The story of Chicago’s Austin community is often told through statistics — homicide totals, crime maps, poverty rates and headlines that portray entire neighborhoods as places of violence and despair.
Those challenges are real. But there is another Austin.
It is represented by neighbors who know one another, vacant lots transformed into community gardens, young people connected to mentors and residents willing to spend their weekends creating opportunities for others. It is this Austin that the Rev. Dollie Sherman has spent decades building one block at a time.
For nearly 50 years, Sherman has called Chicago’s West Side home. What began with summer cookouts, school supply drives and informal efforts to bring neighbors together in the 600 block of Lorel Avenue grew into the Vessels Unto Honor block club, a grassroots organization dedicated to beautification, youth engagement and resident support for more than a decade.
“The block club has helped turn our block into a community,” Sherman said. “We’re not just waiting for somebody else to come along; we’re building it ourselves.”
Sherman’s leadership reflects a growing trend across Chicago: residents and neighborhood organizations stepping up to address challenges government hasn’t solved.
That commitment was on display this past Memorial Day weekend, when dozens of residents gathered on the 600 block of Lorel for the Center for Poverty Solutions’ inaugural community job fair.
Nearly a dozen employers conducted interviews, collected résumés and connected residents with pathways to employment, providing opportunities many may not otherwise have encountered.
Today, Sherman said, the block has developed a reputation for safety, cleanliness and community involvement — proof that block club leadership can change not only physical spaces but also neighborhood culture.
The impact of the career fair was immediate: More than a dozen attendees received job offers that day, with 50 more securing interviews for full-time positions.
More importantly, the event reinforced a message too often absent from conversations about poverty and public safety: People flourish when they are given meaningful opportunities to contribute, provide for themselves and build a future.
That is why vocation matters.
“If we get our youth busy with something, I think it helps us avoid a lot of crime and vandalism,” Sherman said. “It also helps those youth.”
Work is about more than a paycheck. Meaningful employment provides stability, purpose and dignity. More than 97% of Chicagoans who are employed full time live above the poverty line, as do 80% of those who work part time. For those not working, it drops to 68%.
Employment allows parents to support their families, young people to envision a future for themselves and communities to strengthen the social bonds that make neighborhoods safer and more prosperous.
Sherman has spent years helping young people facing homelessness, unstable housing and limited job opportunities find a path forward through work.
“A lot of these youth are homeless. They’re staying with a friend, sleeping on their couch,” Sherman said. “But they’ll come here, and they’ll go back with something in their pocket after work. They can feel good about themselves.”
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No single job fair can solve decades of poverty or eliminate violence, but every resident connected to a career opportunity represents a step toward greater self-sufficiency. Every young person who chooses a pathway to employment over the streets represents a victory, significantly reducing their chances of turning to crime. Every leader like Sherman who invests in neighbors strengthens the foundation for safer communities.
Sherman understood this lesson long before the Center for Poverty Solutions arrived on Lorel Avenue. It’s one policymakers, philanthropists and community leaders should remember:
Reducing poverty and improving public safety are not separate missions. They are deeply connected. When communities create pathways to work, self-sufficiency and human flourishing, they do more than improve economic outcomes — they restore hope.
Hope, block by block, remains one of the most powerful forces for transforming a neighborhood.
Eddie Kornegay, Ph.D., is executive director of the Center for Poverty Solutions, an initiative launched by the Illinois Policy Institute.
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