IN THIS ISSUE:
*Events
*Volunteer Opportunities
*Internships, Jobs, and Beyond...
*In the Spotlight: Investment in Diversity
NOTE: AVRR Award nominations close this Sunday, April 5th at 11:59 pm. The following awards are still open for 2009 Nominations:
Edward Turkington House Service Award (http://ucsc.uchicago.edu/pages/house_award.html)
CSRSO Award (http://ucsc.uchicago.edu/pages/csrso_award.html)
Community Partner Award (http://ucsc.uchicago.edu/pages/community_partner.html)
Faculty Service Award (http://ucsc.uchicago.edu/pages/faculty_service.html)
Staff Service Award (http://ucsc.uchicago.edu/pages/staff_service.html)
EVENTS
NO Games Rally
Thursday, April 2nd
5:00pm
Federal Plaza
Mayor Daley and the University of Chicago are behind the bid. A coalition of community groups including low-income tenants' associations from Woodlawn and Kenwood are against it. Student groups will be departing from the Reynolds Club at 4pm and 4.30pm to stand in solidarity with our neighbors. For information, email mhopwood@uchicago.edu
2009 Creative Chicago Expo
Saturday, April 4th
10:00am-4:00pm
Chicago Cultural Center (78 E. Washington St)
Chicago’s 6th annual gathering of resources, services, and expertise specifically for people in the arts. Over 120 vendors/services, 21 workshops, and panel discussions on individuals, arts organizations, and smart art businesses. Admission is free.
Little Village Youth Forum
Saturday, April 4th
10:00am-4:00pm
2345 S. Christiana
Little Village organized a Youth Forum called “Building Community, Fighting Violence.” Workshops include Chicago Gang History, Search of Identity, Know Your Rights, Counter-Insurgence, and Community Policing. The event is free with lunch provided, and open to everyone.
Information & Discussion Session with Southsiders Organizing for Unity & Liberation (SOUL)
Sunday, April 5th
12:30pm
Augustana Lutheran Church (5500 S. Woodlawn)
SOUL is an association of south side churches and community organizations committed to training and developing leaders to work for social justice. Come learn more about SOUL's history, philosophy of community organizing and social activism. Topics include: Olympics, gold line, HIV/AIDS education, and anti-violence programs.
Morality to Change the World: With or Without God(s)?
Tuesday, April 7th
7:00pm
Columbia College Chicago (623 S. Wabash)
An exchange of ideas about God and the role of religion in contemporary life. The event hosts Stephen Asma, a Buddhist, Bob Bossie, a priest, and Sunsara Taylor, a Communist. For more information, call 312-369-7295.
Social Impact: Speaking the Language of the Market
Tuesday, April 7th
4:45 – 8:00 pm
Harper Center – Room 104 (5807 South Woodlawn Avenue)
Are you interested in green building design or community development? Do you want to better understand public-private partnerships? Does the status of America’s Education System concern you? If so, please save the date for a conversation about these topics through the lens of business. The event will cost $10 for University of Chicago students. Please contact Hannah Bascom at hbascom@chicagobooth.edu with any questions.
A Conversations with Reverend Jesse L. Jackson Sr.
Monday, April 13th
5:00-6:00pm (Doors open at 4:30pm)
Max Palvesky Cinema, Ida Noyes Hall
“This may be the biggest fight of our time.” “Students who have the grades and ability to do well in college are being sent home because they cannot afford to pay their tuition bill.” – Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr., March 14, 2009
Statesman, civil rights activist, theologian and alumnus, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr., ’67 returns to campus to discuss issues authoring the culture of our time in a discussion led by Ann Marie Lipinski, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and the university’s Vice President for Civic Engagement. In order to guarantee seating for this free event, please register at http://ucsc.uchicago.edu/pages/jackson.html. This event is hosted by the University Community Service Center and sponsored by the Vice President for Campus Life & Dean of Students in the University.
Spring Day of Service
Saturday, April 18th
8:30am-1:30pm
Join more than 100 students, staff, and faculty for a day of service with local environmental organizations - community gardens, local parks, neighborhood groups, and more. Presented as part of the University's Earth Week Celebration in partnership with the Sustainability Council. Please RSVP by email to Brooke Fallon at bfallon@uchicago.edu with Attn: Brooke in subject line. Your email should include: name, email address, and if you are registering as a group the members of the group.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
The Children’s Place Association, dedicated to improving the present and securing the future for families and children affected by HIV/AIDS here in Chicago, needs volunteers for The Children’s Place Association Benefit Gala for April 3rd and/or April 4th. To help out, contact Ann Simonson at asimonson@childrensplace.org or via phone: 773-826-1230 X234.
The Olympics Evaluation Committee is coming to Chicago and Chicago 2016 needs your help. Chicago 2016 is looking for sporting teams, clubs, organizations, classes, residence halls, etc. to put together a group to come out and help show your support for Chicago 2016. Anyone who is interested in bringing out a group of people can contact students@chicago2016.org to reserve a spot.
Camp City Year, a day camp that engages children in service learning, educational games and other fun activities, needs volunteers to lead groups of 3rd -5th graders during Chicago Public School’s Spring Break (April 6th-10th). Volunteers will be expected to lead activities, service projects, arts, and wholesome fun! If you are interested in volunteering, please contact Ellie McNeil at 312-532-1392 or via email: emcneil09@cityyear.org.
Volunteers are needed Wednesday, April 7th for unloading food for the Hyde Park Food Pantry (Hyde Park Union Church, 5600 S. Woodlawn Ave). Please contact Jay Mulberry (jaymulberry@gmail.com) for instructions. The Pantry distributes emergency supplies and groceries to residents living between 39th and 60th, Cottage to the lake.
