When the Springfield City Council voted July 1 to expand the way revenue can be spent from two tax-increment financing districts to improve homes and businesses on the economically challenged east side, a council member from the west side asked the proposal’s sponsors: “What are we trying to fix that’s broken?”
The main sponsor, Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory, responded that the goal was to “give greater access” to the money.
The measure – in the form of two ordinances with slight tweaks to Gregory’s original versions – passed, 9-1, with the west side council member, Ward 7 Ald. Brad Carlson, the only opponent.
A third ordinance passed unanimously that night to promote tourism on the east side with a “History Across the Tracks” initiative that potentially would be funded in the city fiscal year that begins in March 2026.
And less than three months earlier, the council unanimously supported an amendment to the city’s $250,000 annual funding agreement with the Springfield Sangamon County Growth Alliance to create a “minority business and community advancement working council.”
According to the agreement, which the nonprofit SSGA hasn’t accepted yet, the proposed new panel would “prioritize and promote inclusive economic growth and development in historically underserved areas of Springfield.”
All of these initiatives were spearheaded by the three Black alderpersons on the City Council. Gregory, Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams Jr. and Ward 5 Ald. Lakeisha Purchase formalized their alliance by creating the Springfield Aldermanic Black Caucus about a year ago.
Springfield gained its first Black council members after a 1987 federal court case resulted in the City Council changing from full-time commissioners elected citywide to 10 part-time alderpersons elected from specific wards.
The city never had as many as three Black alderpersons until Williams and Purchase, who were appointed by former Mayor Jim Langfelder to fill vacancies in 2021, joined Gregory, who was first elected in 2019.
The three alderpersons, who don’t always agree on every issue, said they don’t apologize for their aggressive style that sometimes upsets fellow council members and current Mayor Misty Buscher, who typically only votes to break ties on the council.
The stakes are too high, they said, and the three told Illinois Times they don’t want to risk their ideas being watered down or rejected before they become public.
“To get somewhere that we have never been, we have to do some things that we have never done,” said Gregory, 41, a state employee whose ward includes much of the east side and part of downtown.
Purchase, 36, a rental property owner and lobbyist whose ward includes much of downtown and older neighborhoods on the north side, said, “We continue to be the voice for our community, and it sends a clear message that diversity in leadership matters.”
Williams, 66, whose ward includes parts of the east, southeast and northeast sections of Springfield, said the caucus is modeled after the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus in the General Assembly.
Williams, a retired Army veteran and longtime community activist, said the Aldermanic Black Caucus, like its counterpart in the Capitol, will push harder for shared concerns in the city’s older neighborhoods and partner with other alderpersons whenever possible.
Caucus members said updated statistics compiled by Illinois Times on the economic disparities between Black and white people in the Springfield area add urgency to their ideas.
Related
Economic gaps persist for Blacks
The newspaper reported in May that the gap between median annual income for Black households ($33,112) and white households ($80,191) in the Springfield metro area was the second-largest in the country in 2023 for areas with 5,000 or more Black households.
Also in 2023, Sangamon and Menard counties combined posted the highest Black poverty rate in Illinois – 40.3% – and the fourth-highest Black poverty rate among more than 240 other metro areas in the United States with 10,000 or more Black residents.
The statistics showed not much has changed, and in some cases the situation has gotten worse in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, since the Governing magazine series in January 2019, “Segregated in the Heartland,” which examined economic disparities between Blacks and whites in several downstate Illinois communities.
The Black alderpersons said the city needs to do more to promote stable neighborhoods and opportunities for businesses, especially in impoverished sections of the east and north sides.
New grant opportunities in existing TIFs
Beginning in August and ending in December 2027, two new ordinances will make a potential $1.25 million in grants from the Far East and SHA/Madison Park TIFs available to property owners with no matching funds required for the first time.
And for homeowners requesting grants of up to $25,000 and businesses requesting up to $75,000, payments from the TIFs can now be sent directly to vendors doing the work. That means property owners won’t have to come up with money and then wait to be reimbursed by the city.
