Governor JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) joined the Puerto Rican Cultural Center and local leaders in Humboldt Park to celebrate ‘Puerto Rico Town’ as an official State-Designated Cultural District. Through the State-Designated Cultural Districts Program, ten recipients were designated for 2023 and 2024, with additional recipients to be named in 2025.
At the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture on Monday, Gov. JB Pritzker and other government officials announced the creation of 10 “cultural districts” in Chicago, Champaign and Springfield.
These cultural districts include ethnic enclaves in Chicago and historically Black neighborhoods in Champaign and Springfield.
The program, outlined in a 2021 state law that passed with bipartisan support, allows the state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity to provide technical assistance and grants to neighborhoods that have been historically impacted by gentrification, displacement and economic disinvestment.
Puerto Rican Cultural Center Executive Director Jose Lopez – who Pritzker described as the “godfather” of Puerto Rico town – said in addition to spurring economic growth, the designations send a political message.
“Our very humanity is prefaced on the incredible differences that we have here, that we have in this room, in this city, in this state and in the United States,” Lopez said Monday “This designation is a counter narrative to the politics of hate and division.”
Five more districts will be designated in 2025, with a focus on downstate and rural communities, according to the governor’s office. Districts will be eligible to apply for $3 million in funding once the final districts are selected.
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