April 18th, 2009
The Chicago Metro History Education Center invites you to make a difference in students’ lives by volunteering to judge at a History Fair event this spring. As a judge, you will evaluate exhibits, documentaries, performances, or research papers on topics in Chicago history produced by students in grades 6-8 or 9-12. For registration information contact Chicago Metro History Education office at 312-266-8223 or e-mail them at info@chicagohistoryfair.org
INTERNSHIPS, JOBS, AND BEYOND...
“Finding Summer Opportunities”
Thursday, April 2nd
6:00-7:30pm
Ida Noyes Hall, East Lounge
CAPS staff offers the tips and tricks for those struggling to find the right summer job/internship.
CAPS Stimulus Package: Job Searching in a Weak Economy
Thursday, April 9th
5:30-7:00pm
Ida Noyes Hall, Cloister Club
CAPS staff helps students with finding a job amid the struggling economy. Advise includes where to look, networking opportunities, and making the most out of the tough job market.
Chicago Freedom School
Due: April 17, 2009
The Chicago Freedom School is seeking Instructors who will design and lead 14-hour courses for youth ages 14 - 16 enrolled in the 2009 Freedom Fellowship Summer Institute. Instructors will design creative and engaging courses that emphasize the real life experience of young people as well as their achievements, identity, and collective status in the world. To apply, visit www.chicagofreedomschool.org.
Public Allies: Ally Apprenticeship Program
The Ally Apprenticeship Program is a 10-month AmeriCorps focused on direct services in nonprofit organizations, participation in acclaimed leadership development curriculum, and creative service projects with fellow Allies and community members. In exchange, Allies earn $1,400-$1,800/month, earn an Education Award and have healthcare, and student loan deferment. An info session April 2 & 9 explains the opportunities and options of being an Ally. RSVP to macarthura@publicallies.org, or by visiting http://tiny.cc/8jlcX
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
A Good Investment in Tough Times
Mutisya Leonard, Staff Writer
As the opportunity for college is a real life asset, Elizabeth Chao, a third year Economics and Political Science double major, considers it crucial to make college accessible.
Race Wright, a third year Anthropology and Fundamentals double major, sees diversity recruitment attempts in colleges as local, incremental steps towards "breaking the cycles of poverty and systemic racism."
High school students, primarily from Chicago's inner-city, and groups of historically under-represented, and first generation minorities from around the country are hosted for free campus tours through the Investment in Diversity program, a partnership with the University Community Service Center and the Office of College Admissions.
Investment in Diversity focuses on the recruitment of, support for, and retention of students of color. For some participants, the tour may well be their first look at a college campus. Lauryn Nwankpa, a fourth year Human Development major, and program coordinator for Investment in Diversity finds it exciting to be among first contacts in the shaping of students' thoughts about college.
"A good number of students arriving to tours may be anxious about college admissions," Nwankpa says, "but we want to make them comfortable, so they feel welcome, valued, wanted. Because of socio-economic disadvantages, and racial segregation historically prevalent in the demographic, a good number of the teenagers that visit are justifiably afraid of college, of [the] University of Chicago. But we want them to embrace our architecture, our diligent academic habits, the core, the housing system. We push them to imagine how they fit in, how they'd thrive. We want minority populations to seriously consider University of Chicago as a competitive option for college."
"From Chicago alone, we get a wide range of teenagers - students in surburbia, African Americans from the South Side, Hispanics from the West and South-West sides of the city, and even some refugee populations from North Side communities," Nwankpa said. "We want to open up the university to these populations, sharing with them what options they can find at Chicago in financing their education, in student activities, in housing, in dining."
"As I walked through University of Chicago, I could picture myself there," said Tanya Huynh, a freshman at Kipp Academy in Houston, TX, following a 2008 tour. "Thank you for letting me create wonderful memories... for taking out your time."
"The walk was cold and relentless; the wind clawed at our skin," said Huynh's classmate, Cristian Bastamante. "But through the cold you informed us of history, architecture, people, and I enjoyed getting to know University of Chicago in a new way."
Hannah Wagner Jacoby, a fourth year Political Science major considers that we are all, as students, better off if we are in diverse setting and forced into conversations that may make us uncomfortable: "it's eye opening, and valuable."
"It's one thing to celebrate a black president," Jacoby continues, "but it's another altogether to be confronted with racial differences that force us to analyze assumptions we've picked up growing up. Students of color color conversations in the classroom."
Andy Tully, a second year Biology major, and Mark Redmond, a second year Political Science major echo Jacoby's reflections.
"This is a college in Chicago," says Tully, "and it should, to a decent degree, be rooted in Chicago. Having Chicago natives that know the place of the University in the City provides our academic experience an authentic local presence. And I come from Florida, so this is meaningful to me."
Redmond adds, "diverse perspectives, diverse peoples are invaluable in a college because they keep us conscious in classroom conversations. They make us more careful when we hypothesize cultural situations in, say, Social Sciences, and Civilization Studies. And that's good education. Also local students help us place Hyde Park in Chicago - living on the same floor as a student from Kenwood or Little Village gives you a rich context to appreciating a city as vast as Chicago."
"And all this is really part of a greater national push for diversity in education, in business and even in elected representatives," Redmond concludes, "there is much value today given to the diversity of experiences."
The University Community Service Center (UCSC) fosters the development of civic-minded students by providing substantive community service opportunities through community partnerships based on mutual trust and respect. If you have questions - how to get involved as a student or how to connect to students as a community organization - please contact us.
University Community Service Center
5525 S. Ellis Ave., Suite 160
Chicago IL, 60637
Tel: 773.753.4483
Fax: 773.834.1160
ucsc.uchicago.edu
