The Global Archives of the Ecumenical Institute and Institute of Cultural Affairs

Fifth City Pilot

CHICAGO

BACKGROUND

NAME ORIGIN: 5th City first took its name from 5th Avenue, the northern boundary of the community. Later, the name came to symbolically refer to any community that made a comparable decision to assume full responsibility for its own future.

GEOGRAPHY: Fifth City was the first Human Development Project developed by the Ecumenical Institute. It was located in a 16-block area on Chicago’s West Side, four miles directly west of the Loop.

CHALLENGES: In 1963, the community had high crime and unemployment, abandoned housing units, inadequate public services, deteriorating schools, few locally owned businesses and little access to healthy foods.

HIGHLIGHTS

PHOTOS of Fifth City Human Development Project

5th City 20 Year Anniversary (1983) narrated by Ophrah Winfrey

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

By 1980 5th City had celebrated the following accomplishments:

  • The locally owned and managed shopping center had completed its fifth year of operation serving as the business center of the community.
  • Investments of $470,000 have been secured for 5th City from the private sector in loans and contributions, and from the public sector in grants, loans and contracts.
  • A community operated housing service had increased rent collection by over 90% and trained its staff in housing maintenance.
  • 5th City was recognized throughout Chicago and the world and regularly called to host local, national, and international visitors, and to teach the methods of self-help to other rural and urban communities.
  • In 1976 the establishing of the Men’s Club and the Safe Streets Patrol signalled a new volunteer role of male leadership. 28 men voluntarily served on community corporation boards and events.

The 5th City Journey

1960s

1970s

2000 to the Present

5th City Revisited, a play by Meida McNeal wrote in 2019, tells the story of 5th City’s community development days in the 1960s and 70s and what has happened to it in years since, raising questions about where community residents want to go next. Meida, the daughter of Judy Gritzmacher and George McNeal, was born in 5th City and attended the 5th City preschool. She now directs her own art company, Honey Pot Performance, and works for the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs. Meida was interviewed by the Newberry Library regarding telling the 5th City story:  “Signs of Creative Resistance:  Chicago’s Fifth City Movement”. McNeal, Meida presents “Fifth City Revisited”2023 and here in 2019.

Denise Gathings, a Chicago police officer and daughter of Ruth Carter, the 40-year director of the 5th City Preschool, wrote and directed My Soul Cries Out: Stop! and here about gang violence. In May 2017 the play was held at the ICA GreenRise.

5th City Iron Man Plaza:  Placemaking in East Garfield Park, Chicago Department of Transportation, 2017

Jean Loomis tells the history of the Iron Man statue that she designed in 1968

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