Chicago Politics

Jigzibik Groundbreaking 7.11.25

Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the Jigzibik Groundbreaking.

Transcript

2:55 Can folks hear me? Ah, there we go. Sound. Good morning, all. If I can just make sure that any of the program speakers are up here on our, I'll call it a dais. We're going to get started here in just a moment. Thank you very much.

6:02 Good morning, all. My name is Joshua Wilmoth, and I am the president and CEO of Full Circle Communities. Welcome today to this historic event. Thank you for joining us to celebrate the start of construction for Jigzy Beak, Chicago's first-ever affordable housing designed for and targeted to our indigenous population of Chicago. To get us started today, I would like to ask our esteemed and our easterly neighbor from St. Kateri Center at St. Benedict's

6:38 to offer a prayer, which will then be followed by Oklahoma dance and drum, singing a welcome song. Jody Roy is the director of the St. Kateri Center of Chicago. She is Ojibwa from Atika McShang Anishnabek, a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. I'd just like to say welcome, everybody, in this historical moment in our community.

7:10 So with that, we say, Gizemnado, pour down your blessings upon this new dwelling place. May it all who enter and make it their home may find peace and comfort. Bless especially the children who will live and play here. May it be a place of safety and love. Be close to those who will make this place their home. creator of all life be their shelter when they are at home their companion when they are away

7:41 and their welcome guests when they return peace upon this building and upon who all will live here aho miigwetch

10:59 Thank you again to Jody and to Oklahoma Drum. That was amazing. We'll be hearing from several speakers today, including our partners at Visionary Ventures, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, Mayor Brandon Johnson, Alderwoman Rosanna Rodriguez-Sanchez, and Department of Housing Commissioner Lizette Castaneda. When Full Circle Communities was formed, we chose our name intentionally.

11:31 Our business was buying and developing apartment communities. We also recognized that the people in our buildings formed their own communities and were a part of the greater community. And we saw the very real need for a community of partners working alongside us to bring these developments to fruition. And so thank you to all of you for being a part of our community. This development has significant meaning for all of us and for everyone who has worked on it.

12:06 It is also incredibly personal for me and for a great many others here today and who have come before. I vividly remember when I first learned about Manifest Destiny, the concept that European white Americans were chosen by God to settle the entire North American continent. I felt extraordinary anger and guilt at this concept, Made all the more visceral because that summer I was also adopted into the Hopi tribe in Arizona.

12:37 I was given the name Hunan Hoya, or Little Badger, because I was stubborn, inquisitive, calming, and cared for the earth. So when Shelley and Pam of Visionary Ventures approached us about a partnership to develop housing for urban indigenous populations, my heart soared. The summers I spent on Third Mesa and up at Monkipi, learning about Hopi culture, traditions, and spirituality are all embedded in my view of politics, justice, humanity, and purpose,

13:09 and this development speaks to me and my team on so many levels. Now, more than eight years after we took our first steps together, we began a new journey. More, we move fractionally away from this old concept of manifest destiny In fact, we manifest a new beginning For some of the most vulnerable and least seen among us A new opportunity for self-determination And a space from which new destinies can be told

13:43 I am honored to welcome you all here at River's Edge to celebrate the next chapter in Jigzibeek, Chicago's first housing targeted towards urban indigenous populations. Thank you. At this point, I would like to welcome our partners, Visionary Ventures, to come up. This is Shelley Tucciarelli and Pam Silas. Thank you.

14:18 I'm going to try to hold my emotions in check. I shared my traditional name with you, and I send my greetings. This is a dream come true. And for those of you who know me, you know that I've been working on housing for over 30 years. This is a dream come true. And I'm so grateful to see this project happening within my lifetime.

