Asset Based Community Development – Rogers Park

If you ask anyone to describe Rogers Park to you, what you usually get in response is that it is Chicago’s northern most neighborhood. This is true, but it is also far from the most defining aspect of Rogers Park. Annexed into Chicago in 1893, Rogers Park sits directly on the shore of Lake Michigan, 9 miles from Chicago’s loop. It was originally a suburb of Evanston, but as more people moved into the neighborhood it became part of Chicago. What really makes Rogers Park a unique and special place to live is the diversity – it is one of Chicago’s most diverse neighborhoods. In the 1930,  Rogers Park has a population of 57, 094, 99.7% of which was white, and only 15.8% of which was foreign born. As of 2000, the total population has only increased by a couple thousands residents, but now only about half are white, and 33.8% were born outside of the country (Rogers Park, 2004). Devon street is also considered by some to be one of the most diverse streets in not just Chicago but the entire nation, and it runs directly through Rogers Park.  

What also makes Rogers Park unique are things called assets. Assets in a neighbor are valuable places, things or people that exist within the community. Asset based community development planning then takes into account at all of these already existing parts of a community and looks at how they can develop, connect, and improve on what already exists within. Asset based development tries to focus on using the skills and people that live in the community instead of providing assistance from outside sources. Luckily, Rogers park has an abundance of all four types of the assets commonly looked at in asset based community development – individuals, associations, institutions, and land.

Rogers Park has a population of 63,484, and each one of these individuals is an asset to the community (Rogers Park, 2004). They all help keep the economy going by spending money and together they create sub communities within the neighborhood. Refugees are unique assets because they bring in different cultures, unique mindsets, and new skills. I think that by bringing their own culture to Rogers Park, they make the neighborhood even more diverse and that diversity allows us to learn from one another and become more open minded.  

Another specific kind of individuals we as Loyolians might be particularly familiar with are college students. College students are particularly unique assets because they are at a unique point in their lives. As adults, they are have proactivity and decision making skills that are usually coupled with a better understanding of the world and a means to move around the city. At the same time, they don’t yet have the responsibilities that working adults might have and they have more free time on their hands as student than they would as part of the working class. Because of this they are uniquely able to protest and participate in service action within the community. Particularly because of Loyola’s dedication to service, Loyola students even more so have the information needed to push them to participate in service, which in turn helps to develop the community.

The second kind of asset in asset based community development are associations. Associations are two more people working together for a common goal. Common examples are churches, clubs, and small meetings. This is where Madonna Mission would fit into the asset based development outlook. By having members of the community come to their school room and help young refugee children learn English and give them help on their homework, Madonna Mission helps develop young minds of Rogers Park. It also provides a safe, engaging place for students after school so that parents can continue to work is they need to. Madonna mission is just one of many associates in Rogers park. Other non for profits in Rogers park include A Just Harvest, Chicago Women in Publishing, Howard Brown Health Clinic, Assyrian American Association, Family Members and a host of other NGOs – each providing specific assistance (Rogers Park Non-Profit, 2014). Rogers Park is also home to Churches, Mosques, synagogues, and a multitude of other places of worship (Rogers Park, 2004). Other associations Rogers Park is know for are its farmer’s markets. Both Loyola’s Farmer’s Market on Monday and Glenwood’s Farmer’s Market on Sunday provide a place for individuals to showcase their skills and work on a business. Along the same vein, Roger’s park is home to a multitude of local businesses – most notably of the food kind. Bop’n’Grill, Ethiopian Diamond, SB Kebab, Nori’s and others are all Loyolian go-to’s. Devon street as well is filled with local businesses – often not even in English, but in the language of whichever individual started the business.

Institutions are like associations only much bigger – and usually the members within institutions are paid to be there. These are meant to last throughout time even as the administrations and individuals within change. The largest one within Rogers Park is Loyola University of Chicago. In terms of schooling, Rogers park also has 6 K-8 schools, 2 high schools, 3 private schools, a charter school, plus the Chicago Math and Science Academy (Rogers Park, Chicago, 2017). Rogers park also has a branch of the Chicago Public Library, which hosts events like Science Night, Story Time, and Chicago Scrabble throughout the year (Roger Park Events, 2017).

Lastly, Rogers Park is also rich in land based assets. Almost half of the edge it shares with Lake Michigan consists of beaches, parks, or a combination of both. Though not in Rogers Park, the start to the Lake Front Trail – an 18 mile long trail that splits lakes, parks, and sports fields on one side and the city’s skyline on the other – is only a mile south of the neighborhood.

