The city of Chicago has issued a request for proposals for the Small Business Storefront Activation Program, which is meant to activate vacant storefronts throughout the city, Mayor Brandon Johnson announced in a news release Thursday. After receiving responses to the request, the city will select economic development and community organizations to be tasked with finding storefronts in their communities, negotiating short-term leases, finding small businesses to activate the storefronts and managing operations for the spaces. "These activations will boost local spending and draw additional foot traffic to commercial corridors across all 77 neighborhoods," according to the news release.