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UIC GREAT CITIES
ANNUAL REPORT
1998
The Great Cities program is an institutional commitment to increasing,
facilitating, and highlighting work by UIC faculty, students, and staff
that serves Chicago and other cities. The following Great Cities
Annual Report highlights selected activities and accomplishments for the
period July 1, 1997-June 30, 1998.
National and International Recognition
The Great Cities concept as a way to describe the urban land grant university
continued to receive increased recognition this year. UIC’s implementation
of the Great Cities program was featured prominently in conferences and
publications in the U.S. and abroad:
Great Cities was the focus of the "Building Partnerships to Build
Communities" conference organized by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, the "Building Partnerships: Leadership for
University Engagement in the Community" conference organized by the
International Center for Health Leadership Development, and the "National
Conference on University-Community School Partnerships at the University
of Pennsylvania."
Great Cities staff contributed invited articles about the program to
the journals Metropolitan Universities, Journal of Planning Education
and Research, and America Behavioral Scientist. The program
was also featured in a new journal dealing with policy and action, PRAGmatics.
The Great Cities program developed a joint research program with the
Hochschule fuer Wirtschaft und Politik in Hamburg, Germany and the Autonomous
National University of Mexico City, Mexico, and is collaborating with the
United Nations Development Program. Great Cities staff hosted the Dutch
ambassador to the United States and groups from England, Northern Ireland,
China, France, Germany, Mexico, the Netherlands, Canada, and South Africa.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham, the State University of New
York at Buffalo, and the NASULGC/Kellogg Commission on the Engaged University
hosted presentations on the Great Cities program.
The Great Cities Chicago-London program provided 20 UIC students a month-long
opportunity to study urban issues in London, followed by internships with
the City of Chicago.
Institutionalization at UIC
Great Cities continues as one of Chancellor David Broski’s "The
UIC Agenda" six priorities: "Strengthen the Great Cities Program,
UIC’s Metropolitan Commitment."
The Deans Council functioned as the campus-wide Great Cities Advisory
Committee to ensure broad-based support and coordination.
The College of Urban Planning and
Public Affairs completed its move to the newly rehabbed Alumni Hall
building, giving UIC a high quality ‘front-door’ to the metropolitan area.
Great Cities staff participated in a wide variety of institutional priority
issues, including the South Campus expansion and the ABLA Public Housing
Welfare-to-Work program.
The Great Cities Progress Review provides an update on the the
achievements of the Great Cities program during the past four years. The
Great Cities Directory of Programs was updated and incorporated
in a University of Illinois-wide database of public service programs.
The Great Cities logo continues to be widely used on campus and Great
Cities was listed as co-sponsor or supporter of over 50 conferences and
presentations.
Campus-wide Involvement
All UIC colleges and many individual departments and other units conducted
Great Cities-type programs that express UIC’s commitment to the metropolitan
area. Hundreds of these programs are included in the Great Cities Directory
of Programs. Selected examples include:
The new Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy began operations
to bring together faculty around the effects of public policy on African-Americans,
Hispanics, and other ethnic/racial minorities.
The School of Public Health
established the Health Research and Policy Centers as a campus-wide policy-oriented
research unit, implementing one of the original recommendations of the
Great Cities Advisory Committee.
The College of Business Administration’s
Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies runs certificate programs in business
administration for non-profit administrators and for business managers
with the Center for Enterprise Development, Inc.
The International Center for Health Leadership Development, funded by
the Kellogg Foundation, began operations in partnership with many units
across the campus and in the community.
The Michoacan project brings together faculty from Liberal Arts and
Sciences, Education, Business, and Urban Planning with counterparts from
the Colegio de Michoacan in Mexico to study economic, social, and cultural
changes and similarities between Chicago and Michoacan, the home region
of many of Chicago’s Mexican immigrants.
The Colleges of Liberal Arts
and Sciences and of Engineering, jointly with the School of Public
Health, convened a faculty summit to propose the establishment of an Institute
for Environmental Science and Policy. Great Cities was featured for the
keynote speech as an example of the interdisciplinary to urban issues.
Faculty from Social Work and Psychiatry are collaborating with three
of the largest social service agencies in Chicago and half a dozen smaller
ones, and the Chicago Mayor’s Office and the Cook County Courts on a West
Side Domestic Abuse Program.
Great Cities Institute
The Great Cities Institute completed its third year of activity, with
12 Scholars and additional Fellows and staff conducting interdisciplinary
applied research projects. Projects and research are being undertaken in
the following areas:
Community health, focusing on a study of the effect of reductions
in Supplemental Social Security Income on recipients; and establishment
of the Health Exchange, a monthly roundtable to discuss current
issues. The appointment of Congresswoman Cardiss Collins as a Senior Fellow
strengthened this effort.
