• by Ray Schultz , December 26, 2023

Internet Webpages Newspaper, a Black-owned publication, is planning a community crowdfunding effort to finance a hub for low-income residents in Chicago. 

IWN.Haus is designed to uplift residents through creative participatory ownership.

Edmund Danté Hamilton, founder and CEO, was raised in a former Cleveland housing project called Garden Valley Estates. 

“I remember how spaces like the Garden Valley Neighborhood House Center exposed me to experiences outside my neighborhood that opened my eyes to possibility,” Hamilton says. “Now with IWN.Haus, we have a chance to write a new chapter where community reigns supreme.”

The project will feature a 5-story, 21,000 square foot complex within a South Side Opportunity Zone. The goal is to empower low-income and public housing residents to gain technology skills, launch ecommerce businesses, and amass community capital, 

In addition, community members will have access to an entrepreneurship incubator, journalist digital studios and an event venue.

The #ParcelToProsperity crowdfunding campaign seeks grassroots contributions as low as $10 to acquire a 10-15,000 vacant lot via 

Hamilton hopes that IWN.Haus will be "a shining proof point of what becomes possible when communities unite to challenge the status quo holding back generations from directing the resources they deserve."