14:53 I've lived in this community just off of Addison and Whipple for 40 years. I bought that two-flat when I was just 25 years old and raised my babies in this neighborhood. So it's especially meaningful to be breaking ground here. Housing has been one of the main issues that brought our Native community together, especially during the relocation years. Many of our families that came to Chicago through the 50s and up into the 70s,

15:29 they ended up in some of the worst tenements Chicago had to offer. And many of those families ended up on Chicago's north side, including Uptown. Many Native organizations came out of that time, stepping up to serve the needs of the Native community. And Jigsy Beak comes out of that legacy. It's not the first time we've organized ourselves to address housing. There was many leaders that came before us, like Mike Chosa in the Indian Village in Wrigley Field in the 1970s,

16:06 where promises were made and not kept. There was the townhomes that housed some of our former leaders. I think they lovingly called it the Pentagon because it was shaped like an octagon. Many of those have either journeyed or retired. There was Louis and Margaret Delgado, husband and wife, who founded the first credit union and promoted home ownership at American Indian Economic Development Association, ADA. And there was the William Red Cloud Co-op, developed by ADA.

16:39 Yvonne Murray, someone who taught us so much about working for housing. It was a cooperative of six families who purchased a six-unit building, living there for over 15 years. And then we partnered with many other communities in Uptown for international homes. You might remember townhomes in partnership with some of those groups. And two of our families, the Two Rivers and the Turners, resided for many years. That's where I had my first dive into housing personally, at Ada.

17:12 It was my first nonprofit job, and I was the Housing Resource Center coordinator. Later, I went on to run the Chicago Metropolitan Tenants Organization and worked fiercely on the rights of tenants in Chicago. It was around that. Then I actually took a job later in my career in D.C. to run the National American Indian Housing Council. And it was around that time that I met Shelly. After coming back from D.C., Shelly, myself, and John Dahl, who had served as housing board member for his Ho-Chunk tribe,

17:50 we combined, the three of us had years of housing experience and thought that we could do something special for our Chicago community. And I just want to highlight that history because our origin story goes way back, way before those of us that are gathered here today. Many Native leaders led the way to today, and we honor them and celebrate this dream, and vision is the path that they inspired and exemplified for us. Wawani Katana and Maikako. Thank you, I say, for everything.

18:26 Thank you so much, Pam. Pam is our chairwoman of Visionary Adventures, and she's been doing a phenomenal job. Chicoli, hello, everyone. Thank you so much for this great turnout, for this land blessing today. We are so honored to have all of you here today. I'm Shelley Tizzarelli, and I'm a proud tribal member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin. I also serve as executive director for Visionary Ventures.

18:57 My part of this story begins after a 20-year career with Illinois Housing Development Authority. I always wanted to apply my knowledge of affordable housing for a project for our community, knowing how underserved and at times how invisible our community was. Not anymore, especially in accessing affordable housing. Jigsaw Beak is really a result of dreams and sustained efforts over the past six years.

19:31 From finding what housing needs we needed in our community, we did surveys, and we also had town hall community meetings to find out what our priorities were. And a lot of those priorities were intergenerational housing, family housing, making sure that it was culturally relevant for our families. and on the north side so that we were close to our native organizations, the American Indian Center, the American Indian Health Services of Chicago, and St. Kateri Center just east here on Irving Park.

20:04 As Pam mentioned, the three of us, John Dahl, who was a housing commissioner for years at Ho-Chunk, Pam, with her numerous years working in housing and my affordable housing experience, put together visionary ventures. Unfortunately, John Dahl is not with us any longer, but he will remain in our hearts and thoughts as this project moves forward. We also worked with a lot of the HUD Native American Fair Housing workshops,

20:34 and we've been talking about this project for six years, and a lot of people just never really believed that we would get to this day. um we act we had to find a seasoned development partner and we found that in full circle communities they share the same values and the same mission as visionary ventures also i commend uh i actually personally knew i was worked with full circle for you on their board for years and saw firsthand the wonderful housing developments that they were building

21:04 and also their commitment to provide social services for their residents and, again, building community within community. Next thing I want to do is commend the city of Chicago's Department of Housing. They researched all the developments that they had completed over the last 25 years and made a commitment to reach out and meet the needs of those communities

21:37 that have not yet been served. I can still remember the call from Sandy Soto. And I was so excited, Sandy, to get that call and made that appointment, and we made that meeting to start talking about affordable housing for the urban Native community. We are so excited. Next obstacle, of course, was finding a site. Anybody that does any work in the city knows it's hard to find a site for any housing or anything really so we finally i have a little story to tell about this we finally

