Cecilia Cuff Is Chosen For Prestigious Design Fellowship As She Prepares For A New West Pullman Location

Cecilia Cuff is the CEO and Founder of the Nascent Group. Photo provided by the Nascent Group.
Cecilia Cuff is the CEO and Founder of the Nascent Group. Photo provided by the Nascent Group.

Cecilia Cuff Is Chosen For Prestigious Design Fellowship As She Prepares For A New West Pullman Location

By Tia Carol Jones

Cecilia Cuff, CEO and Founder of the Nascent Group, is known for the Bronzeville Winery and South Side Sanctuary, and her work to revitalize disinvested communities through hospitality and community design and building capacity for entrepreneurs.

Now Cuff is set to embark on a 10-month residency at the Harvard Graduate School of Design as a Loeb Fellow. She is one of 10 Loeb Fellows who will audit classes at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) through the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD).

In the process of applying for the fellowship, Cuff said it was humbling listing all of the projects she has done throughout her career. She said the fellowship is for those who have been able to establish themselves as placemakers. Theaster Gates, Eric Williams and Maurice Cox are Loeb Fellow alumni. Cuff said she will be taking the time during the fellowship to study as much as she can and look at how to re-energize her path. She intends to bring back what she has learned to the city of Chicago and the South Side.

“I want to look at how other cities are built equitably, how can we continue to develop more equitably on the South side,” she said. She added that she wants to look at how to equitably develop places in the community, while preserving and protecting the culture of those places, in the midst of rapid changes to those communities.

Cuff said there are tools that need to be put in place to ensure protection of those communities is done effectively. She said people who are living in those communities know there are answers even though they might not be right in front of them. She wants to study other systems around the world that have been successful in looking at urban planning and approaching it in a way that is more equitable and preserves the culture of communities.

In 2022, Bronzeville Winery opened; in 2024, Nafsi opened in South Shore and the South Side Sanctuary opened on 47th and King Drive. Cuff is in the process of designing a new restaurant in West Pullman. Ethola will be an African-Caribbean-Diasporic restaurant, located at 119th and Halsted. The project is being done in tandem with the owner Dr. Adelanke Bademosi. The 40,000-square foot space will include the restaurant space for live music and higher end cuisine and an event space. It is slated to open at the end of 2026.

Ethola will also have a partnership with Community Assistance Programs (CAPS) to develop a workforce development center and use the restaurant space to train people from the community and prepare them to enter the workforce with skills to work in the hospitality industry. The Illinois Restaurant Association will be providing certifications necessary for the participants to obtain jobs across the city.

While one of the biggest challenges restaurants face is finding a trained workforce, Cuff said the goal of the program is to train a dedicated hospitality workforce. She said since Bronzeville Winery opened, three of its leadership teams have gone off to open their own restaurants. She said it is a way to develop homegrown talent and create career paths that break generational wealth gaps. Cuff said the inspiration for creating concepts comes from the community and what they want to see. She said her team at the Nascent Group is excited to continue to grow on the South side and help anyone who has an idea for community development.

For more information about the Nascent Group, visit www.thenascentgroup.com.


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