Sometimes a home isn’t a home until you’ve put your stamp on it – or embedded yourself in your community in a certain way. Austin Cantú has called Waukegan home for a long time, but it wasn’t until he started revitalizing an abandoned arts park that he finally connected with his father and his roots. As for Marco Lopez, home always meant being on the move. But now that he has a partner and a daughter, he’s ready to create something permanent in Chicago.

These stories were produced by Andrea Flores and Cynthia Salgado as part of the NextGen Radio Project from WBEZ and NPR.