Steel Mills Gone, South Chicago Looks To Revitalize Its Downtown

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A DNAinfo Chicago story highlights efforts to revitalize the Commercial Avenue business district in South Chicago and cites the local chamber of commerce’s partnership with Great Cities Institute. Jack Rocha, GCI research specialist, is interviewed in the article.

Now, community leaders and the University of Illinois at Chicago are working on a plan to revitalize the business district along Commercial Avenue. Those involved in the plan hope not only to revitalize the district, but also to turn the lakefront neighborhood into a destination on the Far South Side.

“We had theaters, dining, entertainment,” said Dan Lira, president of the South Chicago Chamber of Commerce. “When the steel mills closed, we lost all that. Now, we’re asking, how do we create the incentives to bring people out to South Chicago?”

Full Story from DNAinfo »

Democratizing Tax Increment Financing through Participatory Budgeting – A Tool Kit

Authors:
Cecile Carroll, Thea Crum, Carolina Gaete, Maria Hadden, Rachel Weber

Abstract:
This PB – TIF Tool Kit provides valuable information for organizations and residents interested in maximizing the community benefits from TIF through more participatory decision making processes.

The Tool Kit includes the following:
1) Basic information on the mechanics of TIF and PB in Chicago and in other cities in the U.S.;
2) A case study of Blocks Together’s use of PB to decide on spending priorities for the Chicago/Central Park TIF District in West Humboldt Park;
3) Advice on how community residents can determine neighborhood spending priorities and research past TIF allocations in their neighborhoods.

Full Text »

Cook County offers contractors incentives to hire teens

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle presides over the County Board meeting on Wednesday Jan., 13, 2016. The County Board approved a measure that incentivizes local companies to hire area teens. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

Cook County President Toni Preckwinkle presides over the County Board meeting on Wednesday Jan., 13, 2016. The County Board approved a measure that incentivizes local companies to hire area teens. (Abel Uribe / Chicago Tribune)

A recent UIC Great Cities Institute report on youth joblessness in Cook County is cited in a Chicago Tribune article about a new ordinance that give companies seeking county contracts incentives to hire teens.

The employment rate among 16- to 19-year-olds in Cook County was 20.4 percent in 2014, down from 27.5 percent in 2005, and nearly 10 percentage points lower than the national average, according to a March report prepared for the county by the Great Cities Institute at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The recession took a particularly hard toll on youth, who had to compete for entry-level positions with older and more experienced workers who lost their jobs, and they have seen little recovery.

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Making the West Side – Public Forum and Reception

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Thursday, May 19, 2016
9:30a-6:00p
Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
800 S Halsted St., Chicago

Please join Jane Addams Hull-House Museum for a day of conversations exploring the history of Chicago’s West Side and it impact on present day neighborhoods.

Making the West Side: Community Conversations on Neighborhood Change is a year-long project funded through the National Endowment for the Humanities that will bring together scholars, activists, neighborhood residents, and other stakeholders to investigate the history of neighborhood change on Chicago’s West Side and connect those histories to contemporary issues and concerns. The project kicks-off with a public forum on May 19 and continues through the summer with community conversations across Chicago’s West Side.
9:30a-10a Arrival, Coffee & Refreshments

10a-10:20a Welcome
Jennifer Scott, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

10:20p-12:00p Conversation 1: Making Neighborhoods Visible: Racism, Disinvestment, and Redevelopment 

Moderator: Richard Steele, Vocalo/WBEZ
Beryl Satter, Rutgers University
Rufus Williams, BBF Family Services
Amara Enyia, Public Policy Consultant

1:00p-2:30p Conversation 2: Making the Near West Side: Survey, Displacement, and Community Transformation

Moderator: Teresa Cordova, Great Cities Institute, University of Illinois Chicago
Rima Lunin Schultz, Independent Scholar
Cynthia Blair, University of Illinois Chicago
Lilia Fernandez, Ohio State University
Richard Anderson, Princeton University

2:45p-4:15p Conversation 3: Making Resilient Neighborhoods: Organizing, Belonging and Re-making

Moderator: Jennifer Scott, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum
Rosa Cabrera, University of Illinois Chicago
Dave Stovall, University of Illinois Chicago
Kathy Catrambone, Independent Journalist

4:15p-4:45p Wrap Up: Alice O’Connor, University of California Santa Barbara and Jennifer Scott, Jane Addams Hull-House Museum

5:00p-6:00p Reception

Categories:

Public Spending, By the People: Participatory Budgeting

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Since 2012, the Great Cities Institute has been researching on and co-leading the expansion of participatory budgeting (PB) in Chicago. We are thrilled to announce the release of the first-ever comprehensive analysis of participatory budgeting in the U.S. and Canada by our partner, Public Agenda.

