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Entrepreneurship in action: Empresarias del Futuro – Empowering Latinas through wealth creation

February 22, 2017

claudia-alcantara2

Empresarias del Futuro (EDF) is an educational training designed for women who are seeking financial independence through business development. The training provides participants with financial literacy, entrepreneurship tools and personal development that support women in business. The EDF program provides business resources and links participants with microloan options through program partners such as Acción Chicago, community organizations and financial institutions. Current participants and program graduates also receive individual financial coaching sessions during and after the training.

EDF Training is offered in two different levels. The EDF Training Level I is for start ups and Level II is for EDF graduates and business owners who seek to develop their own business plan. Throughout the year, the EDF program organizes community events where Empresarias Del Futuro participants promote their business and expand their commercial network. Training is offered in Spanish. Empresarias del Futuro curriculum was structured according to the financial needs of the communities served by Mujeres Latinas en Acción.

Claudia Alcántara has been committed to Mujeres Latinas en Acción for the last 10 years, working first as the Women in Transition Program Director. Originally, WIT Program provided support with public benefits and emergency funds but then, Mrs. Alcántara transformed the program into an educational financial training for women who want to develop a business idea. The EDF program will celebrate their 4th Anniversary this year.

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For disability accommodations please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700 or christia@uic.edu.

Nearly a year after layoffs, former Oreo plant workers struggle to find their way

February 21, 2017

Susana Palomo works during class Thursday, Feb. 2, 2017 at the French Pastry School. (Brian Cassella / Chicago Tribune)

Matt Wilson, economic development planner for the Great Cities Institute is quoted in an article on the impacts of the Nabisco plant closing.

But it’s hard to envision a meaningful reversal of the manufacturing decline in Chicago, where $25-an-hour factory jobs with benefits have become increasingly rare. In the late 1940s, Chicago boasted almost 670,000 manufacturing jobs, according to city data. Recent estimates by university researchers put the current number at closer to 70,000.

Jobs at the Nabisco bakery, which employed more than 4,000 workers in its heyday, generally paid more than most of the other jobs in the surrounding area, and the plant employed more black and Latino workers than other facilities in the area, according to a recent analysis by the Great Cities Institute at University of Illinois Chicago.

“These are important, good-paying jobs, and not necessarily for people with high levels of educational attainment, in a part of the city that’s been losing manufacturing jobs for decades,” said Matt Wilson, economic development planner for the Great Cities Institute.

Full Story from Chicago Tribune »

Laura Washington: Job skills and opportunities deter violence

February 21, 2017

(Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)

Chicago Sun-Times columnist Laura Washington wrote about the recently released findings from a UIC Great Cities Institute report on joblessness in Chicago.

They are denigrated and disregarded. To some, they are deplorables of the “inner city.”

They live in a “war zone,” and reside in “hell,” says the president of the United States.

Most of the victims of Chicago’s murderous violence are black and Latino young people from the city’s South and West sides. The headlines tell us they are victims and criminals.

They tell us they want — and desperately need — work. That’s the headline from a panel of six strivers who spoke at a recent symposium at the Chicago Urban League.

The Jan. 30 program kicked off with a report, “Abandoned in their Neighborhoods: Youth Joblessness Amidst the Flight of Industry and Opportunity.” There is a “high correlation” with violence and unemployment, shows the study, commissioned by the Alternative Schools Network and produced by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities Institute.

Full Column from Chicago Sun-Times

New business model may make Illinois ‘Delaware of social enterprise’

February 21, 2017

Marc J. Lane, economic development expert and author, speaks at the Great Cities Institute at University of Illinois-Chicago Feb. 8. (Chronicle Media)

The Cook County Chronicle reported on a UIC Great Cities Institute talk featuring Marc J. Lane, an attorney and economic development expert.

Illinois is becoming a hub for companies that want to change the world and make a profit at the same time, said Marc J. Lane, an attorney and economic development expert at an event hosted Feb. 8 by the Great Cities Institute at University of Illinois-Chicago.

