IN THIS ISSUE:
*Events
*Volunteer Opportunities
*Internships, Jobs, and Beyond...
*In the Spotlight: Woodlawn Collaborative: Being a Good Neighbor
EVENTS
Finding Understanding and Support in a Challenging World
Thursday, April 16
4:00pm
OMSA (5710 S. Woodlawn Avenue)
Come to an open discussion for students who identify as having a disability! Let’s talk about the extra challenges we face here on campus and how we can improve awareness and support. RSVP and to request special accommodation(s) to Abby Ostrem at aostrem@uchicago.edu. Abby Ostrem is a Social Service Administration (SSA) graduate student who has personal experience as a student with a disability on campus.
In Search of Humanity: Blogs of an International Aid Worker
Thursday, April 16
12:00pm
Pick Hall, 1st Floor Lounge (5828 S. University Ave)
Presentation and discussion with the author, Obie C. Porteous (B.A. ’03). In Search of Humanity follows this journey through the biweekly postings on his private blog, which include surprising observations of the local context, illustrations of what works and what doesn't in the world of international aid, and personal anecdotes about life as an international aid worker in the remotest corners of the globe.
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.
Engaging Our Communities
Friday, April 24th
8:00am – 11:00am
School of Social Service Administration (969 East 60th Street)
You’re invited to join us for a presentation and conversation with Ann Marie Lipinski, Vice President for Civic Engagement, and Chicago community and University leaders on the University’s engagement efforts. RSVP at civic_engagement@uchicago.edu or 773.834.4122. Breakfast is provided.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
** This is a friendly reminder from Volunteer Referral that there are still great volunteer opportunities for you to get involved with! As the weather gets better keep in mind that there are a number of outdoor opportunities close by in Washington Park. Look out for spotlights on particularly great organizations and new ways to serve in the UCSC Newsletter. And even if you have come in already, feel free to stop by the UCSC to talk about possible volunteer opportunities. Contact Elspeth at emcgarvey@uchicago.edu to find a time to meet or with any questions you may have!
Mikva Challenge would like to invite you to serve as a judge at our annual Issues to Action Civics Fair. As a judge, you will interact with students and assess their projects in areas such as examining community, analyzing power, and taking action. The Civics Fair will be held on Saturday May 2nd, 2009 from 9 am-2:30 pm, at Walter Payton College Prep (1034 N Wells St.). RSVP with Jelani McEwen at 312-863-6343 or via e-mail at jelani@mikvachallenge.org. Please RSVP by April 17.
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
The Broadway Youth Center Drop-In Program, seeks activists, artists, healers, thinkers, LGBT folks of color, organizers, adult allies, and mentors available for 1-2 shifts per week—which last from 12 noon-5 PM, Monday through Saturday. This summer opportunity will also include important training and support on issues related to harm reduction, anti-oppression values, boundaries, and the roles of a youth worker in our space. If you are interested or would like more information, please contact Lara at larab@howardbrown.org or 773-299-7613.
INTERNSHIPS, JOBS, AND BEYOND...
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.
Recession Job Search Strategies: Where are the jobs?
Monday, April 20th
5:30pm-7:00pm
Ida Noyes Hall, East Lounge (1212 East 59th Street)
Come and speak with CAPS staff about finding jobs in this tough economy. Learn tips and tricks about where to look, networking, and have questions answered about job hunting in these tough times.
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
Woodlawn Collaborative: Being a Good Neighbor
Mutisya Leonard, Staff Writer
The identity of Barack Obama as community organizer has electrified conversations on political organizing. Hannah Birnbaum, third year Sociology major, and UCSC Program Coordinator for the Woodlawn Collaborative, notes that the modern University struggles to ensure that its institutional development activities, with respect to its community, are not identified as exclusionary or discriminatory. To Birnbaum, the unveiling of the Woodlawn Collaborative will be “a noticeable break from the University’s historical neighborhood relations.”