Carlson, of Ward 7 said he’s in favor of the two TIFs’ goals to generate economic activity through grants funded by property taxes paid by landowners in the TIF districts in excess of the base levels when the TIFs were first formed in the 1990s. But Carlson said he was concerned about “tying up” money in the TIF funds that could be used as incentives for larger projects. Other council members pointed out that the council could always vote to shuffle money out of the new grant programs if money were needed for a large project.
Carlson also said he liked city requirements for residents and business owners to share at least some of the cost of improvements. “I’d like a little more skin in the game” for property owners requesting TIF funds, he said at the July 1 council meeting.
Ward 6 Ald. Jennifer Notariano said she “detests” the “skin-in-the-game” philosophy.
Businesses and homeowners living in the TIF districts – classified as blighted areas under the state’s TIF law – already are showing their dedication to the neighborhoods by living or earning a living there and shouldn’t face more economic barriers to getting help, she said.
Williams said, “Skin in the game is fine, but some people don’t even have skin. They’re broke.” He later told IT, “The people are dirt poor and can’t afford a match.”
Ward 9 Ald. Jim Donelan said he saw the grant program as “more of a refocus and a marketing effort” to promote use of money in the TIFs.
Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley noted the Far East and Madison Park TIFs, which expire in 2030 and 2034, have several million dollars in unspent funds. She agreed with the grant programs to get more use out of a total of $1 million in property taxes annually that are flowing into city TIF accounts rather than going to other taxing bodies such as School District 186.
Amy Rasing, director of the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, said she believes the new grant programs will be popular among homeowners and businesses.
“We’re just hoping that it does give somebody the feeling that this is reachable,” she said.
Getting more out of the Growth Alliance
The City Council’s decision to change the city’s funding agreement with the Springfield Sangamon Growth Alliance, a public-private economic development partnership, took the organization by surprise. The SSGA’s board still hasn’t approved the amended plan or received the $250,000 allocation from the city, according to president and CEO Ryan McCrady.
McCrady said the SSGA wants to make sure the proposed funding agreement “represents the core competencies” of the organization.
SSGA operates with a $1.4 million annual budget and four staff members. Ed Curtis, recently retired president and chief executive officer of Memorial Health, serves as president of the SSGA’s 28-member board of directors. Other board members include Buscher and Sangamon County Board Chairperson Andy Van Meter, District 186 superintendent Jennifer Gill and Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce president Mike Murphy, along with the CEOs of many of the area’s largest companies.
Dominic Watson, president of The Springfield Project and Springfield Black Chamber of Commerce, and Marcus Johnson, president and CEO of the Springfield Urban League, are the only two people of color on the board. Gregory said at a recent City Council meeting that since the SGGA is receiving city funding, the board should be more representative of the community, a concern that has persisted since the organization was formed in 2018.
In addition to the $250,000 from the city and $500,000 from Sangamon County government, the SSGA’s annual budget is supported by contributions from 30 other businesses and nonprofits, McCrady said.
The city’s funding agreement, as amended, would require $50,000 of the city’s $250,000 contribution to fund the proposed “working council” to focus more attention to the east side and other struggling parts of Springfield.
“We always thought SSGA did a good job, and we were never against them,” Williams said. “The problem is their mission is so big, we’re always being left out.”
It hasn’t been determined who would serve on the working council, McCrady said. It’s unknown when the SSGA might approve the agreement and receive the city funds, he said, adding that discussions with city officials are ongoing.
Local officials have conducted several studies in the past decade or more about ways to uplift parts of the east side, and little action has resulted, Williams said. The Black Aldermanic Caucus’ successful push to amend the SSGA agreement represents a new level of activism to get results, Williams said.
“This is the first time we’ve been this wide open and public about it,” he said.
A list of demands, and some pushback
In response to the council vote, the SSGA on June 3 privately discussed some recommendations of its own to certain city officials.