Imagine a “Shark Tank” television show where non-profit charities bring their needs to cutthroat investment tycoons — and are funded immediately.

Lane described a business model that would help private companies with a mission to help solve social issues. He helped draft a new form of incorporation model called L3C for “social enterprise businesses.”

Full Story from Cook County Chronicle »

Making the Transit Investment Case: Comparing London and Chicago

February 16, 2017

February 16, 2017 — Noon to 1 p.m.
UTC Spring Seminar Series
Speaker: Chris Hall, MUPP, Consultant Transport for London
Topic: Making the Transit Investment Case: Comparing London and Chicago
Venue: Great Cities Institute Conference Room, Suite 400, 412 S. Peoria St., Chicago
Details: Greater London’s transit agenda — and how it provides a potential template for funding large-scale projects in metropolitan Chicago — will be explored during the first installment of the spring 2017 Seminar Series presentation hosted by the Urban Transportation Center at UIC.

CAN TV cablecast of Youth Employment Hearing

February 14, 2017

Teens and young adults discuss with federal, state and local officials the correlation between the city’s violence and the lack of youth employment opportunities. This program was recorded by Chicago Access Network Television (CAN TV).

Sunday, February 12th, 9:00 AM, CAN TV21
Monday, February 13th, 6:00 PM, CAN TV27

Tuesday, February 14th, 9:00 AM, CAN TV27

CAN TV cablecast of Youth Employment Hearing

February 14, 2017

Sunday, February 12th, 9:00 AM, CAN TV21
Monday, February 13th, 6:00 PM, CAN TV27

Tuesday, February 14th, 9:00 AM, CAN TV27

CAN TV cablecast of Youth Employment Hearing

February 12, 2017

Sunday, February 12th, 9:00 AM, CAN TV21
Monday, February 13th, 6:00 PM, CAN TV27

Tuesday, February 14th, 9:00 AM, CAN TV27

Architecture competition aims to revitalize South Chicago

February 9, 2017

Students tour South Chicago as part of a competition to envision how a neighborhood can revitalize itself. Photo by Andrew Mateja.

Nearly 60 students from the University of Illinois at Chicago’s School of Architecture are taking part in a competition to help revitalize the South Chicago neighborhood by planning recreational and open spaces on land under the Chicago Skyway.

The South Chicago Underline Project is a competition designed to tap into ideas generated by the 56 graduate and undergraduate architecture students as part of the competition. The UIC School of Architecture, in conjunction with the UIC Great Cities Institute and the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce, are partners in the project.

The effort is part of a larger revitalization initiative that began when the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce approached the Great Cities Institute for assistance in improving the area, said Meghan Funk, competition coordinator.

Full Story from UIC News »

The mission-driven venture: Business solutions to the world’s most vexing social problems

February 8, 2017

marclane

Governments and nonprofit organizations everywhere have compassionately invested billions in social services, yet, wherever we look we still face stubborn challenges in education, health care poverty, unemployment, and the environment. Many social entrepreneurs train and employ the disadvantaged and disabled. Others are disruptive innovators helping those populations access products and services previously unavailable to them. While traditional businesses remain committed to their commercial imperative, more than ever, they, too, are intent on generating a demonstrable social or environmental impact. Together, mission-driven ventures and traditional business concerns are learning how to reach and sustain scaled social solutions.

Marc J. Lane is a nationally recognized business and tax attorney and financial adviser, and practices law at The Law Offices of Marc J. Lane, P.C. in Chicago. He is an expert on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance, and an influential advocate of best corporate governance practices. He is an innovator in helping corporations, social enterprises, foundations, investors, lenders and philanthropists leverage capital to maximize financial results while driving positive social change. By appointment of Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn, he chaired the state’s Task Force on Social Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Enterprise; and by appointment of Cook County Commissioner Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, now serves as Vice Chairperson of the Cook County Commission on Social Innovation.

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For disability accommodations please contact Christiana Kinder, (312) 996-8700 or christia@uic.edu.