The southside of Chicago is historically known and depicted as full of poverty-ridden, “bad” neighborhoods, however a program called the Shirley J. Newsome Beautification Program (SJN) has stepped in to change that.

The program is designed to enhance the physical traits of Chicago’s southern neighborhoods such as Hyde Park-South, Kenwood, North Kenwood-Oakland, Woodlawn, and Washington park. Using the resources from a grant provided by the South East Chicago Commission (SECC), these neighborhoods have stepped in to make their communities beautiful again. Starting in 1999, more than $1,000,000 in grants have been awarded to neighborhoods for this amazing project.

Another more certified business is taking part in this project as well, INVEST S/W which started in October 2019. Through their work, roads and streets have been redesigned for more visual appeal. INVEST S/W plans to leverage $250 million in existing business development and infrastructure funding from the Department of Planning and Development (DPD). The reason for this is because in 2019, DPD analyzed hundreds of miles of streets for the commercial zone of the south and west sides of the city. In this analysis they found that overall business traffic was down in those areas and they planned to remake the areas to appear more appealing to potential business owners and  consumers.

While making cities more visually aesthetic is important, some argue that keeping the citizens working and in positive financial positions is more essential for the city’s overall economy and production.