Many of the SSGA’s written suggestions reflected common uses of economic development tools that have been adopted in similar-size communities, including Rockford, Peoria, Decatur, Bloomington and Champaign-Urbana. One suggestion was to have Springfield City Planner Sean Pritchard and Rasing “conduct a thorough review” of the previous studies on east side development, update the plans and seek adoption from the City Council.
The SSGA also suggested to several city officials that the city consider potential major improvements to public infrastructure on commercial corridors such as South Grand Avenue or Cook Street between 11th Street and Dirksen Parkway to attract private investment.
Other SSGA recommendations for the city included “whole-block development” in areas on the east side in which the city already owns most of the parcels and funding for businesses to acquire property as an incentive to locate operations in certain neighborhoods.
“The income disparities between white and Black residents in Springfield are significant and have grown since the pandemic,” SSGA wrote. “The disparities are larger in underserved areas of the community. There are many actions that need to be taken to address the disparities, and one of those is public investments in the impacted neighborhoods.”
Gregory said the Black Aldermanic Caucus appreciated the recommendations and issued a news release June 6 to publicize some specific initiatives that the caucus sees as next steps.
The caucus’s demands included the coordinated use of state money, a potential total of $6 million, designated for two “cultural districts” designated by the state in 2024, to reduce economic disparities.
“Springfield does not need more plans – we need execution tied to equity,” Gregory said in the news release. “This is about repairing a century of exclusion with a century of investment led by those most impacted.”
Gregory said that demand was designed to promote more communication and collaboration between the city and the two nonprofits coordinating development in cultural districts. The Urban League is in charge of the Central East Cultural District, and The Springfield Project is in charge of the Southtown Cultural District.
Representatives of the Urban League and Springfield Project didn’t return phone calls for this story.
The Black Aldermanic Caucus also listed the History Across the Tracks Initiative in its demands. The caucus hopes historic sites on the east side can be promoted along with other city tourism sites during 2026, the 100th anniversary of Route 66.
“Now we can advertise to a new market of people who never have visited Springfield,” Gregory said.
The historic sites, some of which are in various stages of disrepair, include:
*Firehouse No. 5, a building at 1310 E. Adams St. that was home to the only firehouse in Springfield where Black people were permitted to serve from 1901 to 1954.
*Lincoln Colored Home, 427 S. 12th St., which served as Sangamon County’s first orphanage for Black children from 1904 to 1933.
*The John Taylor Home, 902 S. 12th St., which served as the site of the Ambidexter Industrial and Normal Institute from 1901 to 1908. Modeled after Booker T. Washington’s Tuskegee Institute in Alabama, the Ambidexter Institute’s goal was to provide education and training in the skilled trades to Black children.
*Zion Missionary Baptist Church, 1601 E. Laurel St., the oldest Black church in Springfield. The church was established in 1838 and at one time was a haven for escaped slaves.
*The Dr. Edwin Lee E. Building, at Jackson and 13th streets, which was built in 1958 and was the first medical building in Springfield owned by Black physicians.
The Black Aldermanic Caucus in its news release also called for “the creation of a certified local workforce” through partnerships with local entities, along with a minority business enterprise program to “remove barriers for Black and brown-owned contractors.”
Ethan Posey, director of community relations in the Buscher administration, told the City Council in June that he is working to create a “minority business institute” that educates minority business owners on how to be selected for government contracts.
The Black Aldermanic Caucus also proposed creation of The Grand Food Truck Stop, a “rotating hub for local food entrepreneurs that will generate business income and sales-tax revenue reinvested into youth employment and facility upkeep.”
Buscher, whose administration ended up supporting History Across the Tracks after some tweaks, told Illinois Times that the caucus issued its demands without informing her.
“It wasn’t anything they really wanted to work with me on, or they would have sat down and had a meeting with me or talked to me about it in advance,” the mayor said.
Buscher said she would like to see “more communication” and “better understanding of how we’re going to work together. … Anything would be better than what we have.”
More discussion would ensure that city staff have the time, and there’s funding available, for the caucus’ initiatives, the mayor said.
