August 16, 2004

CONTACT: Anne Brooks Ranallo, (312) 355-2523, aranallo@uic.edu

NEW DIRECTORS TO EXPAND WORK OF VOORHEES NEIGHBORHOOD CENTER

Two experts in public and affordable housing have been named
co-directors of the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and
Community Improvement at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Janet Smith, associate professor of urban planning and policy, and
Yittayih Zelalem, research assistant professor of urban planning and
policy, will lead the center. Both appointments are subject to the
approval of the University of Illinois Board of Trustees.

Smith said the Voorhees Center will continue its research in affordable
housing, "but now in a more comprehensive way, making connections
between housing and education, transportation, employment and safety."

Smith will be responsible for engaged research, working with other UIC
departments and research centers. She co-edited (with Larry Bennett and
Patricia Wright) the forthcoming book, "Where Are Poor People to Live?
Public Housing at a Crossroad" (M.E. Sharpe), which describes how
Chicago public housing has changed as social welfare becomes privatized
and market-driven. She also directed 12 researchers in a year-long
study of uneven housing development that formed the basis for the
center's 25th anniversary conference, "Interpreting Neighborhood
Change." Smith received a master's degree in urban planning from the
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in urban studies
from Cleveland State University. She joined the UIC urban planning
faculty in 1997.

Zelalem will be responsible for applied research and technical
assistance to organizations providing housing. An expert in affordable
housing policy and finance, he joined the Voorhees Center as a
researcher in 1996 and became associate director in 2002. Zelalem's
most recent study explored the potential of cooperative housing for
lower-income Chicagoans. His affordable housing plan for Highland Park
led to Illinois' first community land trust. He also helped found the
Urban Developers Program to enhance the skills of practitioners in
affordable housing development. Zelalem holds a master's degree in
urban development and is a graduate of Yale Law School.

Zelalem and Smith succeed Patricia Wright, who is retiring as director
after working with the center since its inception 25 years ago.

The Voorhees Center is one of six research centers in UIC's College of
Urban Planning and Public Affairs, along with centers for economic
development, transportation, race and public policy, data
visualization, and the multidisciplinary Great Cities Institute.
Faculty, staff and graduate students at the Voorhees Center conduct
about 12 research projects a year with not-for-profit and government
agencies. Past projects include a 2001 study of gentrification in West
Town, a 10-year projection of affordable housing in Chicago, and an
affordable housing factbook for the city and state. The center also
maintains the Illinois Assisted Housing Action and Research Project's
database of subsidized housing resources.

UIC ranks among the nation's top 50 universities in federal research
funding. It is Chicago's largest university, with 25,000 students,
12,000 faculty and staff, 15 colleges and the state's major public
medical center. Through the Great Cities Commitment, faculty, students
and staff engage with community, corporate, foundation and government
partners in hundreds of programs to improve the quality of life in
metropolitan areas throughout the world. For more information about
UIC's Great Cities Commitment, visit www.greatcities.uic.edu

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