22:11 found a site and it was up on kedzy we actually put an offer in this is the first time we actually had an offer on a site so i had left the american indian center and i drove past the site i got out of my car i took a picture of the site and i'm looking at it and i'm like i wasn't feeling it i have to be honest i wasn't feeling it so i um took some pictures i said guess what we're gonna make this work because we finally got an offer on a site so then um I was heading downtown so I came to Irving Park took a left saw this vacant lot and all I all I could hear is pull over pull

22:43 over so I pulled at the the I pulled over at the curb here I got out took a picture of the sign and called I called right away and said hey do you think the owners would be interested in affordable housing on this site and he's like yeah I think so so a lot and then so I sent the information to Mary. And lo and behold, a week later, the offer on the site was rescinded on Kedzie. So what I like to say is we didn't find this site. This site found us. So we're very excited to be here. Next thing we needed to do was put that team together. And we were working

23:22 with Canopy and Jaime and all of his team. Wave, everyone. The first time I met Jaime, I said, Jaime, you know, I'm going to be expecting an award-winning project. He looked at me, he's like, no pressure, Shelly. So that's a running joke between him and mine. And then the rest of the team, of course, Skender and Applegate, they've done amazing work in the city. And so we've just put the dream team together.

23:53 We also put together a Native American Community Advisory Council that really was instrumental in putting input into the planning and design. So if there are any of the community members, wave. All right, thank you guys. We really appreciate all your help. And so it's very important that they put their information in to make this site that is culturally relevant place for our community. I also want to express my gratitude to the Pottawatomie leadership, tribal leadership,

24:28 especially the language leaders who, through their own consultation, provided an appropriate name for our building. which means at the river's edge we wanted to highlight this rich history of this place in this project's close proximity to the river water is life for our community you will see if you don't get a chance go over to see the 3D rendering and you'll see how the river flows through the front of the design

25:00 we want to express thanks to Carla Collins if you're here, wave I know Kareem Casper could not join us but we really expressed thanks to her also and in closing I want to thank Mayor Johnson for his red tape initiatives it was those initiatives that made this project go to the finish line it was stalled for a long time but his initiatives

25:31 got this thing moving and then also I want to thank Housing Commissioner Lizette and her wonderful team, Tamara Collins and Anna Booth, they got us to the closing table, and that's not a small feat, believe me. I now just want to thank everyone again for attending, and I'll turn it back over to Josh so he can introduce our honored guests. Thank you, everyone.

26:06 Before we go to the speakers, we just weren't feeling the idea of shovels in the ground to break ground on this beautiful place right here so we decided we would do it with an indigenous method and prepare the ground like we would traditionally if communities were gathering I'm going to share we're going to ask the Oklahoma drum to sing a song a grass dance song and Neguess White is going to dance for us

26:41 Neguess is Ojibwe and Navajo and he's going to share his dance with us the dance originates among the Plains tribes it's believed that many of the movements for this dance come from the stomping down of the prairie grass to prepare the community for the gatherings we thought it would be a beautiful way to prepare the site in this manner getting it ready for the families that will be calling the place home it's a more culturally appropriate way to break ground And if you can imagine when you see Guest dance, the grass blowing in the wind as you watch grass dancers,

27:13 the long fringe made of yarn or ribbons or ripples, it ripples just like long grasses move in the waves as the wind kicks across the plains. Being a grass dancer is an outstanding honor, and dancers must make sure that the jingles of their bells follow the beat of the drum. So with that, we invite Guest.

29:56 Thank you. Thank you. At this point, I would like to start inviting up some of our luminary speakers. Starting today will be our Alderwoman, a fierce champion for affordable housing, a fierce champion for this development, and an incredible partner. Thank you for everything that you're doing for the 33rd Ward. Alderwoman Rodriguez Sanchez is a mother and resident of Albany Park. Prior to taking office in 2019, she worked as a youth educator and was involved in community groups as an activist and organizer.

