Imagine neighborhoods that feel safe and vibrant—streets lined with flower planters, murals, and community gardens. Imagine these welcoming spaces just steps away from thriving business districts that celebrate diversity and foster community pride.
For too many Chicagoans on the South Side, decades of disinvestment have created barriers to opportunity. But SECC works every day to change that—ensuring beauty, economic growth, and community vitality are not privileges, but shared realities.
Opportunity should never be defined by your ZIP code. This is where your support makes an immediate and lasting impact.
Your gift empowers SECC to deliver programs that strengthen neighborhoods from within cultivating pride, expanding opportunity, and improving quality of life across Chicago’s South Side.
Our Impact
- Quality of Life
Through comprehensive community development strategies, SECC works to “banish the gray” from abandoned and underutilized spaces. Since 1999, the Shirley J. Newsome Beautification Program has invested over $1.5 million in more than 200 community-driven projects, transforming vacant lots, viaducts, and public spaces into vibrant community assets. - Business District Programs
We support more than 600 local businesses each year—over 90% of them women- and minority-owned. Through coaching, planning assistance, and connections to over 100 business-serving organizations, SECC helps South Side entrepreneurs thrive. - Civic Leadership
Our Southside Connection Regional Economic Development Symposium and Woodlawn Community Summit each draw more than 300 attendees annually bringing together residents, business owners, elected officials, and community organizations for high-quality, accessible programming right here on the South Side.
Why leave the South Side to experience excellence? Simply put—you don’t.
Make Your Tax-Deductible Gift by December 31!
Your generosity ensures stronger, safer, and more vibrant South Side communities.
Give today HERE: https://www.givecentral.org/otp/45047
