North Kenwood/Oakland, in the context of the broader Bronzeville neighborhood, is rapidly emerging as Chicago's most gracious and dynamic lakefront community. With assimilation of the former CHA projects into mixed-income, market rate housing, and the institutional investment being made on the south (by the University of Chicago), on the north (by McCormick Place), and on the west (by IIT), North Kenwood/Oakland is well along in attracting both new residents and welcoming home former home owners. Combined with the century-old, historic building fabric of the neighborhood, the area boasts finer boulevards, lakefront proximity and a comfortable, traditional scale than any of this city's residential communities. Racial diversity, mixed-incomes, creative urban planning and strict design guidelines are quickly making Bronzeville one of the most desirable communities in which to reside.

The Little Black Pearl has served the community for ten years with art out-reach programs. Their mission is ". . . to create opportunities for youth and adults to deepen their creative involvement through the arts, cultivate their entrepreneurial skills and use the arts as a means for economic empowerment and community transformation. Their 40,000 square-foot Art and Design Center is a state-of-the-art facility featuring a computer lab, art gallery, glass blowing studio and much more.

TheUniversity of Chicago's Center for Urban School Improvement made a rich commitment to the community seven years ago when they established the North Kenwood/Oakland Charter School. In 2005, the University of Chicago opened the Donoghue Charter School. Both charter schools are free to Chicago children in pre-kindergarten through 8th grade with a maximum of 1,000 children collectively. Intimately connected to the best minds in education, both schools support and train Chicago Public School teachers. Extending their commitment, the University has also extended the patrol of it's campus police into the North Kenwood–Oakland neighborhood. Located in the same historic building as the North Kenwood Oakland Charter School, Ariel Academy is a pre-Kindergarten through 8th grade charter school operated by the Chicago Public Schools.

North Kenwood-Oakland Conservation Community Council member, Gladyse Taylor, was recently interviewed by Dean Geroulis of The Chicago Tribune. Taylor likes the changes in Oakland and believes in the mixed-income communities that are developing on the footprints of old housing projects. "It should be an example of how we should live all across the city," Taylor said.