Englewood Artist Tonika Johnson Raising $500,000 To Help More Black Families Fix Their Homes

The funding will go toward Johnson’s program, unBlocked Englewood, which aims to repair 25 homes at 65th and Aberdeen streets. Twelve homes have already been upgraded.

ENGLEWOOD — South Side social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson is fundraising to boost her effort to fix family homes in Englewood and uplift the legacy of Black homeowners. 

Johnson is raising $500,000 for unBlocked Englewood, which she created last year. The arts-driven community initiative addresses decades of inequities for Black homeowners by partnering with residents of Englewood’s 65th and Aberdeen Streets and providing crucial and costly repairs to help them keep up with home expenses and build equity.

Johnson partnered with the Chicago Bungalow Association and the Englewood Arts Collective to revitalize homes and beautify vacant lots on the block. 

Her nonprofit — the Folded Map Project — and the Chicago Bungalow Association received a $250,000 grant from the city’s Together We Heal Creative Place Program in 2022 to jumpstart the work. 

Over the past year, 12 of the 25 homes at 65th and Aberdeen have received rehabilitation. Longtime homeowners — most of them older people — received upgrades such as new roofs and updated electrical and plumbing systems.