CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, May 31, 2018 — TRP recently unveiled a newly constructed walking path with exercise equipment outside Casa Maravilla, TRP’s affordable senior housing and service center. The amenity is open to TRP residents and community members and is part of our Pilsen resident engagement initiative.  This initiative engages low-income residents in multi-generational activities with a strong emphasis on making Pilsen an age-friendly community.

Last May, TRP hired a Resident Engagement Coordinator for its Casa Guerrero, Casa Morelos, and Casa Maravilla, affordable housing facilities and their intersecting campus. Since then, TRP has identified residents’ needs through holding open community meetings and conducting individual intake sessions. In this comprehensive outreach process, TRP is addressing residents’ concerns by connecting them to relevant services, mobilizing volunteer involvement, and empowering them to improve the built environment in Pilsen and the Casa Guerrero-Morelos-Maravilla campus.

In addition to connecting residents to resources, the walking path also meets a critical need in the Latino senior population at large by improving access to healthy lifestyle choices. Latinos are 50% more likely to die from diabetes or liver disease, are 24% more likely to have poorly controlled high blood pressure, and have 23% higher rates of obesity. Older adults often face particular problems such as living in isolation and neglect, depression, lack of physical activity and mobility challenges. The path seeks to engage Pilsen residents in activities with a strong emphasis on community engagement and providing residents with opportunities to be active and social.

Going forward, TRP hopes its Pilsen resident engagement initiative will result in increased resident satisfaction, increased access and utilization of public benefits, improved health and wellness, increased utilization of TRP’s services and programs, and improvements to the built environment of the Casa Guerrero-Morelos-Maravilla campus.

This initiative and the creation of the path would not have been possible without the generous support of Enterprise Community Partners.