The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation invests in the cultural, civic, and physical infrastructure that helps encourage vibrant communities. We work to ensure the built environment is enhanced by the preservation and reuse of historic places, community-driven planning, and sustainable and well-designed new buildings and landscapes. Our goal is to help promote a positive quality of life and a strong sense of place — the kind of public places that focus on the human experience and where people want to live, work, and play.
On a recent visit to Garfield Park, Foundation board and staff members met with two Built Environment grant recipients who share a commitment to strengthening community, expanding opportunity for residents, and creating places where people can thrive.
Revolution Workshop (RW) is helping create pathways to economic mobility through construction and preservation trades training. Founded in 2018, the organization equips residents from Chicago’s under-resourced neighborhoods with technical skills, career readiness support, and job placement opportunities. RW has trained more than 740 individuals and placed 84% of them in jobs with stable wages. They have also been piloting a program in Pullman that engages alumni in hands-on historic preservation work to rehab and restore homes with the opportunity to then purchase the homes. The organization is looking to scale this work in the future. It plans to acquire and rehab up to 20 homes in Pullman to expand its preservation training model. While on site, we saw RW’s current cohort of trainees measuring, sawing, and nailing 2x4s together to build miniature homes as part of their hands-on training.
A mile and half west, the MAAFA Redemption Project (MAAFA) is transforming the former St. Barnabas Episcopal Church into the MAAFA Center for Arts & Activism (MAC). The rehabilitated historic building will serve as a hub for arts, education, organizing, and intergenerational programming. It will house MAAFA, the Sankofa School of the Arts, Beautiful Seed Foundation, and bring $8 million of investment to West Garfield Park. Founded in 2017, MAAFA believes in the promise and leadership of Black and Brown youth and young adults. The organization provides workforce training, wraparound support services, and community-based programming to men 18–30 years old to foster healing, purpose, and hope. Two of its program alumni are working as apprentices on the construction of the MAC, a testament to the organization’s commitment to supporting and empowering young men.
These organizations are part of growing revitalization efforts happening in Garfield Park. Nearby is the Sankofa Village Wellness Center, which opened earlier this year and is part of the team that received the $10 million Chicago Prize from the Pritzker Traubert Foundation in 2022. The Wellness Center brings together major health institutions to expand access to healthcare, wellness resources, and social services in one neighborhood hub. The City of Chicago is also supporting the development of new affordable housing through its Missing Middle initiative and plans to bring a new grocery store to the area.
Together, these organizations are advancing a community-led vision of neighborhood revitalization through economic mobility, health access, and local leadership.