30:32 Her priorities as Alderwoman include protecting neighborhood affordability, supporting the 33rd Ward's immigrant population, young people, and diverse communities, investing in our neighborhood schools, organizing our neighbors to care for and protect each other, and creating more democratic processes so that Ward residents are involved in the decisions that impact our lives. Originally from Puerto Rico, the alderwoman has been a lifelong advocate for public education, labor rights, and the well-being of youth and families.

31:04 Her career as an educator includes eight years as a director and mentor in a nationally acclaimed youth theater company in Albany Park, where she guided high school students to fulfill their artistic and academic potential. She is the first Latinx alderman to represent the 33rd Ward. She was appointed as chair of the City Council's Committee on Health and Human Relations in 2023, is a member of the Committees on Budget and Government Operations, Committees and Rules, Education and Development, Environmental Protection and Energy, Finance, Housing and Real Estate,

31:38 and Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Alderwoman. Good morning, everyone. I am Rosana Rodriguez-Sanchez, Alderwoman of the 33rd Ward, and I am so happy to be here today. I'm going to stand on my tippy toes a little bit. It is with immense pride and deep gratitude that I stand before you today

32:08 as we break ground on the Dixie Big Affordable Housing Building here on Irving Park Road. This is a powerful and long-awaited moment, one that speaks to who we are as a community and what we believe in. In the 33rd Ward, we know that housing should not be a privilege. It is a human right. We believe that everyone deserves a roof over their heads, a safe space to call home, and the dignity that comes with stability.

32:39 That belief has been at the heart of our work from day one. And today we take a major step forward into this fight against displacement and to build a city where working families can stay and thrive. The Dixie Big Project holds a special place in our hearts, not just because of the affordable housing units it will create, but because of who it centers. This building honors and uplifts our Native American community, a community to whom we owe a profound debt, a painful one that has never been repaid.

33:21 This project begins to answer that call for justice by creating a place where Native residents can live, build, and be supported right here in our community. I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Department of Housing, the Department of Planning and Development for working alongside us to make this vision a reality. I particularly want to thank my office and I want to thank our neighbors because my office is in charge of...

33:56 approving the zoning for this land and in order to do that we know that we have to organize we organized our neighbors we knocked on doors to make sure that people had the right information about this project so that the misinformation that some people wanted to put out wouldn't take over the narrative and that was a really really important part of the zoning process that people were informed, and they could support this project from an informed standpoint.

34:26 I want to thank Full Circle and Visionary Ventures for their vision and dedication to this project, to my staff, especially my chief of staff, Veronica Tirado, Rebecca Rios, and Joe Engelman, who is no longer with us in our office, but did a huge amount of work to make this happen as my former director of zoning and development. I also want to thank Mayor Johnson for his leadership and unwavering support for this project and for the broader cost of housing justice across our city. Thank you, Mayor.

34:56 I also want to take a second to thank my sister, Congresswoman Delia Ramirez, because she's always there to support at every step of every process that I go through. Most of all, I want to thank our community, the people of the 33rd Ward, for standing behind affordable housing, for organizing, for speaking up, and for never letting go of the idea that our neighborhoods should be for all of us. To see this land right here being transformed into homes for our neighbors fills me with immense gratitude and hope.

35:31 Let this just be the beginning of many more projects rooted in justice, inclusion, and care for one another. Thank you all. Let's build this together. Thank you, Alderwoman. Next, I'd like to invite Mayor Brandon Johnson to come speak.

36:06 Mayor Johnson began his career as a public school teacher, first at Jenner Academy in Cabrini-Green, where my daughter goes to school, and then at Westinghouse College Prep on the West Side, where he experienced firsthand how school closures, unemployment, and gun violence impacted his students and their communities. He went on to become an organizer with the Chicago Teachers Union, where he led multiracial coalitions to defend neighborhood schools from privatization, reduce high-stakes standardized testing, and expand access to state funding. Mayor Johnson was elected Cook County Commissioner of the 1st District in 2018.