Substance abuse, including the work of Frank Chaloupka which
was singled out by Senator Kennedy as the key contribution to new federal
legislation related to smoking reduction. Chaloupka’s work also led to
a multi-million dollar grant to UIC to establish a new research center
on this subject.
Race and ethnicity, particularly in regard to conditions affecting
Latino and African-American communities and racial discrimination.
Housing, with a particular focus on the future of Community Development
Corporations and the role of residents in the rehabilitation of public
housing.
Global economic change and the effect of the World Trade Organization
and the North American Free Trade Agreement on Chicago communities and
border cities.
Education, especially the development of new K-12 curricula in
urban history and teacher practice in science education.
Regionalism, with an emphasis on the economic interdependence
of all parts of the Chicago region, and the costs and benefits of employment
deconcentration. The Great Cities Institute will be conducting the Chicago
case study of a national Brookings Institution study on regionalism, and
is also co-sponsoring a conference on the topic this fall with Brookings,
the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy, and the MacArthur Foundation.
The National Empowerment Zone Action Research Project, a multi-city
evaluation of the major federal urban initiative. The Institute published
a book based on this project, Empowerment in Chicago: Grassroots Participation
in Economic Development and Poverty Alleviation.
Certificate in Business Administration--Nonprofit Management is
a new non-degree program offered jointly with the Corporation for Enterprise
Development.
The Workforce Development Partnerships Program which in cooperation
with the Chicago Manufacturing Center upgrades education and training programs
and labor skills. The program received a $600,000 grant from the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to play the lead role in workforce
development efforts in Chicago. It also received a $983,000 National Science
Foundation grant for its work with the Chicago City Colleges.
Human Capacity Development Program, a joint program with DePaul
University to train staff of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Great Cities Seminar Series, which presents the work of Scholars
to the broader community.
The Urban Universities Collaborative brings together the lead
urban units of Chicago’s universities to coordinate programs and provide
a single access point.
Great Cities Roundtable, which brings together researchers and
activists working on urban issues and policy matters.
In addition, the Institute expanded its paper series which now includes
forty titles, and is a frequent host and co-sponsor of conferences and
workshops.
UIC
Neighborhoods Initiative
UIC has made a ten-year commitment to collaborative programs in housing,
economic development, education, health, and leadership development in
the Pilsen and Near West Side neighborhoods adjacent to campus. Key achievements
this year include:
Implementation of over 40 projects, involving over 100 faculty
and graduate students from all colleges in partnerships with schools, community
agencies, city agencies, and corporate supporters.
Entered third year of work on $2.4 million, five-year federal grant
to support university-community partnership projects.
Market analysis helped identify commercial development needs and opportunities
for Near West Side. Proposed projected was selected by city government
and will be implemented by a partnership with the Near West Side Development
Corporation and Walgreen’s.
Through Community Planning Studios and the CityLab provided design assistance
to community organizations.
Working with the College of Social Work and The Resurrection Project,
established the Centro Familiar, a comprehensive social service agency
for Pilsen.
Provided Internet connections, Webpages, and technical assistance to
fifty community organizations.
Provided integrated daycare training program through Malcolm X College;
program is now being replicated at other city colleges.
The newsletter of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning
featured the UIC Neighborhoods Initiative as a model for university-community
interaction.
Great
Cities Faculty Seed Fund and Urban Health Policy Fund
Provided 11 grants, totaling $75,404, in seed funds to UIC faculty for
Great Cities projects related to alcohol, and tobacco use; domestic abuse;
managed care; asthma; community partnerships; welfare reform; community
leadership; violence prevention; ethnic identity; and many other urban
issues.
Based on the first three years of the program seed fund grants leveraged
$14 in external funds for every $1 in internal funding!
Access and visibility
An important task of Great Cities staff is to create connections between
faculty and external constituencies and to incubate new urban-oriented
programs. Examples of relevant activities include:
Provided access and referral for numerous requests by city and state
departments, community agencies, and others.
Great Cities staff played key roles in developing projects serving the
Greater Chicago Food Depository, the Low Income Housing Trust Fund, and
many other projets.
Obtained media coverage for Great Cities, including a dozen items in
off-campus press, numerous exposures on radio, and 18 items in campus press.
Organized Fifth Annual Great Cities Winter Forum, with over 300 participants.
Made 12 presentations about Great Cities, approximately half of these
to national/international audiences.
These achievements are the result of the activities of many individuals
throughout UIC. We also acknowledge with deep appreciation the involvement
of our external partners and funders throughout the Chicago area and beyond.
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