It wasn’t until they were in their mid 60s that the parents of Vanessa Stokes made the decision to buy their first home. They settled in Austin, a neighborhood on the West Side of Chicago that is bombarded with negative media. Stokes remembers her father, a photographer at the time, hating it. He was saddened by the homeless people on the streets and the prevalence of drug addiction.

 

“I think essentially, that was the nail in the coffin for him,” says Stokes, who lives in Austin. “That pretty much ended his life.”

 

On any given day Austin records anywhere from 25 to 45 crime reports, ranging from assault to robbery, according to data collected by Everyblock. A simple Google search reveals that the seven square mile neighborhood is filled with convenience stores, yet grocery stores are scattered few and far between.

 

To help shift perceptions relating to violence in the Austin neighborhood, Stokes has been working on building a food cooperative and beautifying the neighborhood with public art. The negative perception of Austin affects the way the residents view their own community, says Stokes. She says she wants people to feel comfortable driving through and visiting local businesses, though she acknowledges that community development is lacking. In an effort to rebuild the Austin neighborhood, Stokes is taking steps to create a grocery store established by the community for the community.

 

As of April, Stokes and her community members are still gathering information through conversations, conferences and workshops, and she hopes to have the co-op up and running in two years time.

 

“Food connects everything because without that we will not be able to live on this planet,” says Stokes. “Availability of healthy foods in communities of color, communities that have food deserts, once you start there it will be a ripple effect.”

 

It all comes back to nutrition being foundational for Stokes. She became a breastfeeding peer counselor in 2007 and in providing support and education for young mothers, she realized the importance of connecting with the community. Now at age 45, she works full-time at Austin Coming Together, a community development organization, as a project coordinator for Austin Neighborhood Stabilization. This involves working on community engagement, directing people to resources and promoting information about purchasing vacant homes in the area.

 

While there are many aspects of the community Stokes wishes she could work on, with limited time and energy she says she can’t fight every battle. She speaks of her community with bright enthusiasm, but sighs breaths of frustration when reflecting on its issues.

 

Although she made the difficult decision to move her children from a school in Austin to a school in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago, Stokes and her family remain in the Austin community. She says if they don’t stay and build, the problems will only continue. By staying and working with her neighbors and public officials, Stokes hopes to create a safer environment. She says seeing residents take action might make others stay. This is why more visible efforts like public art and the food co-op are the battles she’s choosing.

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“This is my home, this is where I live,” says Stokes. “This is where my kids are. This is where my family is and where my friends are. Everyone wants a place where they are comfortable.”

 

The idea for the food co-op has been brewing for at least four years. After attending a community meeting run by Alderman Emma Mitts of the 37th Ward, Stokes says she was floored by the committee’s decision that ultimately approved a dollar store to replace a local Walgreens. In her eyes this was a missed opportunity for a community already lacking in sustainable, accessible food.

 

Stokes uses her connection with Austin Coming Together to further her healthy food advocacy efforts. A Quality of Life Plan was initiated by the group to identify what can be done over the next five years. Local Initiatives Support Corp., a non-profit that has helped similar causes around Chicago, provided funding and support. In collaboration with the non-profit, Austin Coming Together facilitated their first community summit last July. In June of this year, the organization will have its last major summit to inform the community of its progress.

 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture defines a food desert as an area with a poverty rate of at least 20 percent and where at least a third of the population lives more than a mile from a supermarket or large grocery store. Austin is one of the largest communities in Chicago, with a population of over 97,000, yet there are only about three grocery stores in the area, Stokes says. Of that population, almost 30 percent live below the poverty line, which affects and limits residents on every level. Stokes, for example, has to drive four miles to Oak Park to do her grocery shopping.

 

“I’d really like to frequent businesses in my community,” says Stokes. “It’s really annoying that I gotta get out in my car to drive places just to do something simple like get a cup of coffee.”

 

To make the co-op a reality, a feasibility study was done on the Austin neighborhood. Stacey Sutton, a professor in University of Illinois at Chicago’s urban planning and policy department, was referred to Stokes by a colleague. Sutton’s solidarity economy class created the study to not only identify the necessary steps to begin this project, but to also pinpoint potential locations for the co-op to thrive. Sutton says access to affordable healthy food in Austin is a credible issue, and a cooperative has real potential for the community’s economic development and neighborhood stabilization.

 

“It’s more than just an outside business coming in but rather that it’s owned and operated by the residents has a lot of positive effects for the neighborhood,” Sutton says.

 

The food co-op is not the only project Stokes is immersed in. To help shift the negative idea of the neighborhood, Stokes invited artist Keith Brownlee, a local painter, sculptor and designer to collaborate on public art projects including displaying her father’s photography on one of the neighborhood’s overpasses. In an effort to beautify the neighborhood, Stokes and Brownlee are paying homage to Dorell Creightney’s photography legacy, Stokes’ father, by displaying work that has never been exhibited.

 

Another set of her father’s work is displayed by the exit of Central Avenue and Lake Street near the Green Line. Box-framed lit images of African-American youths line the length of the wall by an escalator. The photos at the L station will stay up for three years, and each year different photos will be displayed.

 

The first place they tackled in January of 2018 was a busy viaduct in the Austin neighborhood. By transforming the viaduct with visual art, Brownlee wants people to experience a visually stimulating space that goes beyond murals and graffiti. He says residents feel like it is the community’s work and it gives opportunity to those who can’t afford to visit art spaces downtown.

 

Brownlee remembers people driving by and honking their horns, expressing approval. One resident even yelled, “About time y’all put something up in our neighborhood!” Public art is seldom seen in the West Side, says Brownlee, especially in comparison to nearby Oak Park.

 

Stokes says that by lining the underpasses with portraits of smiling people, the whole intersection changes. She says that public art is one way she shows love for her neighbors.

 

“I just want to remind people who they are,” says Stokes. “We are a happy community of people. We need to be reminded of that because every time we turn on the TV it’s like ‘Oh somebody was shot. Somebody was killed. Something happened over here.’ You get tired of hearing that.”

 

The photos are just a start. By building the food co-op she hopes to show that people are interested in having healthy food in Austin, garner more community investment and attract companies to open stores. Not only would the food co-op be a resource for the basic necessities and nutritious options, Stokes says it could be a vital opportunity for intergenerational connection and communion. Residents of all races and all ages can gather together and learn from each other by cultivating land and knowledge. She wants the co-op to be more than just a grocery store. It will be a hub where people can get their needs met as well as connect with the community.

 

“I’ve always felt like our purpose as humans is to work within a community--no man’s an island all here by ourselves. We’re here to actually work together,” says Stokes. “We’re so stuck on all this other stuff watching the news and not seeing that there’s actual opportunity out here. So by changing their mindset, people could realize that.”