36:40 During his five years on the Cook County Board, he led efforts to pass the Just Housing Ordinance, which prohibited housing discrimination against formerly incarcerated people, legislation to secure legal representation for immigrants facing deportion and coordinated COVID-19 resources for low-income seniors in nursing homes. In 2018, Mayor Johnson was elected commissioner, which I've just read. In the civil uprisings of summer 2020, he organized the Cook County Board to commit to the budget for black lives,

37:16 bringing new investments in health care, public transportation, Internet access and affordable housing. Mayor Johnson and his wife, Stacy, live in the Austin community, where they are raising their children, Owen, Ethan, and Brayden. Mayor Johnson. Thank you so much. Good morning, everyone. It's truly an honor to be here today. Thank you to all of our leaders that are represented today. I do want to give a special thanks, though, to Alderwoman Rodriguez-Sanchez for her unwavering commitment to justice.

37:51 I'm really honored to join you all today for this historic, groundbreaking. You know, I do want to lift up a name that doesn't always get the proper attention, and particularly Kirihawa of the Potawatomi, one of the mothers of this land. And so today I know our ancestors are proud that we are fulfilling and living out the dreams and hopes and expectations of a very resilient people. I'm grateful, though, that we also have a strong commissioner of housing,

38:22 Constaneda, Full Circle Communities, CEO Josh. Thank you, Womouth, for your leadership, and Shelly and Jasmine, Gurnow. Thank you all for being here, and, of course, David Spencer. I always believe, and it's a very simple belief, that affordable, accessible housing, it's a human right, and it's a fundamental, basic human right. That's why my administration has been working tirelessly to remove the barriers to build more sustainable and affordable homes across this beloved city.

38:58 Jig Zabik, thank you. Yeah, I've learned a lot since I've been mayor, so I'll just add that one. This project is incredibly important because it offers high-quality, affordable housing for our Native and Indigenous people. Chicago is home to the third largest urban Native community in the country, representing over 150 tribes. When this project is complete, though, it's going to feature 45 units, but here's the part that I'm really excited about. All of those units will be affordable.

39:35 It will include great amenities, community spaces, fitness, business centers, and a commercial development aspect of it. But most importantly, this development reflects the indigenous culture while also addressing the urban Native community's unique needs with access to community resources, including the American Indian Center and Sane Kateri Center and the American Indian Health Center of Chicago. Recently, we launched an initiative.

40:06 It's called Build Better Together. It's a comprehensive citywide economic development strategy that is focused on quality, affordable housing for everyone. But it's also focused on business and innovation and job growth and neighborhood investments to create more vibrant communities. Today's groundbreaking not only adds a new and exciting dynamic development to this corridor, but it's also a great example of how we can build together and uplift, revitalize, and empower community at the same time. It is through these efforts of the Build Better Together initiative that I look forward to having more groundbreakings

40:42 and ribbon cuttings and the dedication of land. So again, today I want us to celebrate, celebrate the hopes and aspirations of those who came before us, but even more importantly, that we also celebrate the hopes and aspirations of posterity. So here's to affordability, sustainability, and to culture. And of course, to every single corner of the world, of the city, here's to the celebration of affordable housing in the greatest free can city in the world, the city of Chicago.

41:18 And with that, I will bring to the stage, well, is there a gift for me too? Okay, because when I saw Rosanna get a gift, I just, so thank you. You know how important it is that the mayor of Chicago receives gifts on behalf of the city. So on behalf of the housing department, it brings me great privilege to bring to the stage our housing commissioner, Lissette Constaneda.

41:55 Good morning. Thank you, Mayor Johnson, for that introduction. Good morning, everyone. I am honored to stand with you today as we break ground on what will be Chicago's first urban Native American affordable housing development. This project is the result of years of dedicated collaboration, and I want to take a moment to recognize the teamwork that brought us here. From start to finish, every partner worked tirelessly to keep us on track and get us to this point.

42:31 So today, as we witness this historic moment, I want to sincerely thank everyone at Visionary Ventures, Full Circle Communities, and the teams at the Departments of Housing, Planning and Development, Law, and the Mayor's Office. Once completed, Jigzebik will be a newly constructed, elevator-equipped building with 10 studios, 15 one-bedrooms, 10 two-bedrooms, and 10 three-bedrooms. Three units will be set aside as permanent supportive housing through the coordinated entry system, offering a safe and stable home for neighbors transitioning out of homelessness.

