Our Story

For more than 30 years, The Resurrection Project (TRP) has been committed to its mission of creating community ownership, building community wealth, and serving as stewards of community assets in Chicago’s southwest neighborhoods.

In 1990, Chicago’s Pilsen neighborhood was blighted by neglect and violence. A small group of frustrated residents band together with the goal of restoring peace, safety, and prosperity to their community. Six local parishes contributed a total of $30,000 in seed money, and soon The Resurrection Project was established.

A small grassroots organization at the time, TRP’s first initiatives revolved around organizing other residents and transforming them into inspired leaders who advocated for clean and peaceful streets, safe and affordable housing, and quality education and community resources. With the purchase of our first property in 1991, we were able to expand our work and employ three interdependent strategies—property management, real estate development, and financial services and education—to begin helping local residents build financial security and wealth.

The organization achieved a milestone success in 1999, when TRP was named the lead agency for Pilsen in LISC Chicago’s New Communities Program, a national comprehensive community development model advocated by the Local Initiatives Support Corporation. As lead agency for Pilsen, TRP convened over a dozen neighborhood organizations and agencies to form the Pilsen Planning Committee, whose Quality of Life Plan for Pilsen laid out a five-year revitalization plan for the community.

Today, our aspirations are broader, our impact farther-reaching. Since the early 2000s, our real estate development efforts have reached new levels of capacity: with projects like Casa Puebla, a $14.8 million development that created 74 units of affordable housing, Casa Maravilla, a $20 million development that created 72 units of affordable senior housing, and Casa Durango a 52-unit multi-family affordable housing development have drastically transformed the neighborhoods in which they are located. Through targeted investments in our communities, abandoned buildings and lots are now home to hundreds of residents, providing them with affordable housing in a safe and inclusive environment.

Our history is intrinsically connected to the power of community. In 1990, six parishes donated $30,000
to drive transformative change in the Pilsen neighborhood. In the three decades since, TRP has generated more than $800 million in community reinvestment in Pilsen and throughout Chicago’s southwest side.

TRP has evolved into a statewide Social Impact Organization (SIO.) We work to improve the lives of individuals and families by creating wealth, building assets, and engaging residents to be catalysts for change. Rooted in Chicago’s Mexican immigrant community, TRP’s impact now extends across the City of Chicago and through the State of Illinois; we are making steady progress towards leveraging, developing, and preserving more than $1 billion in community wealth by 2025, our
35th year anniversary.