NEIGHBORSCAPES NFP

Neighborscapes began as the successor to a program called Urban Solutions, that was co-founded by Jay Readey (Our founder and board president) and David Lewicki (a director of our board). Urban Solutions was a program that created jobs for youth, working as independent landscape and neighborhood housing contractors, eventually being bolstered by the AmeriCorps National Service program, and a contract to clean vacant lots. In its early days, Neighborscapes was doing much of the same work. Through the landscaping program and snow removal initiatives, youth could clean up their communities while also gaining valuable skills, experiences, and support.

In 2015, we recruited our first Community Building Fellows (CBFs), one of which was our current Executive Director, Omari Moore - who had also been a New Sector Alliance AmeriCorps member working during 2014-15 on the development of Innovation Houses. Our first House (5719 S Ada) was owned by Damon D. Perry, a NeighborScapes Board member who helped us actualize this program before we were able to purchase the house ourselves in 2019. Over the years, Omari’s leadership has allowed us to expand our programming and reach. We now have 5 innovations houses (2 more in the construction phase) across Englewood and now Harvey. Alongside our Innovation House program, we have successfully ran an arm of the SHIFT workforce development program and have recently added an AmeriCorps service program that is based in Harvey.