43:12 Each unit will be fully affordable and include in-unit washers and dryers, dishwashers, and luxury vinyl tile flooring. Residents will also enjoy shared amenities like a bicycle room, 16 parking spaces, and green communal spaces to gather and build community. This is what dignified housing looks like. Housing is not just my profession, it is my passion.

43:42 I care deeply about ensuring that every Chicagoan can find and stay in housing that is not only safe and healthy, but allows them to thrive. That is exactly what this development represents. Again, it will be the first affordable housing development created specifically in Chicago for the urban Native American community. To support this project, the Department of Housing contributed over $6 million from our Housing and Economic Development Bond,

44:16 $950,000 in permanent supportive housing funds, $465,000 in donation tax credits, and close to $2.5 million in 9% low-income housing tax credits. We are committed to this project. Financing is only one part of the equation. Equally important is how we honor the community that will call this place home. At the river's edge in Pottawatomie, as we know, this is a tribute to the building's proximity to the Chicago River

44:50 and the Native community that this development will serve. The design draws inspiration from Native traditions, using the river as a guiding metaphor. It's east-facing serrated facades nods to the morning sun, another intentional and meaningful detail. It is important to remember that the land we stand on today was and continues to be home to Native American communities. The names Chicago and Illinois themselves are derived from the Native languages. This project is a conscious effort to acknowledge that history and to ensure Indigenous people have access to dignified, culturally rooted housing.

45:30 At the Department of Housing, we are acutely aware of the cost burdens facing residents across the city. A household is considered cost burden when it spends more than 30% of its income on housing costs. Nationally, nearly 49% of Native Americans fall into this category. Families living on tribal lands are almost five times more likely to live in substandard housing compared to the general population. Our belief is simple. Housing is a human right. And every affordable unit we build brings us closer to making that belief a reality.

46:03 I am incredibly proud to be part of this journey with all of you and to help ensure that this community is treated with respect and recognition that it deserves. Once again, I want to thank everyone for their hard work, dedication, and vision. This steadfast collaboration and ensuing development are the perfect example of what we can accomplish when we build better together. Thank you.

46:44 Thank you, Commissioner. And now it gives me great pleasure to introduce a tireless champion for Chicago, for affordable housing, for immigration rights, for the most vulnerable among us. I have had the great pleasure of meeting with Congresswoman Daley Ramirez to discuss housing, to plan for Illinois Housing Council events, promoting housing throughout the state of Illinois. I know my team and I have met with her countless times to talk about the work that we are trying to do, the work that many of us are trying to do to increase access to affordable and supportive housing, to food and to medicine and to other essentials for all of Chicagoans.

47:35 Delia, it is a great pleasure to have you here today. I'm so glad you were able to make it. Thank you to whoever canceled that allow you to fit into our schedule. Please join me in welcoming Congressman Delia Ramirez. Good morning. Buenos dias. We canceled the flight to D.C., a 24-hour flight, because I wanted to be here with all of you.

48:06 It is so good to be with all of you today. It is so good to be at a groundbreaking of such a special project. As I sat there with the mayor and the other person just talking about I don't know. How important housing is, how long it takes to build affordable housing. For those of you who have worked with Ida, and for so many of us who have been in the fight for affordable housing, we know that at times we've seen projects take 7 to 10 years to come to fruition.

48:36 But to be here at a groundbreaking, and I anxiously leaned over to the elder person, and I said, so how long from groundbreaking to ribbon cutting? Because I can't wait to be here for the ribbon cutting. And she said, if it all works well, within the next year we will be here at a ribbon cutting of 45 units of affordable, beautiful housing for our Native American community here. The first project that we see here in Chicago. So, look, I am heading back to D.C. in just a few days.