PB is a process that enables residents to directly decide how to spend public money. It is one of the fastest growing forms of public engagement and has the potential to strengthen local democracy.

The report, “Public Spending, By the People: Participatory Budgeting in the United States and Canada in 2014-15,” synthesizes data from 46 cities and districts that used PB in 2014-15. Among their findings:

  • Communities overall invested substantially in the process and saw diverse participation. Over 70,000 residents decided how their communities should spend $50 million through PB.
  • PB implementation and outcomes vary widely between cities and districts.
  • On average, cities and districts allocated $1 million to PB, but that ranged from $61k to $3.4 million.
  • Some communities lag far behind in their representation of lower-income and less educated residents. The report provides demographic data on participants and compares it to local US census data.

For more information:
Read about PB Chicago on GCI’s website »
Download the executive summary »
Download the full report »

A conversation with French-African film curator Claire Diao and director Alice Diop from the associations Quartiers Lointains and Siniman Films

A conversation with French-African film curator Claire Diao and director Alice Diop from the associations Quartiers Lointains and Siniman Films

French-Burkinabe film journalist and curator, specialized in African and French-african cinemas, Claire Diao is correspondent for Screen Africa (South Africa) and writes for SoFilm, Le Monde Afrique, Bondy Blog and Courrier International (blog L’Afrique en films). In 2015, she launched AWOTELE, a Panafrican online film critic magazine. She also regularly curates films series and moderates cinema panels worldwide and is in the process of setting up a professional online platform to connect filmmakers and film festivals from Africa and the Diaspora.

Born in Vincennes (France) from Senegalese parents, filmmaker Alice Diop studied History at the University of Paris- Sorbonne and Image & Society at the University of Evry. Her first documentary, The World Tour, was broadcasted on Voyages TV then Clichy pour l’exemple (2006) on France 5. In 2011, her feature documentary Danton’s Death wins the Library Award at the Cinéma du Réel Festival as well as the Etoile de la Scam 2012 Award.

Coming from various backgrounds, the associations Quartiers Lointains and Siniman Films produce, edit, distribute and curate films and publications on all media in order to explore the questioning about belonging to a double culture while contributing to a better understanding of the other.

Organized and supported by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in New York and Chicago.

PDF Flyer »

Categories:

The Illinois Student Access Bill

Author
Rosario Gómez-Alvarez Díaz, Department of Economics and Economic History, University of Seville

Abstract
This report presents the main effects expected from the Illinois Student Access Bill, which, if approved, would allow undocumented students to be eligible for state-funded scholarships in four year-public universities. Currently, undocumented students are not eligible for these scholarships. This evaluation of the impact of this proposed bill was made using estimates derived from previous scientific research. Its approval would have positive effects on the educational level and earnings of this group. As a consequence, government spending would be reduced, and tax revenues and GDP would increase.

Full Text (English) »

Full Text (Spanish) »

Public Spending, By the People: Participatory Budgeting in the United States and Canada in 2014-15

Author:
Public Agenda

Abstract:
From 2014 to 2015, more than 70,000 residents across the United States and Canada directly decided how their cities and districts should spend nearly $50 million in public funds through a process known as participatory budgeting (PB). PB is among the fastest growing forms of public engagement in local governance, having expanded to 46 communities in the U.S. and Canada in just 6 years. PB is a young practice in the U.S. and Canada. Until now, there’s been no way for people to get a general understanding of how communities across the U.S. implement PB, who participates, and what sorts of projects get funded. The report, “Public Spending, By the People” offers the first-ever comprehensive analysis of PB in the U.S. and Canada.

Full Text »

The Week: Chicago in crisis

A protest in reaction to the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. REUTERS/Andrew Nelles

A protest in reaction to the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald. REUTERS/Andrew Nelles

Great Cities Institute’s report on youth joblessness was mentioned in a The Week article on issues facing the city of Chicago.

A recent report found that 47 percent of black men in Chicago between 20 and 24 were out of both school and work in 2014, 15 percent higher than the national average. The situation, says Great Cities Institute Director Teresa Córdova, is “definitely at crisis proportions.”

Full Story from The Week »