About Us

The Lakeview Roscoe Village Chamber of Commerce is a community of entrepreneurs working together and supporting each other to create a stronger neighborhood and business environment, through advocacy, promotion, networking and education.

Originally founded in 1951 as the Lincoln Belmont Ashland Business Association, our organization is a leader in supporting businesses with valuable resources, programming and services that advance the success of our business community. We leverage private funding, government resources and programs, and support from more than 400 members to help our local business community thrive.

The Chamber serves as the sole service provider of Special Service Area (SSA) 27, a local taxing district in Lakeview that supports additional programs and services to supplement city services, including neighborhood promotion and public space enhancements. The Chamber also partners with the 501(c)(3) non-profit organization Friends of Lakeview on community events and capital improvement projects that advance common goals.

Vision

We envision Lakeview and Roscoe Village as Chicago's most sought after neighborhoods.

Mission

Our mission is to support a resilient local economy and high quality of life for the benefit of businesses and residents in Chicago’s Lakeview and Roscoe Village communities through neighborhood promotion, business development, advocacy, and public space enhancements. We are a partnership between the Chamber, SSA 27 and Friends of Lakeview, and we support each other to advance our common mission.

Values

Community First

We believe that our purpose is to support and promote our communities, not our organization. This should lead in everything we do. We make decisions based on the best interest of our greater communities, not for the benefit of any one individual or business.

Innovation

We believe that innovating is an important way to inspire people and to set our communities apart, while ensuring that we are adapting for the future in a rapidly-changing environment. We are forward-thinking optimists who believe there’s power in positive thinking and are not afraid to take risks. We focus more on promoting what we want for our communities than opposing what we don’t want.

Inclusivity

We believe diversity is important for the success and resilience of our communities. We strive to be communities that welcome people from diverse backgrounds.

Strategic Planning

Lakeview Area Master Plan

Unveiled in 2011, the Lakeview Area Master Plan (LAMP) re-envisions areas of historic Lincoln Avenue, the Southport Corridor, and Belmont Avenue. Using professional expertise, community involvement and outreach, and economic analysis, LAMP sought to define the Lakeview neighborhood, investigate growing new business, retain existing tenants, identify opportunities for growth, create a cohesive streetscape, and improve the quality of life for Lakeview residents.

Strategic Blueprint

This Strategic Blueprint is a tool created in 2018 to guide the work of the Lakeview Chamber of Commerce, Special Service Area 27 (SSA 27), and Friends of Lakeview, developed jointly by their board members based on research, community surveys, and interviews with stakeholders. It is intended to help point our collective efforts in a direction that will most effectively move the needle toward realizing our shared vision for our community. It will provide a framework for developing annual work plans and for measuring our success, while also serving as a tool to communicate how we approach our work to people both internally and externally.

Click here to download our Strategic Blueprint.

Program Areas

Neighborhood Promotion

We market our neighborhoods as a desirable destination for consumers and investors, host memorable community events that connect consumers to our retail districts, and also assist individual businesses with promoting themselves.

Business Development

We provide regular networking and education events as well as one-on-one technical assistance in order to strengthen our businesses, while also recruiting new businesses to our communities.

Advocacy

We serve as the voice of local businesses and protect our commercial interests by representing small business needs on important policy and development issues that impact our area.

Public Space Activation

We maintain clean, green and welcoming sidewalks and develop new spaces that invite people to linger and connect with their communities.

Service Area

We serve the area bounded by the Chicago River on the west and Racine Ave. on the east. West of Ravenswood Ave., our service area extends from Diversey Pkwy. on the south to Addison St. on the north. East of Ravenswood Ave., our service area extends from Diversey Pkwy. on the south to Irving Park Rd. on the north.