New Community Programs

In 2011, Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) Chicago selected the BYNC as lead agency for the New Communities Program (NCP). The pilot phase of NCP launched in 2000 as a long-term initiative to support comprehensive community development. Thousands of Chicagoans participated in the development of 18 Quality of Life Plans across the city. LISC Chicago is a national organization with a community focus, organizing capital and other resources to support initiatives that will transform distressed neighborhoods into healthy, stable neighborhoods. Prior to becoming an NCP, BYNC was part of LISC Chicago’s Great Neighborhood Focus Program (GNF). The GNF provides long-term financial and technical assistance to the Back of the Yards to strengthen and improve the community.

As the NCP lead agency, the BYNC facilitated a structured community planning process that involved public workshops and meetings engaging hundreds of community residents, leaders, and stakeholders, including neighborhood schools, churches, and organizations in the creation of strategies to improve the Back of the Yards quality of life. In the spring of 2014, BYNC published the Quality of Life Plan. The plan is a neighborhood guide to tackling problems and creating effective community development.