Austin Coming Together gives community updates on Quality of Life Plan as year one of five-year timeframe ends
On December 14th, 2019, Austin residents filled the Kehrein Center for the Arts for the Austin Community Summit, an event in which community members were able to get updated on what accomplishments have been made since the Austin Quality of Life Plan was first released around the same time of year back in 2018. With goals planned to develop over the course of five years related to Austin’s community narrative, education, housing, youth empowerment, civic engagement, economic development and public safety, Austin community stakeholders and task force leads were able to make several strides in 2019, bringing Austin closer to their goal of an improved quality of life.
Each task force provided updates on what their group worked on during the last year, accomplishments that were made and steps they’re hoping to take in the future, such as the community narrative task force presenting that the Austin Garden Collective was able to organize volunteer days in summer 2019 with nearly 200 people. During the community summit, Austin Coming Together also revealed its new logo and received the Burnham Award for Excellence In Planning by representatives from the Metropolitan Planning Council.
One of the most notable changes coming to Austin over the next four years of the Quality of Life Plan’s timeframe is the redevelopment of the former Emmett School, at Madison and Central, which was closed by former Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel back in 2013. The space, which was acquired by the Westside Health Authority in 2018, will become a site for worker training and business incubation/development. There are also plans for a bank and 150-space parking lot on the site.
More information on the Austin Quality of Life Plan can be found on the Austin Coming Together site.