KOCO’s $820,000 Grant Means New Growth on South Side
A $820,000 grant awarded on March 12, 2026, will spark fresh development on the South Side, headlined by a bustling senior café and community spaces that will become new anchors in the Bronzeville and Grand Boulevard communities.
The grant will support two projects of the Kenwood-Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), a Thinkinc. client for most of the past 30 years. The grant comes from the Neighborhood Capital Fund. That is a pooled philanthropic fund that supports real estate developments in underinvested neighborhoods, which are predominantly on Cook County’s South and West sides.
“Support from the Neighborhood Capital Fund will make these much-needed projects a reality for our neighborhood, especially the Silver Fox Café,” said Shannon Bennett, executive director of KOCO. “Our seniors in the many nearby senior buildings told us they’d love to have a place where they can go during the day to meet friends and enjoy life, so we’ve sought their input in designing the Silver Fox.”
Thinkinc. is a partner in KOCO’s growth, working with their leadership for decades on strategic planning and building public power through strategic communications. We are ecstatic to be a part of their amazing efforts in developing leaders, creating institutions and establishing itself as a national model.
Bennett said 20 senior buildings are within a 5-mile radius of the café’s planned location at 4242 S. Cottage Grove Ave. The gathering spot would be an alternative to current restaurants that cater to a younger clientele. The North Kenwood and Oakland neighborhoods are home to a large and growing population of low-income African American seniors, largely on fixed incomes from Social Security or disability payments. Over 12,000 people age 50 and up live in the area.
Since 2023, KOCO has hosted a dozen Silver Fox Pop-Up events, where seniors tasted dishes, tapped their feet to music acts booked through Chicago Blues Revival and did chair exercises and engaged in arts and crafts, led by wellness experts at Mather. Visitors have filled out hundreds of surveys, and KOCO has conducted many phone surveys and face-to-face meetings to learn what the community wants. That feedback will help shape the Silver Fox’s food and entertainment lineup. To prepare to own and operate the Silver Fox, KOCO is receiving training from dining establishments including Demera Ethiopian restaurant.
The café also will boost the local economy by providing neighborhood jobs and a place where local youth can learn how to run their own restaurant or other business.
