GEC and E.G. Woode Highlighted by JP Morgan Chase for Creating Opportunities in Englewood

A Small Business in the Business of Growing Business

JPMorgan Chase is supporting entrepreneurship opportunities in Chicago’s South and West side neighborhoods and nearby Back of the Yards.

May 1, 2023

In the 1950s, Englewood’s commercial retail corridor along 63rd Street generated upward of $150 million a year (the equivalent of $1.35 billion today). Anchored by a department store that employed more than 400 Chicagoans, Englewood’s retail center was second only to State Street, the popular corridor in the city’s downtown area.

Just as in Auburn Gresham, Englewood’s businesses were shuttered as the demographics of the community changed. Property values plummeted, and the population fell from 90,000 in the 1930s to just below 24,000 today. Now Black people comprise 92 percent of Englewood, yet only 20 percent of them are business owners. Residents regularly seek resources and amenities in other parts of Chicago.

Since property is the most common form of collateral put up against a business loan in the United States, the low homeownership in Englewood perpetuates the lack of local businesses. In this neighborhood, 76 percent of housing units are rented and only two percent of Chicago businesses are Black-owned.

Read more here: https://www.jpmorganchase.com/newsroom/stories/EOCF