Seniors in Bronzeville will soon have a permanent home to kick up their heels and socialize with their set, thanks to an $820,000 grant from the Neighborhood Capital Fund, which supports real estate development in underinvested Chicago communities.
The Silver Fox Cafe, an endeavor conceived by the seniors in the South Side community, will be a mixed-use space where, during the day, folks can eat breakfast and lunch in the on-site restaurant, and seniors can partake in exercise classes, art therapy and other enrichment activities in the rear of the building.
In the evening, the site at 4242 S. Cottage Grove Ave. will serve as a live music venue for blues, according to Shannon Bennett, executive director of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), a grassroots group for which the Rev. Jesse Jackson, served as its first executive director.
“This concept came from the dreams of our seniors to have a place that they felt welcome in,” Bennett said. “What has happened historically around gentrifying neighborhoods is people in the indigenous community don’t always feel welcome in a lot of the businesses that come. But the Silver Fox Cafe, they helped design it.”
KOCO’s project is one of nine receiving grants totaling $7.86 million from the pooled philanthropic fund.
Blue Azul Center in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood was awarded $1 million to develop a neighborhood center focused on mental, educational and physical health; Chicago South Side Birth Center in South Chicago received $500,000 to develop the South Side’s first birthing center, offering maternity and reproductive health services; The Firehouse in Back of the Yards received $290,000 to complete renovations of a former firehouse being converted into a space for community programming; Inner-City Muslim Action Network Health Center in Chicago Lawn was awarded $1.5 million to expand its health care facility; the Imani Village Empowerment Zone in Pullman received $1.5 million to support the development of a health care center for community services at 95th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue; MAAFA Center for Arts & Activism in West Garfield was given $750,000 for an outdoor pavilion; Urban Market Exchange in Woodlawn garnered $700,000 for a maker and artist workspace; and Yollocalli Fire Station in Little Village received $800,000 to enable the National Museum of Mexican Art’s Yollocalli youth development program to expand youth art offerings.
“Neighborhood Capital Fund is a streamlined version of what We Rise Together was, where we’re focused on the capital grants,” said Christen Wiggins, senior director of community development at The Chicago Community Trust.
We Rise Together was an economic recovery accelerator aiding Black and Latinx communities hit hardest by the pandemic that invested nearly $50 million in strengthening underinvested neighborhoods from 2021 to 2025, including grants to 40 real estate projects.
Established in 2025, the Neighborhood Capital Fund will grant approximately $20 million through 2027. The fund builds on the impact and lessons learned from We Rise Together, Wiggins said.
“With We Rise, we were experimenting with: What if these projects don’t have to go to 12 different potential funders for grants? What happens if you go to one place, get supported and get moving?” she said. “Silver Fox Cafe had their capital stacked, started construction, they were moving. And then something random comes up and have to pause. Then prices start to escalate. We were able to come and say: ‘You are almost there. Let’s get moving.’ These are normal things that happen during construction … with inflationary pressures and tariffs. It’s really hard for project leaders to hit their numbers because there’s so many unknowns.”
The projects will bring amenities, services and economic development to South and West Side communities, strengthening the region for all. Data gathered during the We Rise Together initiative revealed that communities with two or more completed projects (within a half mile of one another) experienced four times more economic activity compared with similar communities in the region. Wiggins calls that the secret sauce.
“The Silver Fox Cafe, they’re just down the street from the Bronzeville Winery, down the street from Cleo’s,” she said. “If you can add that second or third project, that’s where we’re really hopeful for the exponential impact.”
Since 2023, KOCO has hosted a dozen Silver Fox pop-up events each month, with hundreds attending. Bennett sees the Silver Fox Cafe as a destination for residents and tourists, where everyone can learn about blues music.
“There’s no South Side hang-out spaces that are paying homage to the music that grew out of these neighborhoods. We’re only about four blocks away from Muddy Waters’ home. His home is now being changed into a blues museum. So you have the Blues Museum, us, Norman’s Bistro — Cottage Grove is vibrant. Cottage is booming,” Bennett said.
Neighborhood Capital Fund expects to issue another open call for projects in late summer or fall 2026, with funding to be awarded in spring 2027.
Lead donors to the Neighborhood Capital Fund include the Chicago Community Trust, Schreiber Philanthropy, the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, Target Foundation, the Joseph Pedott Legacy Fund, JPMorgan Chase, Development Now for Chicago and Knight Impact Partners.
