Internship - The Forum

Who: The Forum

What: Built in 1897 at 43rd Street and the CTA Green Line, The Forum contains Forum Hall, Bronzeville’s oldest assembly hall on its second floor, as well as several grade-level retail spaces. Urban Juncture, Inc. saved The Forum from city-mandated demolition in 2011 and has spent the past several years removing debris from the building, stabilizing the structure, replacing damaged building elements, and researching and documenting the building’s rich history. As a result, The Forum has been entered on the National Register of Historic Places and has secured initial financial support from the African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.

Bringing Back The Forum is a part of Urban Juncture’s Build Bronzeville effort, whose goal is to utilize key community assets to revitalize Bronzeville for the primary benefit of long-time Bronzeville residents. The Build Bronzeville team intends to rehabilitate The Forum for use as a major, neighborhood-based center for cultural performance, events, retail, and hospitality.

The intern will help advance The Forum towards rehabilitation by

• Identifying a set of comparable revitalization cases;
• Cataloging best practices in the revitalization of neighborhood theaters;
• Establishing an inventory of Chicago-based arts organizations who could be strong partners in revitalization;
• Developing first-cut financial pro formas for redevelopment and operations;
• Quantifying the public benefits of investments in reestablishing a community hub of cultural performance and retail; and,
• Developing a pitch deck to be used with a broad range of potential neighborhood, public, philanthropic, and for-profit stakeholders;

The intern will also be invited to support other elements of the Build Bronzeville summer 2020 effort, including Boxville and the Bronzeville Incubator, depending on the evolution of our response to COVID-19.

The internship will commence in June 2020 and run for 10-14 weeks at approximately 30 hours per week. The intern will work with the team of neighborhood residents and stakeholders that have led work on The Forum and report to Bernard Loyd, the project leader of Build Bronzeville. They will share space at the Bronzeville Incubator at 51st Street and the Green Line and receive a modest stipend.

Applicants should submit a cover letter and resume to bloyd@urbanjuncture.com by April 15. Applicants with strong Excel, visualization, economic and real estate analysis skills, and a commitment to neighborhood revitalization will be given priority.