The Steans Center's Urban School Partnerships is housed in the Egan Office for Urban Education and Community Partnerships (UECP)​​. USI serves as a catalyst to improve and expand access to DePaul resources (departments, faculty, and students) in respectful and mutually beneficial ways. We aim to improve access to and coordination of university-wide resources and integral efforts supporting urban schools. USI promotes a more comprehensive, strengths-based, community-building approach to our work with urban school partners and their communities. It also opens an ongoing dialogue with schools about their changing needs. 

The Egan Office recruits, trains, and coordinates DePaul students. Additionally, it connects other community service resources to the partner schools. Our students are trained in asset-based approaches to community development. They identify ways DePaul and other organizations can support school and student success.​

Central to this approach is connecting students and faculty from academic service-learning courses. Moreover, the core of our Urban School Partnerships is paid opportunities or scholarship funding​ for undergraduate and graduate DePaul students to enhance student learning and to support and build community-school partnerships. Through USI, DePaul seeks to develop an integrated and systemic approach to providing academic and cultural enrichment to children and families in economically distressed Chicago neighborhoods. USI works with teachers and school-based agencies during and after school across strategically selected public and catholic schools. 

For more information or if your school wants to become an Urban School Partner, contact Monica Ramos at mramos37@depaul.edu​, Associate Director for Urban Schools Partnerships.​​​