The Power of the Commons
A New Narrative for Disinvested Neighborhoods
Countering stigma, spurring new models of growth
This article is the final in a series highlighting the impacts featured in The Power of the Commons, our report on the inspirational outcomes of the initiative’s first six years.
Many U.S. neighborhoods are struggling to overcome a long history of disinvestment and discriminatory public policy. In addition to challenges tied directly to disinvestment, these neighborhoods, many of them majority Black, are also the subject of harmful media narratives that focus on negative statistics such as crime and unemployment rather than the culture, creativity or historical significance of the community.
This one-sided storytelling creates stigma, fear and a sense among outsiders that a neighborhood is a place to avoid. Research backs this up, demonstrating that a neighborhood’s reputation is a stronger predictor of future poverty than almost any other factor and showing that media reports often frame violent crime as normal in disadvantaged and Black neighborhoods.
Narratives about investment strategies can be fear-based and stigmatizing, too. Rather than focused, layered investment, disinvested neighborhoods most frequently receive piecemeal or uncoordinated attention, often with a focus on affordable housing, and not much else. Structural racism paired with these narratives and unfocused strategies have a devastating impact: According to Brookings, property is significantly devalued in majority-Black ZIP codes, resulting in aggregate wealth losses of $235 billion for residential real estate and $171 billion for retail real estate.
In Chicago and Detroit, the public space transformations supported by Reimagining the Civic Commons are helping create a new narrative for disinvested neighborhoods, both in the media and among potential investors. In Detroit, changes in one neighborhood have also inspired a layered investment strategy for neighborhoods citywide — a strategy that is reshaping expectations, spurring additional investment and creating new ideas about what’s possible.
“The magic of seeing Black folks congregate together. The magic of seeing our community come together as a collective. The magic of seeing how, though we had many disparities in this neighborhood, and we had George Floyd and the riots right after, we saw joy. We saw hope. We saw something that we weren’t seeing on TV.” — Aamina Vela, community member
Chicago: A narrative of community, creativity and beauty
On Chicago’s South Side, the Greater Grand Crossing neighborhood is home to a strong, vibrant Black community, but for generations, this and other South Side neighborhoods have been intentionally excluded from many economic opportunities. This systematic exclusion spurred high rates of unemployment and poverty, weakened public education and increased blight and vacancy.
It also led to a narrative of negativity and fear. After decades of redlining, disinvestment and exclusion from Chicago’s booming economic growth, the narrative of Greater Grand Crossing — like many historically Black communities across the country — became dominated by fear-mongering media stories rather than positive stories about community, strength, creativity or the multigenerational historical significance of the neighborhood.
A new district of cultural amenities and public spaces, spearheaded by Rebuild Foundation with support from Reimagining the Civic Commons, provides an alternative lens — arts and culture — through which to approach long-standing inequities and spur deeper understandings of Black culture and Black history. Today, world-class public spaces and cultural programs attract people from a wide range of neighborhoods and cities to experience Greater Grand Crossing.
Where there once were 13 vacant lots, there now is Kenwood Gardens. Filled with native and regionally appropriate plants and home to meandering trails and a community garden, Kenwood Gardens welcomes people for meditation, performance, educational programming and opportunities to experience this beautiful public space. Rebuild Foundation hosts a free concert series in the gardens, welcoming guests to enjoy outdoor performances by local ensembles monthly. The gardens also hosted a suite of wellness programs including yoga, meditation and sound bathing.
Rebuild’s constellation of civic assets also includes the Stony Island Arts Bank, Dorchester Art + Housing Collaborative and the former St. Laurence school, which is being transformed into an arts and entrepreneurship incubator. Together, the sites offer enhanced public access to nature and the arts and increased support for a growing community of artists.
The groundbreaking innovation evident in Rebuild Foundation’s spaces and cultural programming has attracted positive media attention locally and around the nation, pushing back on harmful preconceived notions and heralding narratives that honor the beauty of the neighborhood. Local media outlets like the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Magazine and WTTW public radio have highlighted initiatives at the Arts Bank and Kenwood Gardens. National and international publications like NPR, Condé Nast Traveler, Harper’s Bazaar and the Wall Street Journal have also spurred visitorship to Greater Grand Crossing’s reimagined civic assets.
“I see Rebuild as a physical place like Arts Bank, but also an intangible, invisible space that invites people to dream and to play, to look at themselves differently, and to engage.” — Brandon Breaux, fine artist/designer
Detroit: Collaborative, multisector investment takes root citywide
In Detroit, the work of Reimagining the Civic Commons has primarily taken place in Fitzgerald, a formerly disinvested, majority Black neighborhood on the city’s northwest side. Since Reimagining the Civic Commons launched, the narrative about how to invest in disinvested neighborhoods has transformed in Detroit. Today, a robust, multi-sector partnership braided together with philanthropic, private and public dollars has become a model of community revitalization so powerful it is being used in neighborhoods throughout the city.
Detroit has done this, in part, through the Strategic Neighborhood Fund (SNF). SNF is a partnership of a diverse collection of organizations, including the City of Detroit, local community development finance institution Invest Detroit and philanthropic and corporate donors. SNF funds community-driven projects in four specific areas: park improvements, streetscape improvements, commercial corridor development and affordable single-family home stabilization.
It started in the Fitzgerald neighborhood — and Detroit Civic Commons informed how it grew, which types of initiatives it prioritized and the evolution of the narrative about what disinvested neighborhoods need.
SNF shows what can happen when local governments and funders believe in the power of partnerships, collaboration and a portfolio approach, as opposed to advancing disconnected projects one at a time. The effort has now expanded to 10 areas across the city and, as of October, raised more than $75 million in philanthropic funds and $110 million in public dollars. Residents of the first three investment areas, including Fitzgerald, are significantly more likely to report greater satisfaction with their neighborhoods, greater satisfaction with local housing conditions and better perceptions of safety than other Detroiters. They have also seen more people move in, more businesses opening and increasing property values.
“What it did was formalize an investment template for all the neighborhoods across the city that are part of the Strategic Neighborhood Fund. Now everywhere we go, it’s four pillars of investment — commercial corridor, parks, streetscape and housing stabilization — all framed by a year-long planning study ahead of time. That template was teased out of the Civic Commons work here.”
—Michael R. Smith, Invest Detroit
All of this demonstrates the power of investing in networks of high-quality civic assets to spur positive and needed shifts in the narratives about disinvested communities. The public realm can reshape expectations and offer counterpoints to stigmatized stories — while showcasing the potential for investment strategies that challenge the old paradigms for neighborhoods previously excluded from growth.
Read The Power of the Commons for more inspiring impacts from Reimagining the Civic Commons’ first five demonstration cities.
Reimagining the Civic Commons is a collaboration of The JPB Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, William Penn Foundation, and local partners.
