Connecting Community Through Equitable Transit-Oriented Development

Proximity to reliable transit makes a big difference for the well-being of people and communities — physically, socially, and economically. Good policies and leadership can help us get there.

Last year, Elevated Chicago, a collaborative housed at the Trust that promotes equitable transit-oriented development, teamed up with more than 50 local organizations to help shape, advocate for, and win passage of the Connected Communities Ordinance.

This new Chicago law was created in response to a prior ordinance that resulted in 90 percent of transit-oriented development funding going to just a handful of areas: the North Side, Northwest Side, downtown, and around the West Loop. What’s more, population data indicate that Black and Latinx residents are being displaced from the communities where development is occurring, while the white population is increasing.

Connected Communities is expanding incentives to encourage the development of near-transit businesses and affordable housing more equitably across the city. This will help ensure every Chicagoan can live in a community with easy access to transit that connects them to what they need — work, school, family and friends, services, and more.

Connected Communities will also generate more than 200,000 new jobs over the next decade, and make Chicago Transit Authority stations safer for pedestrians, cyclists, and wheelchair users.

Roberto Requejo is executive director of Elevated Chicago and helped bring the Connected Communities Ordinance to life. Every collaborative at the Trust is staffed by experts like Requejo who know Chicago, know the issues, and know how to calibrate the investments and partnerships that allow the Trust, our donors, and partners to maximize impact.

“My role is creating space for diverse groups of Chicagoans to find collective solutions to complex problems. The Connected Communities Ordinance demonstrates how smart policies can help everyone feel better navigating their community, whether you walk, bike, ride, or roll,” says Requejo.