Greater Chatham Initiative

04/22/2026

This Earth Day we're celebrating our commitment to educating our community on the benefits of planting trees to prevent flooding. We've kicked off our planting last week at Chatham Park Village Cooperative and will continue planting 100 trees across the Greater Chatham area through early May! 🌳

04/07/2026

Application deadline April 15th for FoodLab Chicago 7.0 Cohort 🔥

Apply today to participate in the 10-week educational accelerator program designed for chefs, restauranteurs, caterers, food truck vendors, bakers, culinary artists, and other food-related businesses.

Classes are weekly on Mondays from 10am-12pm.
More information at the link in our bio.

04/01/2026

Join us April 18th for our Volunteer Spring Clean & Green event! 🌳🌳🌳
Greater Chatham Initiative is looking for volunteers to work with residents to spruce up the Chatham Park Village Co-op grounds to support our initiative to plant trees to prevent local flooding across the Greater Chatham area. Sign up to volunteer at the registration link or by visiting our website’s events section.

Meal and refreshments will be provided and this is a great opportunity for local residents needing volunteer hours. AM & PM shifts are available.

Volunteer Information:
🗓️ Date: April 18
📍 Location: Chatham Park Village Cooperative
📍Meeting Address: 8335 S. Langley Ave
⏰ Time: 9am-5pm (4 hour shifts available from 9am-1pm and 1pm-5pm)

🍂 Volunteer Job Description:
- Raking dead leaves across the site and bagging them.
- Collecting fallen tree branches/sticks.
- Using a push broom to clear walkways of any additional debris.
- Collect and return all tools to the drop-site.

03/31/2026

Dear GCI Community,

Self-Help Federal Credit Union is excited to invite you to a free Financial Literacy Workshop on Thursday, April 18th, from 11:00 AM – 12:30 PM at their Chatham location:

645 E. 87th Street, Chicago, IL 60619

Workshop Highlights:

⭕️ Budgeting
⭕️ Saving with purpose
⭕️ Credit and borrowing

This session is designed to be accessible and practical for individuals at any stage of their financial journey.

Attendees can RSVP by scanning the QR code on the flyer.

03/11/2026

Join us Saturday! We’re following up January’s Tree and Flood Prevention Community Conversation with a 2nd workshop dedicated to Urban Tree Health Assessment & Monitoring, Tree Care Maintenance, Downspout Disconnection Strategies, and Water Reuse Strategy.

Greater Chatham Initiative has worked with professor Miquel Gonzalez-Meler within UIC’s Dept. of Biological Scoenxe and Stable Isotope Lab to research Chatham’s trees, their health and relation to local flood habits. Their team will continue to follow up this Saturday with more information food residents.

RSVP at the link in bio or scan the QR code.
Light refreshments will be served.
🌳

03/10/2026

02/20/2026

Thursday evening February 26th, we’re calling our community to locate Greater Chatham residents interested in receiving a free tree planted in their from our back yards as apart of our flood prevention and neighborhood greening initiatives. 🌱

We’re looking for paid volunteers to help us with calling and data entry among other roles. Please head to our link tree in our bio to sign up as a Participant Caller, if you’re interested and have great phone skills. Participants will receive an honorarium of $80 at $20/hour.

We appreciate all of our neighbors who help us reach our goal of planting 400 trees in the community. Learn more about our green initiatives on our website: gci2016.org

02/18/2026

Thursday, March 12 at we’re inviting local community partners, business owners, and restaurateurs who can comment on corridor revitalization, small business development, arts/cultural programming, and sustainability—especially those connected to Mahalia’s Mile and surrounding neighborhood efforts.

Presented by Dr. Hyesun Jeong & graduate students from University of Cincinnati, Dr. Terry Clark of University of Chicago, and GCI Executive Director, Nedra Sims Fears.

After students present their proposals for replicable sustainable growth solutions along Greater Chatham’s corridors we’ll open the floor for feedback on feasibility and potential impact. This discussion is aimed at gathering what’s appropriate and valuable for community partners and what may need adjustment.

We’d love to have you join us in this workshop to consider the future of our south side community corridors.

Light refreshments will be provided. RSVP at the link in our bio.