Buscher added, “I don’t think that a food truck park is going to bring economic development to that area like we want.” The mayor said she patronizes food trucks. “I love them, but it’s just not a huge money-maker when it comes to property tax revenue for the area,” she said.
The mayor said she hopes the creation of a potential working council provides a better venue for discussing the Black Caucus’ ideas. The caucus’ news release, she said, represented “shooting from the hip vs. having a true plan.”
Members of the caucus said they are willing to talk more with the mayor and anyone else about the caucus’ ideas.
“These are some things that could move us to the next level,” Gregory said.
This article appears in Jul 10-16, 2025.
I’d be interested to hear from Alderman Gregory for his opinion on how personal choices factor into disparate outcomes.
For example, Alderman Gregory fathered three children with three different women, and all three women sued him for child support.
Alderman Gregory’s situation of three children with three mothers is not unique.
This article cites the median income of black households vs white households, but what it doesn’t mention is that 63% of black children are raised by a single mother while 24% of white children are raised by a single mother.
The median income for two parent households is $101,560 and the median income for single mother households is $32,586.
Alderman Gregory likes to blame an event which occurred 120 years ago, the Springfield race riot, as the reason for the state of the East side.
Isn’t it far more likely that the epidemic of single motherhood bears much greater responsibility for racial disparities in income?
Lets be clear bringing up a mans children to score political points is a cowards move. What youve written isnt policy critique. Its character assassination disguised as data.
Alderman Gregory has never hidden from his responsibilities as a father, a public servant, or a Black man leading in a city that still bears the scars of racial injustice. Trying to reduce decades of systemic disinvestment, segregation, redlining, consent decrees, and racially-targeted economic policies to one mans family life is not just intellectually lazy its morally bankrupt.
If you really cared about fatherhood, youd ask what this city has done to support it. Youd ask what investments have been made in jobs, housing, education, and re-entry programs for Black men and families not use national statistics as a veil for racial judgment. Black single motherhood is not a cause of poverty; it is a consequence of generations of policy choices that broke up Black families and stripped away opportunity.
You mention the 1908 Springfield Race Riot like its some distant footnote. But its legacy is alive in the citys segregated housing patterns, underfunded schools, over-policed neighborhoods, and economic redlines that still define who gets to build wealth and who doesnt.
If personal choices alone determined outcomes, we wouldnt still see massive racial disparities even when education levels, work hours, and marriage status are equal. But we do.
So if your goal is to distract from the hard truth about institutional racism by dragging a Black fathers name and family into the mud, dont expect silence in return.
Alderman Gregory is doing what far too few are brave enough to do: fighting for a future where Black families of every shape can thrive with dignity, opportunity, and justice.
WOW i got a kick out of the east side tourism plan. You could get on a bus and play drive by shooting. Charge people a fee for that.
Hi RacistBeware,
You wrote,
“So if your goal is to distract from the hard truth about institutional racism by dragging a Black fathers name and family into the mud, dont expect silence in return.”
I don’t expect silence. I expect a woke lunatic to call me racist and then blame problems in the black community on white people from 120 years ago. Thanks for not letting me down.
You wrote,
“Black single motherhood is not a cause of poverty”
Of course it is. Regardless of race, single motherhood is a very powerful predictor of poverty. And not just for the mother and her children, but also for the children when they become adults.
The economic disparity between black single mothers and white single mothers is not very wide. Single motherhood is a catastrophe for mothers and children of all races.
But the black community has a much higher rate of single motherhood than other races, and therefore, a higher rate of poverty. The asian community has the lowest rate of single motherhood and they have the lowest rate of poverty.
Poverty is a cycle, which is why areas such as the East side of Springfield spiral downwards. Children usually do what their parents do. Children of single mothers usually go on to become single parents themselves.
If Alderman Gregory wants to reverse the trend in his neighborhood, he shouldn’t be complaining that the city isn’t spending enough money on the East side. He should be preaching to his community to not make the same mistake that he made. He should be telling them to get married before they reproduce and to keep the family together after children have arrived.
Ditto Burger Addict – Marriage before Carriage.
