Block party shows UnBlocked Englewood's progress on repairing South Side homes

Chicago Tribune

a day ago

Amid grills cooking savory barbecue, bubbles blowing from an ice cream truck, face painting and peals of laughter from kids in a nearby bouncy house, Justine Mosely Stephens was struggling not to tear up.
'I'm a crybaby,' she said. 'Don't start me. I have been truly blessed and highly favored.'
Stephens and many others were taking in the revelry of the second annual block party at 6500 S. Aberdeen St. Block parties are not an unusual sight during the summer months in Chicago, but festivities on this particular Englewood street have garnered attention since 2024. That was when housing activist and social justice artist Tonika Johnson put forth UnBlocked Englewood — an initiative that used grant dollars from the City of Chicago's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Mayor's Office of Equity and Justice designated for artists and organizations to create art, acquire vacant lots and repair dozens of buildings for homeowners on the block.
The collaborative effort brought together the Chicago Bungalow Association, the Chicago Community Trust, the Terra Foundation for American Art and Oak Forest-based DNR Construction, as well as utilities such as ComEd and Peoples Gas, to weatherproof the homes and provide energy-efficient appliances. DNR conducted assessments of the homes on the block to see what repairs were needed and their costs.
In the winter months, Stephens, a Beverly resident who owns and maintains several properties on the block, wanted help with a dilapidated chimney on a building. UnBlocked fixed her chimney and put a boiler in, at no cost to her. Stephens, who does most of her property improvements herself, is looking forward to UnBlocked tackling the porches on her buildings.
'A new boiler will cost you between $3,500 and $5,500,' Stephens said. 'If I add up all the work that they've done for me so far … I'm looking at $100,000.' She said she's talking to two more people looking to get involved with the program now that the results are being seen in real time.
According to Amber Hendley, a researcher in residence at the bungalow association and an UnBlocked spokesperson, 18 of 24 properties on the block have already received or will receive home improvements. Next steps entail building and mending gates and fences on 11 properties, porches and decks on 10 properties and repair work and weatherization for four more homes.
In the past couple of months, the program has helped two families acquire three vacant lots that sit between their properties. Hendley said the next acquisitions will be two city-owned vacant lots at 6515 and 6520 S. Aberdeen. UnBlocked so far has completed $49,505 in repairs in 2025, including a new roof for a home on Aberdeen and new concrete front stairs at a different house on the block. Another $89,425 has been earmarked for future work, including plumbing and electrical repairs on the street. Appraisals on the 18 participating properties will begin this month.
'Once we've gotten these lots, the block will collectively own over 40% of the vacant lots on the block,' she said. 'There are lots owned by LLCs … that in the next three years we are going to figure out how to get to those absentee landowners to figure out if you're not doing anything with it … don't want it, care about it, we do.'
'You can't make it out here without this program — just look at lumber, materials and labor out the box,' Stephens added. 'People did not realize what they can do, what they can have … now they realize you don't have to live like that.'
Kemya Johnson, 19, moved into a three-bedroom apartment owned by Stephens with her mother and brother a month ago from the North Side. Johnson said the family decided to come back to the South Side for the culture. 'We were tired of being around people that don't look like us,' Johnson said. The familiarity with the Englewood area and the people has Johnson ready to stay for a while.
'Now that I know the whole block is being done, I'm grateful, because a lot of people don't care about their neighborhood, but she (Tonika) does,' Johnson said. 'I only met her briefly, but I can see the good she's doing. I love it. We always moved around a lot, never stayed put and we're choosing to stay here.'
Melvin Walls had deteriorating green siding replaced on his Aberdeen home with cohesive tan-colored siding. He has plans to build a gazebo and benches for the community to gather in the adjacent undeveloped lot he acquired with the help of UnBlocked. 'Everything in the house is way behind … but if I could get it back up to par, I'll benefit,' the 71-year-old said. 'Things have been getting better slowly but surely.'
Keena Washington has been on Aberdeen for 16 years. With UnBlocked, she's looking forward to the flooring being replaced in the kitchen and bathroom in her two-flat. She doesn't think it would have gotten done had it not been for the program.
Carla Bruni, a preservation and resiliency specialist with the bungalow association who has been with UnBlocked since it started, said the sustained engagement in the neighborhood has been a unique experience. 'The first year was getting in there, doing any work we could possibly do with the contractors, with what we had in our resources,' Bruni said. 'Second year, we hit the ground fundraising, and now we can spend some of that.'
She said she smiles when she's seen neighbors helping others because their load is lighter and they have more room to help someone else. She said a homeowner who's having her roof done felt ashamed at the state of her home. Getting assistance piecing her house back together left her in tears.
'We are collaborating with the residents to put beauty as well as reparative effort into this block,' said Janell Nelson, co-founder and director of activations and engagement for Englewood Arts Collective. Celebrating the progress made and giving thanks, block party attendees watched the unveiling of two sculptures created by artist Kenya Moffett-Garner — two massive sculpted planters, featuring a man and woman and filled with flowers. The sculpted heads sit in a lush lot of green between homes on the block. The West Side-based artist's grandparents live in Englewood.
'It reminds me of people in my family,' she said of her inspiration for the heads and faces she created. 'The inspiration is for people to see themselves in my work.'
Illustrator, animator and graphic designer Bianca Pastel was on site as well, with sketchbook in hand, drawing vibes and inspiration from the crowd that will inform a mural she's doing for the block — her first big solo mural.
'I'm really excited that I have this opportunity,' she said. 'I want to build on my fantasy of knights and protection. I want more Black fantasy in these areas.'
Tonika Johnson envisions UnBlocked serving as a case study for other neighborhoods to replicate or expand on. The team has been gathering information that organizations and other artists can use — the most important being relationships across sectors, such as researchers, nonprofit organizations and municipal entities.
'You can't do anything like this without everybody talking with one another,' Johnson said. It was when Johnson spoke with TJ Townsend, Walls' grandson, that UnBlocked gelled. He had been helping his grandad make improvements on his mother's home so that his elder could age in place. Johnson learned about his family's history with her 'Inequity for Sale' project, which highlighted the harm racist discriminatory land sale contracts had on Chicago's Black community. Hendley was part of a 2018 study that found between $3.2 and $4 billion of wealth was expropriated during the 1950s and 1960s.
'People get up in age and were like: 'I just want to walk away' (from their homes),' Townsend said. 'That's one of the issues that we have in the city. The younger generation doesn't understand the house is paid for. Our grandparents are living longer, and I had to fuss and beg for them to stay. Seeing that they're staying, now they got the hope and desire back to hang in a little longer.'
Brad White, senior program director at the Driehaus Foundation, a partner with the bungalow association, says he's never seen a community-based project like UnBlocked. 'That's another reason this is so valuable, because people can start to believe that they can do this too. And this can show them how … it's going to take a little while, engagement, and everybody come together, but it is possible to get done.'
Hendley agrees. 'What's important for us to do is make sure we do right by this block and not just one or two things here and there,' she said. 'We've been in and out of these homes, assessing and reassessing, asking people what they wanted, but also saying, 'Oh, this definitely needs love, because you can't transfer this to the next generation in this condition.' At the end of the work, appraisals will happen again to see the value added to people's homes after the repairs.
'It's all about making sure home ownership is a win, that it does transfer wealth,' Hendley said. 'This is a block full of Black folk who have stayed through all these predatory practices; they should get everything they own to pass on. We're taking care of them, with an eye toward the future, because these homes are an asset.'