serve each family's needs. The centers served 542 families with a population of approximately 2,300.

Although there were some problems in implementing the building center program, it provided access to family services, youth counseling and activities, recreation programs and psychological counseling. Funding ended last June, but CACE launched Phase Two of its effort by creating the Social Outreach Services Task Force composed of key agencies involved in the delivery of social services at Cabrini-Green. This new thrust will expand the services provided by the four building centers to all Cabrini-Green residents and insure that services are not duplicated and that delivery systems are more efficient. A coordinator has been hired to build cooperation among the agencies in the delivery of programs.

Whether it is a building center, a camping program for youth, a juvenile justice program, a Black Achievers' program or a building security program, CACE has made a difference in numerous social programs on the Lower North Side and in Cabrini-Green. This combination of resources and personnel from the public and private sectors is unique. More important, it demonstrates the vitality of Chicago's institutions and the resolve of a handful of dedicated professionals, Lower North Side and Cabrini-Green residents and agency executives in attacking city problems and helping a community stay alive. 

34/ February 1978/ Illinois Issues