49:12 A place that attempts in this moment to attack our diversity. to attack equity to somehow weaponize the idea of inclusion and it is so good for my spirit to be with all of you today it is so good for my spirit to be able to participate in a dance of inclusion of community of culture and so on behalf of the congress of the united states those of us who in diversity those of us that celebrate equity those of us that know that this country is only

49:47 great because of its inclusion i want to give this letter to chicago to visionary ventures and full circle communities and i want to read it first i want to say felicitaciones congratulations on the groundbreaking of jigsaw beak apartments as the congresswoman of illinois third congressional district, I am honored to celebrate the development of the first urban Native American-inspired affordable housing project in Chicago, bringing 45 units of 100% affordable housing to the

50:21 Irving Park neighborhood, 100%. The Jigsaw Beak Apartments serve as a model for how we can address the crisis of displacement with culture-affirming, accessible, affordable housing. Visionary ventures and full-circle communities, spirit of collaboration on the project is evident in everything from its Potawatomi name referencing the Chicago Riverfront to the availability of ground-level space for Native Americans serving nonprofits.

50:52 Through the project, you're not just addressing affordable housing crisis, you are ensuring that we recognize and that we celebrate the contributions of the Native American community in the city of Chicago for generations to come. And as a former executive director of a housing nonprofit, it is a great appreciation that I commend your efforts and contributions to our community. I want to also thank the city of Chicago because I heard the commissioner talk about what I call lasagna of financing,

51:24 when you've got to get a layer and layer and layer to make it possible. But despite of the work, despite of the challenges, despite of all of the details, this older person right here, my sister and friend, the commissioner, all of you full circle, and Visionary Ventures and the community said, listen, it might seem challenging that there is no challenge great enough when we have a commitment to affordable housing and we have a commitment to our Native American community.

51:55 So gracias, congratulations. Let's get to that ribbon cutting. And when I go back to D.C., I'll continue to fight to ensure that we preserve the affordable housing funding we need so we can get more projects like this throughout the city of Chicago. Let's get it done. Felicitaciones. Congratulations. And I would like to present this official letter to you here in Chicago Ventures.

52:39 All right. Thank you so much for those inspiring words. We couldn't have done it without. Each of you. So now I'm going to introduce a couple of our community leaders. First, we're going to start with the chairwoman of the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative, Jasmine Grinot. Jasmine's an enrolled member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin and a descendant of the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin. Born and raised in Chicago, just a few blocks away from here, Jasmine has served in various roles

53:10 towards improving the education experience within the Chicago Native community, and she currently serves as the Director for Native American and Indigenous Affairs at Northwestern University. Jasmine earned a Bachelor's of Arts in Sociology from DePaul University, a Master's of Arts in Learning from Northwestern, and she currently serves as the Board President for the Chicago American Indian Community Collaborative, CAKE, we call it. She previously served two terms as a community representative

53:41 for the Citywide American Indian Education Council for Chicago Public Schools and was the 2015 Fellow with Cultivate, Women of Color Leadership Program. And she also happens to be my daughter. I'm proud as heck of her. Woo! Jasmine. Poso ma'onaweak, poso meep. Good morning, everyone. Good morning. As Pam mentioned, my mom,

54:14 So I'm very proud to serve as the board president for CAKE, as we call it. And CAKE's mission is dedicated to furthering diverse causes towards the greater well-being of American Indians, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and First Nations people in the Chicago area by convening organizational leaders and community for dialogue, advocacy, and planning. with the goal of empowering CAKE to better address the issues and needs

54:47 of the American Indian community. For indigenous communities, housing is an important part of our traditional ways and is inextricably linked to land. Since before the U.S. was formed, in order to build a place that was in healthy balance, our tribal sorry in order to build and provide housing for our tribal communities leaders would have to find a place that was in healthy balance because of our relationship to land

55:21 we would need to ensure that the land and waters of the area were adequate and ready to support us and our community if an area was in recovery we wouldn't settle there as the land was not prepared to care for us and needed time to heal. We would need lots of hands and gifts or skills from folks to help build homes for all of the families in the community, including our most vulnerable. We would need people who knew how to build and went to harvest materials, how to