The Woodlawn Collaborative is a campus initiative that seeks to create a shared space for University students and South Side residents to work on cultural and pedagogical initiatives, in an underused part of the First Presbyterian Church on 6400 S. Kimbark Ave. Through surveying the intersection of art, service and education, the initiative would foster a sense of collaborative community that is both socially progressive and empowering.
The April 9th issue of Chicago Weekly coined the initiative as ‘the bridge’ that dared to push University students beyond ‘the buffer zones south of 61st street’. The space will be the first institutionalized collaborative setting for students and non-students.
“Our most important challenge hence,” Greg Gabrellas, fourth year Anthropology major, and long-time campus activist pointed out, “is to make good on our promise to stay as an independent, fully-functional student/community center.”
“The First Presbyterian Church is ideal for our project,” said Gabrellas. “The church has been a leading progressive community member. They ran a comprehensive Head Start program for about 40 years. We will be moving in to the former Head Start space. I hope we succeed Head Start well.”
The key players in the initiative are UCSC, the governing board of the First Presbyterian Church, and an ad hoc Woodlawn Collaborative Committee. Birnbaum and Divya Sundar, a second year History major, are Program Coordinators for the Collaborative at UCSC. They work with UCSC Director, Wallace Goode, in providing key support and resources to the Collaborative including securing funding and identifying community partners, and in resolving legal and insurance issues. The Collaborative on the other hand works with UCSC and the University to ensure that the planning of the project is transparent and that the project remains a grassroots endeavor.
“We hope to start programming over the next few weeks. We are now creating a preliminary schedule,” Gabrellas confirmed. “The Woodlawn Collaborative Committee is the principle authority and organizer for the project, overseeing allocations of space, and rights of users, and we hope to elect a formal Board at running.”
“Some students have expressed concern though that due to our dependence on the University, we may corrupt the integrity of a long time independent voice for Woodlawn,” said Gabrellas. “We’d like to assure students that the Collaborative Committee is committed to defending the independence of the Church, and of the Collaborative, so that our original vision and project goals are not compromised.”
In political organizing, Gabrellas observes that three types of progressive persons emerge: the intellectual, the activist, and the artist, with seldom overlaps among the three. “We want to see the Woodlawn Collaborative however as a nucleus for a new generation of social thinkers that actively think intellectually about social issues as they organize,” he added.
The Collaborative emerged out of Naked Theater, and EX-LAB, the ‘Experimental Culture Incubator’ – initiatives three years back that imagined new institutions promoting multidisciplinary work that too intersected culture and politics. By partnering with UCSC, the Collaborative has emphasized a dimension of community service. This partnership will work to preserve diversity, while providing support to deepen all programs on site.
Proposals to the Collaborative have come from dance and theater groups, tutoring programs, literacy groups and worker and tenant rights organizations. Birnbaum and Gabrellas highlighted examples of the diversity of proposals. Gigante Capoiera will offer dance instruction to neighborhood youth; Ali Feenstra, for Queers & Associates has proposed an on-going performance art workshop; and Travis, a local artist, is working to organize a weekly live arts venue for local musicians, poets and other performance artists. There has been too a request from students at the Hyde Park Career Academy to set up a community computer lab, complete with recycled PCs. The students will staff the lab, and run community classes.
To this day, the Collaborative has fund raised for $40,000. The Collaborative notes that its key strength has been an extremely intelligent and aggressive student body, many with extensive experience working on community service and political organizing projects.
Birnbaum notes that the Collaborative is not intended to be part of a ‘social safety net’ or an attempt at combating poverty in Woodlawn. “Rather,” she explains, ”the Collaborative is an attempt to bridge two communities, the University and Woodlawn, in mutually enriching ways.”
“And although this initiative is distinctly local,” Birnbaum is firm to declare, “if it succeeds, it may serve as a model for reconciling town and gown relationships in other places.”
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
