Always Growing, Auburn Gresham
Always Growing, Auburn Gresham is comprised of three investment-ready capital projects poised to reinvigorate this South Side, predominantly Black neighborhood back into a thriving destination.
The AGAG projects come directly from Auburn Gresham’s community-driven Quality-of-Life Plan.
Under the leadership of Carlos Nelson, Erika Allen and Jason Feldman, the first recipient — the Always Growing Auburn Gresham initiative — has made its vision a reality:
The Healthy Lifestyle Hub houses a federally qualified health center operated by the University of Illinois Chicago, behavioral health services, dental services, mentoring programs, a college satellite office, a media center, a community room, a teaching kitchen, restaurant space, and a bank. The Green Era Campus on W. 83rd Street features Midwest's first self-sustaining anaerobic digester.
Measured Impact
(based on data collected from 2020 – 2024)
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Since 2020, the Auburn Gresham community has seen over $102M of public investment and over $3M of philanthropic investment (aside from Chicago Prize).
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The AGAG sites have hosted over 340 events and reached over 5,200 people.
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Collectively, the AGAG initiative has employed 103 people with living wage jobs and almost half of all employees reside in Auburn Gresham or surrounding zip codes.
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Since opening, the Healthy Lifestyle Hub has served nearly 36,440 patients.
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The Anaerobic Digester has diverted 68.5 million pounds of food waste from landfills.
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In partnership with Peoples Gas, the renewable natural gas produced by the digester has heated 1,486 homes.