In 2012, the Alliance of the SouthEast employed 20 talented young leaders from the Southeast Side to organize across the neighborhoods, who worked throughout the summer to map and record the community’s resources in partnership with the University of Chicago and After School Matters.

The vision for the Community Mapping Project is simple – if we know where our businesses, faith institutions, nonprofit resources, medical centers, governmental services, schools and homes are, and if there’s a central hub where we can search for them, more Southeast Chicago residents will be able to access the services we need and support our local institutions.

For the 20 youth leaders who built this tool, the Map was not only a cool summer job, it was creating an invaluable resources for their neighbors, while gaining key skills in interviewing, the sociology of mapping, survey methodologies and outreach.

Check out the map here, hosted by our partners at the University of Chicago and SouthSide Health!