ECC
Celebrating Five Decades of Service to
Edgewater in 2010
The year was 1960 and a dynamic, new community
organization was
born. The Edgewater Community Council (ECC) has been lighting the way
forward on important neighborhood issues for fifty years.
.Through ECC's leadership, such community icons as the Edgewater
Library, Broadway Armory Park, the Edgewater Historical Society, the
North Lakeside Cultural Center and Berger Park mansions, the Edgewater
Development Corporation, and the Edgewater Chamber of Commerce came into
existence. ECC pioneered the CAPS program with the Chicago Police
Department right here in Edgewater, worked to clean up crime, drug
activity, and slum buildings along Winthrop and Kenmore and other areas,
and preserved hundreds of units of affordable housing.
ECC's program to provide food and clothing to those in need, Care
for Real, has been serving Edgewater for more than 40 years. With
cooperation from religious institutions, businesses, individuals and
many volunteers, Care for Real serves over 3,000 people every month.
Today, ECC also offers senior citizen, immigrant, youth, housing,
and safety programs, many of which also serve low- to moderate-income
residents of Edgewater. In addition, our Edgewater Beautiful Committee
works to clean and beautify the neighborhood, while the Edgewater
Environmental Sustainability Project aims to make Edgewater the
"greenest" community in Chicago.
The 50th Anniversary
Committee plans to celebrate these landmark accomplishments with a
series of events throughout the anniversary year. It has chosen a
lighthouse as the symbol of ECC's steadfast commitment through five
decades to serve the people of Edgewater. The lighthouse reflects ECC's
50th Anniversary theme, "Lighting the Way for 50 Years." ECC's 50th
anniversary logo (shown above), blending together the theme, the
lighthouse symbol, and our iconic wave logo, was designed for ECC by
Edgewater artist Dorothy Mason.
We're looking for
volunteers to assist with these activities, so please contact the ECC
office at (773) 334-5609 or visit the 50th Anniversary page of ECC's
website for information on how you can get involved.
Reggie Griffin
ECC President
Co-Chair, ECC 50th Anniversary Committee
Marion Volini
Former 48th Ward Alderman and ECC President
Co-Chair, ECC 50th Anniversary Committee