TheRealNews.com interviewed Pauline Lipman, former GCI research scholar and professor of educational policy studies, on the hunger strike being staged by supporters of the closed Dyett High School who want the Board of Education to reopen it as a green-technology high school. Lipman said the city has been disinvesting in neighborhood schools in black and Latino neighborhoods while investing in charter schools.
A Stronger Commercial Avenue = A Stronger South Chicago
The Great Cities Institute is pleased to announce its upcoming commercial corridor revitalization project on South Commercial Avenue in the South Chicago community. In collaboration with Special Service Area (SSA) #5, GCI will embark on a nine-month community-based planning process with key neighborhood stakeholders including residents, business owners, community organizations, service providers, and elected officials. This project is a part of GCI’s Neighborhoods Initiative, which reflects the Institute’s commitment to improving the quality-of-life in communities in Chicago.
In South Chicago, retail has been on the decline, with very little recovery, since the loss of the steel industry. Beginning as a sharp decline in the mid 1970s, the last steel mill closed its doors in the early 1990s. The loss of those payrolls meant a loss in retail employment and the access to the goods and services that retail provides. As a result, a once thriving commercial corridor at the heart of South Chicago now contains only a fraction of the businesses it once held. Interspersed through the occasional business, are rampant vacancies and empty lots. Residents active in South Chicago believe in the possibilities for a revived South Commercial Avenue. We are excited and honored to work with them on this Strategic Planning Process for Commercial Revitalization in South Chicago.
As we partner with South Chicago residents and organizations, we will, of course, begin by inviting stakeholders to develop ideas and strategies, utilizing their local knowledge to provide the foundation for the plan. Applying our various technical tools, we will gather the community’s input and guide residents and organizations towards a consensus on actions to take to implement the plan. Through a series of community meetings and design charrettes, we will develop a vision, design, and actions for the corridor. We will couple the wants and needs of stakeholders with data and economic analysis to form a basis for the recruitment of new businesses to fill vacancies and create a vibrant corridor.
The resulting plan will have a direct effect on the Commercial Avenue corridor by creating a focus on the importance of the corridor and by creating a framework for future developments along the corridor. This process takes time, but over several years of focused efforts, the intention is to produce a thriving, vibrant corridor that draws people from all over the region to shop, dine, and stroll in the South Chicago neighborhood. The result will be a stronger economy, more jobs, and access to the goods and services that neighborhood residents need.
About the Author:
Jackson Morsey, GCI Urban Planner: Primarily working within GCI’s Neighborhoods Initiative, Jackson works in collaboration with community-based organizations, university faculty, and staff to provide technical assistance and services for community and economic development projects.
IRRPP announces new Director Amanda Lewis
Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy welcomed Amanda Lewis as their new Director. Professor Lewis is an Associate Professor in the Departments of African American Studies & Sociology. Her research and writing focus on how race shapes educational opportunities from kindergarten through college and how ideas about race are negotiated in everyday life. Like IRRPP, Professor Lewis is dedicated to issues of racial justice, institutional change, and engaged scholarship. We look forward to future collaboration with Amanda Lewis and IRRPP.
Guanxi: Chinese Social Capital in Chicago
CW Chan and Jenny Yang discuss how Guanxi is manifest in their practices within the Chicago business community.
Gender in the City: Street Harassment and Safety
Scheherazade Tillet and Jasson Perez consider Street Harassment. Rachel Caidor leads a post lecture discussion.
LGBTQ Youth Experiencing Homelessness: Providing for Services
Tracy Baim, Carrie Kaufman, and Devin Redmond present their work to support LGBTQ Youth Experiencing Homelessness.
Nik Theodore study cited in several articles
A 2012 study led by Nik Theodore, GCI fellow and professor of urban planning and policy, that found that many Latinos don’t report crime for fear of being questioned about their immigration status has been cited in several articles.
Sanctuary Cities Actually Make Us Safer (Hartford Courant) »
Actually, Sanctuary Cities Are Safer (Mother Jones) »
San Francisco, sanctuary city, safer than Dallas or Fort Worth (Daily Kos) »
New Mapping Tool Shows How to Access Activities by Various Modes
Urban Accessibility Explorer Maps Show Travel Time By Mode
Planetizen, a website about urban planning, reports on the Accessibility Explorer, a free online tool that allows the user to determine how many jobs in various categories, schools, parks, stores and libraries can be reached by residents of specified neighborhoods within a given amount of travel time.
The tool was designed by Nebiyou Tilahun, assistant professor of urban planning and policy in the Urban Transportation Center, College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs.
The Metropolitan Chicago Accessibility Explorer is an easy-to-use mapping system that measures the number of activities, including various types of jobs, schools, parks, stores and libraries, that can be reached by residents of specified neighborhoods within a given amount of travel time, by a particular mode and time of day in the Chicago Metropolitan area. The results are displayed on maps that can be adjusted by scale and area. The Accessibility Explorer was developed by the Urban Transportation Center, which is a unit of the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs at the University of Illinois at Chicago help policy makers, planners, and the general public easily evaluate how transportation system and land use change could alter accessibility.
Janet Smith: Plan today for Illinois’ aging baby boomers tomorrow
The State Journal-Register featured an op-ed by Janet Smith, co-director of the Voorhees Center in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, on policy initiatives needed to ensure adequate housing and transportation for Illinois’ growing senior population.
There are two certainties about the future of aging baby boomers in Illinois: their number and their needs are expected to boom.
Policymakers here need to become aware of what’s on the horizon and prepare to address big challenges ahead.
Baby boomers are growing dramatically in number. Researchers estimate that by 2030, Illinois’ population will include 648,000 people 65 to 74 years old (a 76 percent gain), 419,000 people aged 75 to 84 (an 80 percent increase), and 153,000 people 85 or older (a 65 percent increase).
That means one in five Illinoisans will be older than 65 in the next 15 years.
Home economics: The labor struggle of domestic workers
National Domestic Workers Alliance. Courtesy of NDWA rally for justice
LEO Weekly (Louisville, Ken.) cites a 2012 study on domestic workers by the Center for Urban Economic Development in the College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs, calling it “the most comprehensive resource for issues plaguing domestic workers in the 21st century” and urging at the federal and state levels.
In 2012, The NDWA and the University of Illinois in Chicago published “Home Economics: The Invisible and Unregulated World of Domestic Work.” Based on surveys from over 2,000 domestic workers, it is the most comprehensive resource for issues plaguing domestic workers in the 21st century. The findings show the necessity for reform at both the federal and state level.
The survey’s findings told the country what many already knew: domestic workers face disproportionate levels of exploitation and wage theft. For example, 23 percent of domestic workers who were surveyed earned less than minimum wage; for live-in workers, the number rose to 67 percent.