Laronda is the first recipient of the Racial Equity Graduate Research Fellowship
The Irwin W. Steans Center for Community-based Service Learning and the Center for Black Diaspora are pleased to announce Laronda Wilson as the recipient of its inaugural Racial Equity Graduate Research Fellowship. The fellowship supports African-American graduate students in conducting focused, community-based research on efforts to promote racial equity in Chicago. Laronda's research will focus on advancing solutions to police violence on Black Lives, on policies that counter systemic racism, and on efforts to positively transform institutions that condone white supremacy. Click here to read more.
OCE Live Event Series
OCE Live is a series of discussions, presentations and workshops led by our Community Partners, Faculty and Staff to explore social justice issues in an era of global pandemic and civic uprising. Register at the links below. For more information, please contact SERVICELEARNING@DEPAUL.EDU
Housing Policy/Gentrification, Displacement and Economic Development
Steans Center
Other Upcoming Events
ABCD In ActionGlobal Gathering
Jan. 28, 6 p.m. - 7:15 p.m. CST - Exploring the question: How can deepening our understanding of gifts support community-building? Bruce Anderson for the Core Gift Institute will co-host.
Campus Compact - All events take place from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. CST and are free to DePaul Faculty.
16th Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit - celebrating 16 years of leveraging collective power to policy.
Feb. 25 & 26 and March 5 & 6 Click here for complete details and registration
CUMU • February 17, 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. Call to Action with Hope: Considering the Intersection of Faith and Community Engagement at Urban Institutions. Click here to learn more and RSVP; this event is free.
Student Spotlight - Josean Amill, School Community Organizer at Egan Office
Meet Josean Amill, a Graduate Student in his final year of Masters of Public Health Program with a concentration in Community Health:
During my brief time I have already had many opportunities to engage with the communities the Egan Office serves throughout Chicago. At Nixon Elementary, where I am a school community organizer, I have had the pleasure of meeting members of the administration as well as some teachers. I have engaged in community meetings where parents and faculty come together to address challenges the school is facing and assist in strategizing resolutions. I have also had the pleasure of connecting with community partners outside the school to help address the need at Nixon. These stakeholders range from after-school programs to community medical centers.
One of the specific projects I have been a part of so far is sitting as the co-chair for a youth initiative in collaboration with the Latino Community Association (ACL) in Lake County. The ACL was formed after the Lake County Health Department noted that the Latinx community was becoming disproportionately infected with COVID-19. Latinx leaders came together in order to reduce the COVID-19 contagion rate and to educate the Latinx community about how to take precautions due to the COVID-19 pandemic. There are more than 25 organizations that are participants of the ACL. As part of this collective I have been able lead educational workshops to inform youth on their role in stopping the spread of COVID-19. One of the projects I assisted on was a creative competition for youth and young adults to create a mask design that will be printed on face masks; 5,000 face masks will be distributed across Lake County. Click here to read the article.
Finally, specifically at Nixon, our tutors have started working with families to help address the challenges with online learning. Our tutoring program aims to help parents and students navigate the online learning platform of Google Classroom. Some of the topics we help families with include knowing how to check past and upcoming assignments, turning in homework, and checking grades. We hope to expand this program to more families and help mitigate the challenges that arise when learning in an online setting.
DePaul Athletics on Collaboratory
Each year DePaul student-athletes make blankets to benefit the Marillac St. Vincent DePaul Center through the Wintrust Blankets Chicago project. During autumn quarter, first year student-athletes deliver the blankets to MSV's Lincoln Park site to learn more about the Vincentian Mission and interact with the youth. Good job, Blue Demons! Sign on to Collaboratory to see the full listing and enter your community engagement activities.
If you you'd like to hear more about Collaboratory, please contact Steans Center Associate Director Barbara Smith.
Collaboratory Training Available
Please support efforts to leverage Collaboratory on campus and register for the upcoming community of practice trainings and webinars.
INTRODUCTORY COLLABORATORY TRAININGS
• Designed for faculty, staff, and students new to Collaboratory
o Introduction to the Proxy Role (Feb. 1, 3 p.m. EST) Register HERE
o Introduction to Collaboratory’s Proxy Role (Feb. 3, 3 p.m. EST) Register HERE
COFFEE BREAKS
• Open to all Administrators, faculty, or staff at Collaboratory institutions, Register HERE
o Addressing Stakeholder Needs with Data (Feb. 16)
o Geolocation: Expanding the Story with Place and Space (March 23)
o Defining & Measuring Partnership Strength (April 20)
o Aligning Community Engagement with the UN SDGs (May 18)
It seems like everywhere we look in ABCD theory and practice we run across the word “gift" as a basic component of community-building. But what is a gift? Is it any contribution that one person makes to another? Are there qualities to gifts that distinguish them from skills, talents, or other kinds of abilities? Is there any advantage to distinguishing between these differing kinds of human ability when people are gathering together, taking action, celebrating, or grieving? The idea of the gift has many interpretations across cultures past and present. Let's gather and see what we can learn from each other’s thoughts and stories. Show up and lend your gifted thoughts to our conversation!
DePaul Community Service Scholarship Application - Due March 1
The Community Service Scholarship is awarded to current freshmen students (rising sophomores for the fall quarter of 2021) who have an exceptional record of community service and are committed to becoming socially engaged leaders as DePaul students and professionals. Recipients are required to declare and complete the community service studies academic minor, participate in at least 30 hours of community service each quarter, attend quarterly service learning/community engagement workshops, participate in a 100-hour internship for one quarter, and meet with the program coordinators for advising and mentoring throughout the duration of their commitment to the CSS program.
The deadline for application submission online must be no later than March 1, 2021 at 11:59:59 PM Central Standard Time.
For complete application information and details please click here.
Register now for 16th Annual Chicago Food Justice Summit! Join us virtually on Feb. 25th & 26th and Mar. 5th & 6th!
Join The Chicago Food Policy Action Council (CFPAC) and its summit planning team in celebrating 16 years of leveraging collective power to policy. The summit will equip attendees with meaningful knowledge, relationships, and conversations to envision our food future together. Each day will highlight ways to ground policy in community action and engage participants in radically re-imagining Chicago’s foodscape.
You will be able to connect with food workers, farmers, vendors, and local leaders. Together we will discuss food policy and other critical issues involving climate change, labor, food access and urban farming. We will also dive into food production in Chicago, Cook County, and across the state of Illinois. The Summit will consist of virtual workshops, passionate speakers, a marketplace of resources, and more!