All of these assets are important parts of the neighborhood, but what makes asset based community development proactive is something called ‘the exchange’. This is a term for looking out how all four asset types interact with each other to create and develop a community – the more interaction the more development. One notable part of Rogers Park is that it has 3 red line ‘L’ stops in the neighborhood. This makes it easier for individuals to get to other individuals, associations, intuition, or parks. It also creates easier access to the rest of the city. NGO’s in Rogers park help connect individuals to assistance as well as to other bigger institutions that may be able to help them. A particular example of the exchange is Peggy at Madonna Mission – she talked about having the kids move outside during their afterschool program for a scavenger hunt or something similar (P. Forbes, personal communication, 2017). This helps for logistical reason due to noise and size, but it also connects young refugees to the ‘land’ asset of Rogers Park. Especially because one of Roger Park’s parks is directly across the street from Madonna Mission.  All these different assets help to build individuals up, which trickles through to help the overall community.  

That isn’t to say that Rogers Park isn’t without its problems. It is still a neighborhood of a major city so it is never going to be the safest place to settle. It’s a part of Chicago, so it has it’s fair share of violence, shootings, and muggings. Some parts of the neighborhood are better than others. Peggy as well talked about keeping the shades down in Madonna Mission to protect students on the inside – so that people walking by wouldn’t be able to tell that Madonna Mission is actually a school (P. Forbes, personal communication, 2017). This is just the nature of living in a city and the nature of the world right now. Loyola University could also be considered a problem in Rogers Park that would not make it an ideal place to settle, instead of an asset. Having Loyola in Rogers Park brings more and more students to live in the area. These students that are typically from middle to upper class families. This contributes to gentrification – the process of slowly changing neighborhoods or districts to better suit a middle class lifestyle. A common example is that there will be an influx in coffee shops – which Rogers Park certainly has many of. Gentrification could be bad for news for refugee settlers because it drives up prices, specifically that of rent. In turn, gentrification of a neighborhood can drive out people of a lower socioeconomic status (What is Gentrification, 2003). Though Rogers Park is not fully gentrified yet, it’s a trend that can be seen across Chicago and one that might be exacerbated in Rogers Park due to Loyola’s presence there.

Despite that, Rogers Park is overall a good place for incoming refugees to settle, especially taking into account its unique assets. Being in the city has more benefits that costs I think. Specifically, with Rogers Park’s diversity, a refugee might be more likely to find others that speak their language or have gone through similar experiences. This could help someone integrate themselves and find their footing. This is far more likely to happen in a city than it would be in a suburb. Living in the city also gives an individual more autonomy. In Rogers Park, someone can easily walk to a grocery store, or use the transit system to go to a Target or Wal-Mart. It makes it easier for a person to control where they shop or where they go whereas in the suburbs, a car and all the expenses associated with it is usually needed. Rogers Park’s park system I think is also a very special asset to the city and to incoming refugees. Parks allow people to spend more time outdoors and in the sun, which has a host of positive health impacts. Not just bodily health too – spending time in the outdoors is also good for a person’s mental health (Spending Time Outdoors, 2010). The city can be overwhelming, and I image it could be especially overwhelming for a refugee that did not originally live in a city or does not speak English yet. The parks and Lake Michigan allow people to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city without actually having to leave the neighborhood.

Often times development efforts cause more harm than good. Traditional needs based planning lacks an understanding of the community and an often exhibits an unwillingness to take into account cultural differences. It can lead to dependence on the need providing countries instead of creating independence. Asset based community development is a much more positive outlook. Instead of looking at what refugees need, we as American citizens can look at what they bring and begin to appreciate it. Rogers Park has the available assets to be a positive place for refugees to settle and start to find community.

References

Forbes, Peggy. (September, 2017). In-person communication.

Grant, Benjamin. (2003, July 17). What is gentrification? Retrieved at

http://www.pbs.org/pov/flagwars/what-is-gentrification/

(2004). Rogers park. Retrieved at http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/1086.html

(2004, Jun3 4). Rogers park non-profit organizations. Retrieved at

            https://chicago.everyblock.com/localbusiness/jun04-rogers-park-non-profit

organizations-6174621/

(2010, July). Spending time outdoors is good for you, from the harvard health letter. Retrieved

at https://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/spending-time-outdoors-is-good-for

you

(2017). Rogers Park: Upcoming Events at Rogers Park. Retrieved at

https://www.chipublib.org/location/rogers-park-events/

(2017, October 3). Rogers Park, Chicago. Retrieved at

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rogers_Park,_Chicago