Chicago real estate developer on mission to close wealth gap between white, Black families

CHICAGO (WLS) -- A local woman is on a mission to close the wealth gap between white and African American families in Chicago.

Growing up in Bronzeville, developer Bonita Harrison saw what had been beautiful homes sitting and losing value.

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"I want to see our communities revitalized," Harrison said. "I want to see kids playing. I want to see people walking their dogs. I want to see Black people in our community create generational wealth through real estate, and that's our purpose."

Where some might see a lost cause, she sees possibilities - not just for her, but for the community.

"For me, it was getting in and changing the narrative in our community," Harrison said.

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Harrison had done over 100 building rehabs over the last nearly 20 years, mainly on the South Side, with three just completed as part of West Woodlawn Pointe.

Harrison's grandmother was able to buy her home in the 1930s in Bronzeville, which was difficult for African Americans at the time with the racist lending policy known as redlining.

With a home equity loan from that property, Harrison was able to do her first development. That's the kind of generational wealth Harrison hopes to make possible for other families.

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"What we are trying to do is create value, create equity, increase capital, give us a chance and opportunity to have access to have wealth and pass it on to our children," Harrison said. "There's a change a slow change, but a change."

Harrison said she rarely comes across other female developers locally.

Nationally, women make up only about one-third of those in the real estate development industry. But this year, Harrison was able to help her daughter buy her first building, perhaps changing the narrative in more ways than one.