![\"Tonika](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/ctc-l-mary-schmich-south-side-folded-map-01_182045077.jpg\")
Tonika Johnson stands in front of her work, “The Folded Map” project, which compares North Side addresses with their South Side equivalent, at Englewood Branded on Nov. 6, 2019. (Erin Hooley\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\nAmid 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m a crybaby,\u201d she said. \u201cDon\u2019t start me. I have been truly blessed and highly favored.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tonika Johnson stands in front of her work, “The Folded Map” project, which compares North Side addresses with their South Side equivalent, at Englewood Branded on Nov. 6, 2019. (Erin Hooley\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n
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<\/a>. That was when housing activist and social justice artist Tonika Johnson put forth UnBlocked Englewood<\/a> \u2014 an initiative that used grant dollars from the City of Chicago\u2019s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and the Mayor\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n \u201cA new boiler will cost you between $3,500 and $5,500,\u201d Stephens said. \u201cIf I add up all the work that they\u2019ve done for me so far \u2026 I\u2019m looking at $100,000.\u201d She said she\u2019s talking to two more people looking to get involved with the program now that the results are being seen in real time.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n In the past couple of months, the program has helped two families acquire three vacant lots<\/a> 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.<\/p>\n \u201cOnce we\u2019ve gotten these lots, the block will collectively own over 40% of the vacant lots on the block,\u201d she said. \u201cThere are lots owned by LLCs \u2026 that in the next three years we are going to figure out how to get to those absentee landowners to figure out if you\u2019re not doing anything with it \u2026 don\u2019t want it, care about it, we do.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t make it out here without this program \u2014 just look at lumber, materials and labor out the box,\u201d Stephens added. \u201cPeople did not realize what they can do, what they can have \u2026 now they realize you don\u2019t have to live like that.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. \u201cWe were tired of being around people that don\u2019t look like us,\u201d Johnson said. The familiarity with the Englewood area and the people has Johnson ready to stay for a while.<\/p>\n \u201cNow that I know the whole block is being done, I\u2019m grateful, because a lot of people don\u2019t care about their neighborhood, but she (Tonika) does,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI only met her briefly, but I can see the good she\u2019s doing. I love it. We always moved around a lot, never stayed put and we\u2019re choosing to stay here.\u201d<\/p>\n 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. \u201cEverything in the house is way behind \u2026 but if I could get it back up to par, I\u2019ll benefit,\u201d the 71-year-old said. \u201cThings have been getting better slowly but surely.\u201d<\/p>\n Keena Washington has been on Aberdeen for 16 years. With UnBlocked, she\u2019s looking forward to the flooring being replaced in the kitchen and bathroom in her two-flat. She doesn\u2019t think it would have gotten done had it not been for the program.<\/p>\n 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. \u201cThe first year was getting in there, doing any work we could possibly do with the contractors, with what we had in our resources,\u201d Bruni said. \u201cSecond year, we hit the ground fundraising, and now we can spend some of that.\u201d<\/p>\n She said she smiles when she\u2019s seen neighbors helping others because their load is lighter and they have more room to help someone else. She said a homeowner who\u2019s having her roof done felt ashamed at the state of her home. Getting assistance piecing her house back together left her in tears.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are collaborating with the residents to put beauty as well as reparative effort into this block,\u201d 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<\/a> \u2014 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\u2019s grandparents live in Englewood. <\/p>\n \u201cIt reminds me of people in my family,\u201d she said of her inspiration for the heads and faces she created. \u2018The inspiration is for people to see themselves in my work.\u201d<\/p>\n Illustrator, animator and graphic designer Bianca Pastel<\/a> was on site as well, with sketchbook in hand, drawing vibes and inspiration from the crowd that will inform a mural she\u2019s doing for the block \u2014 her first big solo mural. <\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really excited that I have this opportunity,\u201d she said. \u201cI want to build on my fantasy of knights and protection. I want more Black fantasy in these areas.\u201d<\/p>\n 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 \u2014 the most important being relationships across sectors, such as researchers, nonprofit organizations and municipal entities.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can\u2019t do anything like this without everybody talking with one another,\u201d Johnson said. It was when Johnson spoke with TJ Townsend, Walls\u2019 grandson, that UnBlocked gelled. He had been helping his grandad make improvements on his mother\u2019s home so that his elder could age in place. Johnson learned about his family\u2019s history with her \u201cInequity for Sale<\/a>\u201d project, which highlighted the harm racist discriminatory land sale contracts had on Chicago\u2019s Black community. Hendley was part of a 2018 study<\/a> that found between $3.2 and $4 billion of wealth was expropriated during the 1950s and 1960s.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople get up in age and were like: \u2018I just want to walk away\u2019 (from their homes),\u201d Townsend said. \u201cThat\u2019s one of the issues that we have in the city. The younger generation doesn\u2019t 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\u2019re staying, now they got the hope and desire back to hang in a little longer.\u201d<\/p>\n Brad White, senior program director at the Driehaus Foundation, a partner with the bungalow association, says he\u2019s never seen a community-based project like UnBlocked. \u201cThat\u2019s another reason this is so valuable, because people can start to believe that they can do this too. And this can show them how \u2026 it\u2019s going to take a little while, engagement, and everybody come together, but it is possible to get done.\u201d<\/p>\n Hendley agrees.\u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s important for us to do is make sure we do right by this block and not just one or two things here and there,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been in and out of these homes, assessing and reassessing, asking people what they wanted, but also saying, \u2018Oh, this definitely needs love, because you can\u2019t transfer this to the next generation in this condition.\u2019 At the end of the work, appraisals will happen again to see the value added to people\u2019s homes after the repairs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about making sure home ownership is a win, that it does transfer wealth,\u201d Hendley said. \u201cThis 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\u2019re taking care of them, with an eye toward the future, because these homes are an asset.\u201d<\/p>\n drockett@chicagotribune.com<\/a><\/p>\n Originally Published: July 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM CDT<\/p>\n![\"Janell](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-unblocked-englewood008_230871894.jpg\")
Janell Nelson carries balloons past a new 6500 S. Aberdeen block club sign during the UnBlocked Englewood block party on June 28, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-unblocked-englewood003_230871360.jpg\")
A woman gazes at sculptural planters created by artist Kenya Moffett-Garner, placed in a beautified vacant lot at the UnBlocked Englewood block party in the 6500 block of South Aberdeen Street on June 28, 2025. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n![\"Alisha](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/CTC-L-unblocked-englewood001_230871168.jpg\")
Alisha Black, at center in back, hands out glass bottles filled with scented colorful beads to residents attending the UnBlocked Englewood block party in the 6500 block of South Aberdeen Street on June 28, 2025. Black uses the beads for chromotherapy and aromatherapy for adults and children. (Chris Sweda\/Chicago Tribune)<\/p>\n