Much of the 1970s in Austin offered a landscape defined by vibrant green spaces, well-resourced public schools and thriving local commercial corridors. For Austin-native, Darnell Shields, growing up on Chicago’s West Side meant witnessing a high quality of life before widespread disinvestment took hold in the decade that followed.
Experiencing that era of stability gave Shields a clear baseline for what a thriving neighborhood could look like — and a standard he felt determined to restore.
“From seeing higher times and a good foundation to now contending with the effects of all those changes … it shaped my will to approach making a difference in my community,” Shields said.
However, as corporate closures, white flight and industrial job losses affected the neighborhood in the mid-to-late 1980s, Shields began witnessing a gradual decline in the resources and opportunities available to residents.
Like many young people growing up in Austin, Shields was encouraged to pursue success with the expectation that it might eventually take him elsewhere. He spent years working toward the opportunity to leave, but when that opportunity finally came, he decided to stay. His family and the things that mattered most to him were in Austin, prompting him to consider what he could do to improve the community he called home.
Around 2010, while volunteering at a local childcare center connected to community leader Ruth Kimble, Shields became more involved in civic engagement. The experience introduced him to a broader network of community organizers and eventually led to his effort as a founder of Austin Coming Together (ACT), where he serves as executive director.
Rather than viewing professional success as an incentive to move away, Shields saw an opportunity to help create the resources and experiences he wanted younger generations to have in Austin.
“A lot of times you hear people say a young person just needs to work up to their potential,” Shields said, emphasizing that “lack of access — not lack of effort — often holds young people back.”
Shields credits much of his operational approach to his family’s entrepreneurial roots. His mother started a hair salon in their home’s basement, eventually growing it into a North Avenue storefront that Shields and his wife still own today.
Growing up around the business taught him the importance of taking risks, understanding customers’ needs and building relationships.
“Being entrepreneurial means you’re not afraid to take risks or step up to the challenge, because you have some optimism that if you work hard, you can bring about positive change,” Shields said.
He applies those same principles to neighborhood development, insisting that local voices direct how community resources are deployed.
Pointing to the city’s 2013 closure of Robert Emmet Elementary School at Madison Street and Central Avenue, Shields described how vacant buildings often linger as “visible reminders of disinvestment” when residents are excluded from decisions affecting their neighborhood.
Community members began advocating for a new purpose for the property, eventually helping create an opportunity for the Westside Health Authority, a community-based organization, to purchase it. That’s when ACT joined in as a partner on the massive reclamation project.
Through a community planning process, residents helped shape a vision for the building that reflected their needs, including workforce training, banking, legal services and other support services in one location.
The former school reopened in 2025 as the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation. The center now houses a bank, an advanced manufacturing training center, the Cook County Public Defender’s Office, Westside Presence and other community-based organizations providing employment opportunities and services.
For Shields, the project demonstrates how community advocacy and investment can come together when residents have a meaningful role in shaping what happens in their neighborhood.
“It’s not enough to rebuild the physical aspects of a community,” Shields said. “You also have to simultaneously pour back into the people.”
As a backbone organization, ACT works to build consensus around a shared agenda informed by local leaders and residents. By coordinating organizations and stakeholders around community-identified priorities, Shields said, the organization helps present a more unified understanding of neighborhood needs to philanthropic institutions and other potential investors.
That work extends beyond long-term development projects. ACT also helps coordinate service providers addressing residents’ immediate needs, including employment preparation, homelessness and other barriers that can prevent people from accessing new opportunities.
Shields added that the organization works to ensure communities develop long-term plans for structural change while connecting residents with resources that can improve their circumstances in the present.
He said philanthropy should help entrepreneurs move beyond opening their businesses to building ones that can thrive long term. Beyond funding the initial costs of opening, business owners may need support with staffing, marketing and other operations that help them grow and remain competitive.
Shields also urged philanthropic institutions to look beyond the construction of new facilities and commit to the resources needed to maintain them. Buildings and revitalized corridors can create new opportunities, but their long-term value depends on whether the organizations and services operating within them can remain sustainable.
“Don’t just commit to the building of these assets,” Shields said. “Commit to the sustainability of them as well so that they can continue to operate at a capacity that can ensure they’ll be here for generations.”