55:59 harvest. We would need folks that were skilled in weaving, etc. Everyone had a role to play and a gift to contribute to the health of the community. Everyone here witnessing this momentum occasion has a role to play in supporting the health of our communities. After many eras of federal policy leading to the Relocation Act in the 1950s, a new surge of Native American

56:29 community members emerged here in Chicago. Folks from different tribal communities from all over Turtle Island with different traditional practices, languages, and norms, all living in Chicago. And so organizations such as the American Indian Center were formed in order to provide fellowship for new and returning people but also for community building for mutual aid and supporting resilient communities in more recent history gentrification of the city

57:05 has forced many native families out of the neighborhood and the city even dispersed even further yet many of the organizations that provide institutional support still remain in this area For us to get to this point today, this ceremony, this beautiful ceremony this morning, it took a lot of leadership, of resource sharing and harvesting different contributions from folks with different skills and gifts to build and continue to build towards healthy communities.

57:42 This is not a groundbreaking ceremony, so much as it is a ground reclaiming, reconnecting, building on the efforts of our ancestors and predecessors, the leaders of Visionary Ventures, Full Circle, Cake, are all advocating and working to fulfill the responsibility, that responsibility to provide homes for people who have had a connection to these lands since time immemorial,

58:15 who have been relocated here due to federal policies and who have been priced out of neighborhoods. We hope to see people return. We will see people return to this area near the water, the river's edge, near our green spaces with our more than human relatives, near our neighbors and community organizations who are excited to welcome many of our families back home.

58:45 Thank you. And next I'd like to introduce David Spencer, who is the co-director for the American Indian Center. Dave is Mississippi Choctaw and Diné. He has dedicated decades to expanding the Native representation in Chicago's art world and beyond. As co-curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian

59:18 and assistant curator at Aurora University's Shingoth Center, He helped develop groundbreaking exhibitions, presenting Native identity through first voice perspectives. And at the American Indian Center, he led the creation of Chicago's first 100% Native first voice gallery. It's a space giving Native artists control over how their work and stories are presented. Dave also has significantly expanded Native representation through exhibitions at major museums.

59:48 and through his leadership, he has provided a vital platform for Native artists, activism, and youth programming. Dave was just recently recognized this year as a leader for a new Chicago awardee. So we welcome Dave to say a few words. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for being here. On this special occasion, everybody kind of said everything I wanted to say.

1:00:22 Sorry, crumpled up my speech, but anyway. I'll be brief. Yeah, being part of the American Indian Center, I was running around the building since I was a kid. After spending 50 years in Ravenswood, we moved to Albany Park eight years ago, our new home, and very, very comfortable and very friendly neighbors, and we're very happy to be part of Albany Park and the diversity that exists. But this is a very important project. Jigzebeek? Jigzebeek?

1:00:55 Jigzebeek, okay. But I, too, mayor, am struggling. But this is a long time coming, and just for Shelly and Pam to bring up those who have been involved for a very, very long time, I just wanted to echo those names, John Dahl, Yvonne Murray Ramos, significant contributors to community and housing, affordable housing. um so in this idea of art and what that means to native folks um we're born spiritual we're

1:01:29 born artists and in that process over the decades and centuries you know all this misrepresentation that happened i felt um i needed to be a part of that process and and you know gain spaces and projects that offer proper representation and in this effort of housing uh it's not simply uh that it's affordable, but it's also needed and deserved for our community. So congratulations on this major, major vital effort, and on

1:02:01 behalf of American Indian Center, we look forward to collaborating and partnering with this project and future endeavors that involve affordable housing. Thank you. Thank you all. We are going to have a land blessing and an honor song. As we do that, We will be doing that over by the fire in that direction. I would ask the folks who have spoken to stay here for brief photographs, and then we can all move over for the next portion of our event.

1:02:36 Thank you.

1:06:25 the Sema in our left hand is because it's closest to our heart. So you reach in, grab a little bit, offer your prayers, and circulate around. In this way, you honor us by offering your blessings. And together, this is what we're talking about, we're stronger together. So we'll go in and we can start. Show us how to do it. I've got my Sema. I'm going to walk

1:07:06 Thank you. Thank you.

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