ABOUT US
Our Mission
The Hollywood-North Park Community Association promotes a safe, well-maintained, and inclusive community. The organization assists grassroots programs and initiatives which support local business districts, education, arts, music and culture, as well as environmental sustainability throughout the Hollywood-North Park community which is bordered by the North Shore Channel on the east, the Chicago River's North Branch on the south, Pulaski Road on the west and the south side of Peterson Avenue on the north.
History
The Hollywood-North Park Civic Association, forerunner of today's Hollywood-North Park Community Association, was created in 1951 by neighbors who sued to shut down a troublesome business on Metropolitan Sanitary District land near Peterson and Jersey Avenues. After winning the suit, the Association successfully campaigned to have the land transferred to the Chicago Park District, which converted it to green space, now known as Legion Park. Those determined residents created a legacy that the Association carries forward today: assessing neighbors' concerns and seeking consensus, strategizing and acting together to develop solutions, enjoying the natural and cultural bounty of our community.
ANDREW JOHNSON
Chair
PABLO DAVID
Vice Chair
LESLIE COMBS
Financial Manager
LISA DAUBNEY
Secretary
COLIN O'BRIEN
Media Manager
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
HNPCA milestones include:
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lobbying and receiving the city's first Residential Only Permit Parking on streets near Northeastern Illinois University (We are home to "Zone 1.");
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saving the former Municipal Tuberculosis Sanitarium ground from commercial development and remaking it for the community as North Park Village;
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convincing the Chicago Fire Department to keep its Peterson-Pulaski station open;
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advocating successfully for the Albany Park Library (and its 2014 renovation);
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advocating successfully for Northside College Preparatory High School;
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supporting the launch of the Hate Has No Home Here campaign (2016);
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supporting the founding of the North Park Community Market (2017) and re-launching the Market in 2021; and
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leading civic associations from across the 39th Ward in hosting local candidate forums in 2019, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
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hosting the Bryn Mawr Block Party in 2023 --- the first street festival in our neighborhood in 10 years! --- and doing it again in 2024.
In 2017, members of the HNPCA chose to reinvent the organization. Members of the community met to reconsider the role and mission of a civic association and write new bylaws. A new Board was elected to support the new mission.