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Board approves $252,500 grant agreement with Oak Park River Forest Chamber for three community programs
Summary
Trustees approved a fiscal-year contract with the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce to fund youth engagement, a First Fridays pilot and a Black and Latin business support program; village and chamber will finalize logistics including staffing and site plans.
The Village Board of Oak Park approved a grant agreement with the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce to fund three new programs in fiscal year 2025: a youth engagement initiative, a First Fridays street-festival pilot and a Black and Latin business B2B support program.
Emily Egan, development services director, said the combined contract covers three proposals totaling $252,500 and that chamber staff would finalize site plans, budgets and deliverables in partnership with village staff. The chamber’s executive director, Darian Marion Burton, told trustees the organization had already begun preparatory work and would make a key hire — a partner-programs manager — to execute the new initiatives once the contract is signed.
Trustees asked for clarity on event logistics and public-safety staffing. Egan said cost estimates for private-security or additional staffing at First Fridays were preliminary and would be refined in the chamber’s required pre-event reports; the police department said staffing could be a constraint on certain dates that already carry public-safety commitments.
The board voted to approve the grant agreement in a roll call vote. The clerk recorded the following: Trustee Robinson — Yes; Trustee Enya — Yes; Trustee Buchanan — absent; Trustee Pericott — Yes; Trustee Straw — Yes; Trustee Wesley — Yes; President Skamman — Yes. The motion to approve the contract therefore passed by the recorded majority.
The agreement requires the chamber to report event metrics and participant feedback and to submit finalized site plans and staffing estimates to the village by the dates specified in the contract. Village staff said they would continue coordination with the chamber on site selection, street closures, public-safety staffing and final budgets.
The board did not appropriate additional village staffing in this vote; Egan said final cost-sharing and operational responsibilities would be resolved as part of the deliverables the chamber must submit before event execution.
