MISSION

ESDC envisions Pilsen as a vibrant center of commercial and industrial activity, offering safe modern housing, a diversity of employment and a successful business strip. ESDC works to promote Pilsen as a tourist destination highlighting its Mexican products and heritage. Through collaborations, ESDC fosters the advancement of an industrial haven in the interest of a skilled local workforce and concentration of manufacturing and back-office firms.  ESDC also supports a model for development while respecting the diverse social and economic backgrounds of area residents. ESDC designs its programs to encourage entrepreneurship and investment in Pilsen. This strategy of promoting targeted economic growth will ensure sustainable neighborhood prosperity and long-term, self-propelled growth.

SINCE 1976, Eighteenth Street Development Corporation (ESDC) has served the Pilsen community on the Lower West Side of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois. A largely Latino neighborhood, Pilsen is bounded by 16th Street to the north, Western Avenue to the west and the South Branch of the Chicago River to the south and east.

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