Areas of Research
The Voorhees Center's mission has taken the organization into many communities over the last 35 years and often for very different reasons. Some communities are experiencing unprecedented growth and as a result long time residents are getting displaced. Other communities have not had any new development in many years and as a result live in destitute conditions. These neighborhood dynamics are very central to the work of the Voorhees Center and getting to the core of these issues requires work at many different levels. Our areas of research include:
Affordable housing
The Voorhees Center works on many issues around the preservation and production of more affordable housing for very low-income families. This includes creation of the Illinois Housing Action Research Project (IHARP) and the Affordable Housing Fact Book with the Chicago Rehab Network. Both projects analyze the affordable housing conditions in Chicago and the state of Illinois. In addition, the Voorhees Center has produced affordable housing plans including the 2006 nationally award winning plan for Highland Park, IL.
Public housing
Public housing is a major component of the affordable housing stock. Efforts to transform Chicago’s public housing as well as significant changes in national policy are a major interest for the Voorhees Center. From the beginning, the Center has worked directly with public housing residents and other stakeholders in their effort to preserve public housing. This includes technical assistance as well as field research such as The Plan to Voucher out Public Housing: An Analysis of the Chicago Experience and a Case Study of the Proposal to Redevelop the Cabrini-Green Public Housing Area completed in the late 1990's and more recently the Central Advisory Council Strategies and Recommendations Report.
Community planning and development
Community based groups are vehicles for change in any neighborhood but these groups often lack the technical expertise needed to move some projects along. An important aspect of the Voorhees Center's work is to actively engage community residents so that they are better informed about what is happening in their communities and prepared to take action. One approach is to provide data and information that can help residents better understand their options, fight for more options if needed and be active participants in the decision making and planning process. An example of this approach is Gentrification in West Town: Contested Ground which has helped educate residents about the topic of gentrification and other communities understand the process and to identify strategies to prevent displacement.
Technical assistance over the years has helped strengthen the community development capacity of organizations and communities. Two examples are the Healthy Community Plan of West Humboldt Park and Austin Coming Together – both which have helped to develop new approaches to address community needs and concerns.
Neighborhood change
Change is defined best by each neighborhood or community. Change is negative for some and positive for others. Providing meaningful assistance to a community requires understanding change at all levels. The Voorhees Center analyzes change using a broad scope to better understand the issues affecting Chicago neighborhoods, identifying trends that can aid in the development of effective strategies. Two groundbreaking studies in 2003 resulted in the Gentrification Index that documented uneven development in Chicago 1970-2000 and the Neighborhood Indicators project to focus attention on the changing landscape of rental housing in the city resulting from the 1990-2000 housing boom. In 2014, the center is rolling out its “Deepening Divide” project to bring attention to the growing spatial inequality in the city and the region.
