NICI Grant Supports Energy Efficiency in TREND Community Development Corporation’s Commercial Corridors
TREND Community Development Corporation (TREND CDC) formed in 2019 to complement The Chicago TREND Corporation’s mission of elevating Black entrepreneurship, helping close the racial wealth gap, and accelerating urban economic development. TREND CDC has developed an integrated set of services to strengthen urban commercial corridors and their surrounding neighborhoods — including Butterfield Plaza, a Chicago TREND Corporation-owned shopping center in Olympia Fields.
TREND CDC will utilize its first Northern Illinois Community Initiatives (NICI) $100,000 Impact Grant to fund solar panel assessment and installation at Butterfield Plaza. The plaza will also serve as a project for the organization to explore the best-in-class green technology and infrastructure, with the goal of sharing their process and outcomes with community developers interested in investing in green opportunities in disinvested neighborhoods. NICI is excited to be a partner in this strategy that approaches both climate change and racial equity.
“Our partnership with NICI is exciting because it empowers TREND CDC to advance climate resiliency at Butterfield Plaza. By conducting a solar demonstration project at this location, we will develop the capacity to implement solar projects across our portfolio of shopping centers co-owned by over 380 community investors. This work will set a national example for what inclusively owned green community shopping centers look like.”
— Emma Gonzalez Roberts, Chief Operating Officer