The path to economic success and away from poverty is to do things in order:
– Get at least a high school education.
– Get a Full-time job.
– Get Married.
– Have kids and start a Family.
– Then STAY MARRIED.
If blaming single Black mothers is your big solution, maybe step away from your keyboard and try volunteering in these neighborhoods—unless your real goal is just controlling women’s lives and bodies instead of actually helping families.
Hi OliveOG,
You wrote,
“If blaming single Black mothers is your big solution, maybe step away from your keyboard and try volunteering in these neighborhoods—unless your real goal is just controlling women’s lives and bodies instead of actually helping families.”
I’m not blaming single mothers. Single mothers always try their best in an impossible situation.
I always enjoy this part of the conversation when the broken family apologists pretend they don’t know where babies come from. Last time I checked, both a man and woman are involved in the creation of a new person. So the man and woman share equal responsibility for engaging in the act which creates a child.
Since everyone knows where babies come from, the onus is on both the man and the woman to act responsibly BEFORE engaging in the reproductive act (now we’re back to personal CHOICES).
If anything, I’d place slightly more blame upon the man, because women inherently understand the consequences of fornication as they know that they are the ones who must carry the baby.
Please, let’s skip the part where you tell me I need to support abortion as a solution to fatherless homes, because that just adds an additional horrific layer on top of a difficult situation. Abortion makes the situation worse.
We can also skip the part where you tell me I should support massive increases in welfare and for the government to support and raise the children instead of the fathers.
I’m fine with single mothers receiving significant welfare – there’s really no other way to do it assuming the extended family doesn’t have money. It’s easy to see situations where the mother winds up single through no fault of her own. Maybe the man lied to her and said he wouldn’t leave. Maybe he was abusive.
The only real, long term solution to breaking the cycle of poverty is for both parties to act responsibly BEFORE creating children. BigErn already outlined the proper steps. Woke activists will never admit it.
This is for Burger Addict. It’s funny watching you type all that out to offer nothing but the same warmed over white supremacy arguments your types have offered for years.
Nothing of value, just copious typing to hide the fact that you’re a bottom out racist.
You expect to be called one? Of course you do. You’re out here water carrying for a pederast President who can’t even release a list they claimed existed, doesn’t exist, can’t find, oh wait, he’s the biggest name on the list.
You can prattle on like you didn’t crib your entire argument from Charlie Kirk or some other loathsome clown but we see it. You’re just regurgitating the same tired lies and distractions.
Next time, just type “I cant stand to see Black people smiling.” At least that’s more honest than acting like you care about families or anyone really.
Hi KlanStomper,
You wrote,
“Nothing of value, just copious typing to hide the fact that you’re a bottom out racist.”
Oh my gosh, you called me a racist! I never saw that coming. Now I must reevaluate everything.
In light of this amazing revelation, I’d like to recant everything I wrote. Deadbeat dads cranking out children and not raising any of them is not a problem at all and doesn’t explain economic and crime disparities! A much better explanation for 63% single mothers in the black community today is white people who lived 120 years ago.
You wrote,
“You’re out here water carrying for a pederast President who can’t even release a list they claimed existed, doesn’t exist, can’t find, oh wait, he’s the biggest name on the list.”
Since I’m more than 12 years old, I can remember back to when democrats couldn’t care less about Epstein and when the democrats tried every possible avenue to get rid of Trump, including the fake Steele dossier, but didn’t think to release the Epstein files. Hmmm, strange! It’s as if the democrats just make up fantasy stories whenever they find it to be convenient!
You wrote,
“You’re just regurgitating the same tired lies and distractions.”
That’s the thing about proper morality. The correct answers never change. In fact you can trace the answers back 3,000 years ago to a particular book.
You wrote,
“Next time, just type “I cant stand to see Black people smiling.” At least that’s more honest than acting like you care about families or anyone really.”
I like to see every type of person smile.
However, smiling appears to be a foreign act to the woke lunatics who speak at Springfield City Council; I’ve never actually seen them do that. I would probably like them more if they would smile once in a while. Do they know how to smile?