As Chicago’s students head back to school, Related Midwest hosted a Back to School Community Block Party to help families at Northpoint Apartments have a successful school year. More than 250 residents attended the August 15 event, featuring helpful resources and fun activities to get kids and their parents in gear for the fall.
Neighborhood and citywide partners joined Related to connect Northpoint families to free services designed to ready them for the new school year, from dental screenings, cleanings and fillings provided by Mobile Care Chicago to free haircuts from Legacy Barber College. ICNA Relief was also onsite to administer COVID-19 vaccination and booster shots. Families picked up healthy after-school snacks courtesy of Swedish Covenant Hospital, where children could help make a smoothie by riding a stationary bike powering a blender. Bookwallah entertained kids with story time, where they could select a free book from the “Magic Crate” to take home. The entertainment didn’t end there: Kids also got to burn off some end-of-summer energy in the inflatable bounce house.
Kids weren’t the only ones invited to take part at the Northpoint Block Party: Related partner HIRE360 was onsite to recruit residents for their construction and culinary training apprenticeship programs, and C24/7 shared information about their workforce development programs. ONE Northside was on hand as well to share resources with residents, and Divvy provided ten bikes for residents to enjoy. The block party also provided Northpoint residents with a celebratory and relaxed environment to meet both each other and building staff for the first time in years.
The Northpoint Community Block Party represents the culmination of more than $21 million in renovations and upgrades to the property and individual apartments. Major installations included new roofs, new windows and window egress systems, and heater and air conditioning replacements, with a new security camera and access control system in the works. Northpoint’s apartment received new paint, flooring, kitchen cabinets; environmentally sound upgrades included new high-efficiency water heaters, water-saving showerheads and EnergyStar appliances. Additionally, Related Midwest is designating an additional 20 apartments as accessible, with relevant updates that will more than double the number of available accessible apartments at Northpoint.
Related wishes every student and their families a successful 2022-2023 school year!
