ECC's Golden Anniversary
Lighting the Way
in Edgewater for over 50 Years

ECC Celebrating over Five Decades of Service to Edgewater

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
In celebration of the Edgewater Community Council’s 50th Anniversary we have developed a self-directed Lighthouse Crawl directing you to the 20 beautiful and fanciful Lighthouses of Edgewater, which adorn neighborhood streets this summer, as part of the 2010 celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Edgewater Community
Council (ECC).
ECC’s 50th Anniversary
Committee chose the lighthouse to symbolize the organization’s role in “lighting the way for 50 years” on many important community issues.

The Tour guide is available to download here!

The lighthouses you will see on the Crawl were created and built by MICHAEL VOLINI and DAVID VOLINI with the guidance of neighborhood professional carpenters, GLEN JOHNSON and MATT STERN, and the assistance of KATHY KACEN. Each has been individually decorated by its sponsor, some with the aid of local artists.

Follow the map to view each of the Lighthouses, including two 10-foot tall models sponsored by Gethsemane Gardens (located at points K and L
on the map). A detailed list of locations and sponsors may be found on the back of the map

Please drop in and say “hello” to the business sponsors of all the lighthouses and remember to patronize them and thank them for supporting
our community.



 
 

  
  © 2011 Edgewater Community Council