From Vision to Reality: Community Engagement Guides INVEST South/West Project
Commercial Avenue Corridor Improvements Project
Overview:
In 2022, City of Chicago leaders and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) broke ground on the INVEST South/West Commercial Avenue Corridor Improvements Project, the second INVEST South/West streetscape project to break ground. The $43 million streetscape improvement project in South Chicago aims to transform the Commercial Avenue corridor between 83rd Street to South Chicago Avenue and 92nd Street between South Harbor Avenue and Anthony Street, and provide safe, walkable, and attractive streets that will foster community and economic growth.
Prior to the groundbreaking, Morreale Communications led stakeholder engagement and public involvement efforts to advance the project during the design engineering phase.
Strategy:
The Morreale Communications team developed a comprehensive public involvement plan that created a strong network of stakeholders and community engagement to collect valuable input on preferences for project designs. The local community, including businesses, community organizations and residents, was engaged to generate interest in and excitement around the project and the various ways to get involved and provide feedback.
Morreale Communications planned and facilitated two virtual public meetings and one in-person meeting and used an interactive, real-time online tool to seamlessly collect input. To enhance accessibility, we enlisted Spanish and ASL interpreters to translate materials and hosted the in-person meeting in the Spanish-speaking community. We also designed a survey to gain direct community feedback on the proposed improvements and tapped into our network of community partners to promote the survey both on-the-ground and through social media to maximize outreach.
Results:
Our comprehensive digital and grassroots approach garnered more than 100 survey responses from stakeholders and community residents, and nearly 200 participants attended the public meetings. Findings from these engagement activities helped inform preferences for the final project design.
