Dear Friends of GCI,

The work of the Great cities Institute reached new international levels in the past two months with Lousie Cainkar lecturing at the Royal Academy in Copenhagen Denmark, John Hagedorn attending an international symposium of the social Science Research Council in Pretoria South Africa and David Perry and Frank Gaffikin of the Queen University in Belfast invted to attend a new international “Prevention Consortium” in Belfast Northern Ireland. At the same time Great Cities Institute's UIC Neighborhoods Initiative was the recipient of the U.S. Housing and Urban Development “New Directions” grant. This made UIC one of only seven universities in the United States to receive such an award.  

This international recognition and this signature award by HUD combine to demonstrate the increasing vitality and visibily of the engaged research model at GCI. I am especially proud to be a member of the institute and to send special congratulations to our entire staff, our students and the faculty and fellows of GCI for all their hard work in these endeavors.

  Finally, on behalf of all of us at GCI let me wish everyone who reads these monthly missives a happy and healthy holiday season.

Sincerely,

David Perry Professor and Director

News

Online Certificate in Nonprofit Management Courses : January course offerings include "Operations Management for Nonprofit Organizations," and "Fundraising Management for Nonprofit Organizations," held from January 27 - March 2. Registration deadline is January 17, 2004 For more information on the program, please visit http://cnm.cuppa.uic.edu or contact Katie Kaminski at katiek@uic.edu , 312.355.0423

The UIC Neighborhoods Initiative received a grant from the US Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of University Partnerships.  The following is a link to the announcement and their website: http://www.oup.org/about/copc04list.html#17

The Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement (VNC) has received funding from two local foundations to support two major projects this academic year. Funding from The Woods Fund of Chicago will support research on the "State of Affordable Housing in the Chicago Region in the Next Decade". Led by Co-Director Yittayih Zelalem, this year long research will be conducted in collaboration with three city/state wide partners - the Chicago Rehab Network, the State Wide Housing Action Coalition and Latinos United. A grant from the Searle Fund of the Chicago Community Trust will support the center's work in four non-gentrifying community areas - West Humboldt Park , Roseland, Little Village and Greater Grand Crossing. This project is led by Co-Director Janet Smith and will be conducted in collaboration with four community partners active in the four community areas.

Within UIC, VNC is collaborating with the College of Education to compile a community profile for the South Armour and surrounding communities to assist in its work with the National Teachers Academy . The center is also part of an international consortium led by the University of Toronto that explores "gentrification" in different settings.

Calendar

The UICNI Partners Council Meeting will be held on Thursday, February 10, 12- 2pm , at GCI.

People

Atanacio Gonzalez , coordinator of the Neighborhood Initiatives in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, is quoted in the real estate column of the which issue of CS Magazine (Chicago Social) on the possible disadvantages of real estate speculation in Pilsen.

GCI senior fellow Davis Jenkins has been appointed to Governor Blagojevich's Task Force on Community Safety and Reentry. The governor has asked the group to give him recommendations for improving reintegration of former offenders into Illinois communities.

MUPP student Andrea Limauro has received a Fall 2004 Provost's Award for Graduate research. Andrea's proposal, titled "The Role of Chambers of Commerce in the Delivery of Public Services and the Implementation of Philanthropic Programs in Communities with High Poverty Rates. Copan , Ruinas , Honduras : A Case Study," was one of just fourteen proposals funded this term.

Michael Pagano , GCI Fellow, was appointed to the "Intergovernmental Issues Advisory Panel" of the U.S. General Accountability Office (GAO) for the purpose of advising GAO on its intergovernmental agenda. The advisory panel held its first meeting in Washington , DC on October 21, 2004 .

Michael Pagano , GCI Fellow, was invited to advise the National League of Cities on a multi-year project on "Municipal Action to Reduce Poverty" on October 29, 2004 .

Congratulations to Becki Retzlaff , PhD Student in Urban Planning, who won second place in the American Planning Association Land and Policy Division's annual Marlin Smith student writing competition.

Wm. Dustin Cantrell , who works with Paul Goldstein on the “Healthcare Needs of Chemically Dependent Criminal Offenders” project, presented a paper entitled “Self-Report and the Presentation of Self” at the COAS (College of Arts and Sciences) Conferences at Indiana University Northwest, where he is an adjunct professor of Anthropology. The paper examined inconsistencies in self-reported drug use across social contexts.

Roger P. Weissberg , GCI Faculty Scholar, has received the 2004 Distinguished Contribution to Theory and Research Award from the Society for Community Research and Action. Professor Weissberg is President of the Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning ( www.casel.org ). Recently CASEL has been consulting to the Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) on the development of Social and Emotional Learning Standards that was posted on the ISBE web page at www.isbe.net on December 31, 2004 .

Tom Lyons , Research Associate at GCI, was the winner of the National Commission on correctional Health Care Re-entry Essay contest.  He wrote an essay about evaluating the transitional clinic for HIV positive inmates at the Cook County Jail, work he is conducting with Faculty Fellow Paul Goldstein.  He was given the opportunity to attend the Commission's national conference on correctional health care, held in New Orleans in November.

In early December, GCI Fellow Louise Cainkar delivered a lecture in Copenhagen at a conference on Ethnic Enclaves sponsored by the Danish National Institute of Social Research. Current Danish government policy is geared towards actively discouraging enclave settlement by immigrants. Danish scholars sought from Dr. Cainkar an examination of the American experience and especially how ethnic enclave life affected Muslim women.