CHICAGO — Milhouse Construction and Griggs Construction are demonstrating what it looks like when Black contractors are fully engaged in transforming their communities.

Both have leaped from being subcontractors to fully integrated general contractors and developers, with the capacity to deliver finished projects in collaboration with the Black community.

Want grocery stores in a food desert.  Milhouse teamed with Forty Acres Fresh Market to complete their first grocery store. Liz Abunaw, the visionary founder of Forty Acres Fresh Market, embodies a unique blend of entrepreneurial acumen and a deep commitment to community well-being. As Chicago’s only Black woman-owned grocery
store, Forty Acres Fresh Market is a pivotal development for the city’s West Side, an area historically affected by food disparities and limited access to fresh produce.

Support from state and local government for innovative developments like this placed Illinois in the second rank in the ReUNION: State of Black Business, 22d edition’s Black Business Affinity Index.

Abunaw’s journey began in 2018 with pop-up markets and a grocery delivery service. This grassroots approach allowed her to test the waters and refine her business model based on real-world experience. One of the key lessons Abunaw learned along the way was the importance of balancing her mission with practical business strategies. “The end result should be greater equity in food access, but the business is selling groceries in volume. That’s how grocery works,” she emphasizes.
This clear understanding has helped her navigate the complexities of running a socially conscious business. 

Transitioning from pop-up markets to a full-fledged grocery store was not without its challenges. However, she remained determined to find a
way to scale her business. A significant turning point came in 2019 when funding opportunities for food desert projects became available to businesses, not just nonprofits. “That was a game-changer,” Abunaw recalls. “We received grants from the USDA’s Healthy Food Financing Initiative and the American Heart Association’s Social Impact Fund, which were crucial in helping us move forward.” 

Since 2001, Milhouse has completed 3,000 projects for 450 clients since  its first big contract at O’Hare Airport in 2004, the first year of the State of Black Business report.   It now tops 500 team members.

In just ten  years, Griggs  has gone from $1 million to $170 illion reveneue in 2025.  GMA Construction is now bonded for $250 million.  Among the current work for Cornelius Griggs are several projects on the site of the Cabrini-Green public housing projects where he grew up.

Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a candidate for the U.S. Senate in 2026, says, “Black businesses are vital to our state and to building generational wealth.”   Illinois and Chicago were founded by a Black entrepreneur, Haitian jean Baptiste DeSable, whose trading post still stands on the Chicago lakefront.

Other strong backers include Speaker Chris Welch.  Illinois, along with New York, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Virginia, have African-Americans leading both houses of the legislature.   Atty. Gen. Kwame Raoul is one of seven African-American attorneys general. 

Deputy Governor Bria Scudder has been active in the delivery of infrastructure projects.   Milhouse is chair of the signature project, the Illionis Quantum Computing Center, which is located in the south side of Chicago.

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