Especially interested in connecting with anyone in the Chicago Western Suburbs who is active in local real estate clubs/meet-ups. 

Her half would go to her heirs and yours would go to you.Possibly put it in a trust and you could be joint administrators of the trust....best bet is to probably consult a real estate attorney in your area.

Getting active in your local REIA, hanging out with similar like-minded investors and building relationships are key. 

As a small scale investor, I would argue the safest bet for the Mom & Pop investors like us is the standard single family rental property.

I'm sure @KimLisa Taylor and @Jillian Sidoti will be able to help you out or point you in the right direction since they are very active bloggers and forum commenters in that space.

That’s often easier said then done but that’s gonna be your best bet.

On one side I am an active real estate investor with experience and (knock-on-wood) some nice properties. 

It's hard enough as it is to put larger deals and capital together let alone limiting that to the same 10 near-equal partners...and at any level of scale or over extended time periods.I know sponsors who work with small investor databases but it's still clearly a syndication with active and passive roles and equity splits that vary from capital contributions.

In April 2018, I read Rich Dad Poor Dad after running the numbers and realizing we would never reach financial independence with our current rate of active income.

However I fail to see how this is true at the scale at which I would be capable of buying...in my price range the properties would not be large enough to merit their own on-site Management, unless maybe I just bought one and bet my entire future on it.