Chicago Architecture Foundation

Working in partnership with community-based organizations in five Chicago neighborhoods, the Chicago Architecture Foundation will develop and pilot a community docent education program. Drawing on the Foundation’s 35-year history of training volunteer docents, the program will educate and empower residents to serve as leaders in stewardship and decision making regarding the built environments of their communities. The Foundation will initiate outreach primarily to neighborhoods on Chicago’s south and west sides, with a focus on serving racially and culturally diverse, economically disadvantaged communities. Training community docents to give architecture tours will enhance the ability of neighborhood residents to work in their communities to strengthen community identity and pride of place. Developing a neighborhood tour program will increase a neighborhood’s social and economic value as an investment and a destination.