Boulevard Ribbon Cutting Ceremony ( L to R: Founders - Don and Eunice Schatz, Executive Director - Scott Chesebro, and Board President - Bruce Texley)

Carnivale - Location of the 40th Anniversary

Dinner at Carnivale

Chicago Center Founders (Bottom Right: Don and Eunice Schatz) with Chicago Center alumni

“The Chicago Center for Urban Life Culture has been a great experience to me with the help from the fellow staff. Not only has it benefited my life, but also, it has impacted other lives as well. This was represented in its entirety during the luncheon and the 40th anniversary. The luncheon had a great turnout with the alumnus, founders, staff, and current students. I think it was a great way to bring all the people who had gone through the Chicago Center, past and present, to exchange stories of how they have changed following this experience. Also, it was great to be around during the ribbon cut as it represented the 40 years of success. The founders of the Chicago Center and the others that kept it going for 40 years deserved all the gratitude they received. I couldn’t imagine what they had gone through to make it to this point, but I’m thankful they made it, so I could get the opportunity to experience Chicago. It was great for me to meet some of the alumni, to see how their lives are going and any other things that came to mind. I will say the food helped top off the luncheon right.

Following the luncheon, I went to set-up for the Gala. Upon arrival, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The building exterior and interior were marvelous. They had a great mixture of colors and decorations to coincide with each other. When I walked in, I could sense it was going to be a wonderful night and indeed, it turned out that way. The Chicago Center had a lot of supporters, as represented at the Gala. There were 202 guests at a facility that had a capacity of 200. This just proves that the Chicago Center has changed so many lives over the years. 40 years is a long time, but through thick and thin, they stuck around to change lives time after time. As for me, I’m glad I made this decision because this experience as given me a new perspective on life. Coming from a place where different perspectives rarely differ, this experience really gave me a much in depth insight to life, and I plan on sharing that when I venture back home. Because of the Chicago Center, I have become a well-rounded individual in all aspects of life and upon my completion here, I plan on taking what I’ve learned here, back home and sharing it with others. 40 years and still going strong till this day. This is a such a great accomplishment for the Chicago Center. Because of my experience with the Chicago Center and the city of Chicago, if it all works out, I plan on returning to the City of Chicago to make a difference where it’s needed. I just want to thank you for this life changing experience. It’s well appreciated.”

~Austin George Smith, Bethel College,  Fall 2010 Urban Academic Practicum Student

Arvis Averette recieved a First Voice Lifetime Achievement Award for his unwavering commitment to teach and organize for racial and economic justice

Scott Chesebro was presented a suprise tribute video

Phyllis Cunningham recieved a First Voice Lifetime Achievement Award for her vision and action in breaking the mold of traditional education for non-traditional students

Chicago Center Alumni and Friends

First Voice Lifetime Achievement Award Recipients and Presenters

“Today was such a lovely day. I’m not going to recount the day for you because you were there and I have plenty of pictures to help me remember, but I will say one thing. I feel so blessed to be a part of such an incredible organization. I didn’t realize how many people you have touched or how far the Chicago Center’s reputation has reached. I have met some of the best people EVER here and I am dreading leaving. I have never been so close to a group of people and felt so at home. I really hope we are able to stay in touch, because these people are better friends than people I’ve known for years. If anyone was debating whether or not to come here I would tell them that this has been the most amazing semester of my schooling. This is not a just a program it’s like a home. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be one of your kids for a semester!”

~Ryann Bird, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Fall 2010 Urban Academic Practicum Student

The Chesebros

Chicago Center Staff 2010-2011

40th Celebration

Dancing the night away

The Chicago Center for Urban Life & Culture was founded in 1970, and since then has helped thousands of college students make Chicago their classroom. The Chicago Center serves students from more than 30 liberal arts colleges and universities by providing practicum opportunities in all academic majors as well as urban teaching and social work in Chicago.

The Chicago Center engages students with urban resources, realities, and issues through a first voice pedagogy which uses the city directly as a teaching resource.

Upon arrival, students share apartments in the heart of Hyde Park (1327 E. Hyde Park Boulevard). They receive a one – or two-week course in the culture of the city, attending a variety of different religious services, plays, music, venues, museums, and festivals throughout the city.

After touring of the city, students are steered towards an internship that will challenge their particular academic interests.

StreetWise has hosted six interns from the Chicago Center in the last three years, including Brenna Daldorph, whose  August 5, 2009 cover story won ‘Best Feature’ at this year’s North American Street Newspaper Association (NASNA) awards.

Rachel Sylwestrzak, the most recent intern, told us about her experience with the Chicago Center and interning at StreetWise.

“I was interested in publishing, and StreetWise was one of the contacts that the Center game me.” Sylwestrzak said. “It wasn’t the exact idea I had in mind, but I thought that working here would challenge me, in addition to giving me an inside look at a lifestyle that I hadn’t really been exposed to. I’m glad I came here, because it worked out great. One thing that was kind of big for me – I live in the suburbs, and we don’t have public transportation. One of the things the Center stressed was how to use the CTA to get around the city. So, it’s made me more comfortable when I have to go out to different locations for stories,” She continued.

“I got to cover a few city hall meetings, which is something I’d never got to do before. It was very interesting and definitely something I will remember from my experience here in Chicago.”

Sylwestrzak concluded, “The Chicago Center is very supportive of the internship. I like how they let us take charge of the experience. It’s been a perfect fit.”

Marit Ehmke interned at StreetWise through Chicago Center in January 2009. Reflecting on her experiences, she said, “I learned a lot of new things, met a lot of great people, and experience what life in Chicago is really all about. Working at StreetWise reminded me of how important it is to help out in when, where, and any way you can.”

For more information about the Chicago Center for Urban Life & Culture, visit www. chicagocenter.org, or call 773.262.1313

The Chicago Center, located here in Hyde Park, could very well be the most important neighborhood institution you’ve never heard of.  Tucked away in the office space at 1515 E. 52nd Pl., the center has spent four decades bridging the gap between urban communities and those that attend university with an eye to studying them, teaching in them and otherwise working in those places.  Scott Chesebro, who heads the center, describes it as having more in common with, for example, a living abroad program than with a more traditional urban studies format.

We don’t think of ourselves as a service learning program.  We don’t think of ourselves as a vista-type education program [We are] an urban education program that utilizes the city and its resources as an educational tool,” Chesebro said.

Students at Chicago Center, who come from over 30 colleges largely in less urban settings and in many cases from across the Midwest, are given crash courses in navigating public transportation, exposed to the diversity of neighborhoods throughout the city and are challenged to deal directly with the people who are represented by the studies and statistics that often are the main fare of such majors as sociology and urban planning.

It is this quality, which Urban Social Work Practicum Director Arvis Averette describes as “a reliance on first voices,” that sets the center apart from many other kinds of programs.

“It’s like study abroad in Chicago,” Chesebro said. “It functions more like a study abroad program than it does a service learning program or an internship program that a student might do while they’re at the University of Chicago.  Maybe they do an internship at the Hyde Park Neighborhood Club, but they’re still living on campus, they’re still going to classes every day. They’re just doing a volunteer experience in the neighborhood.”

Averette contrasts this to other learning environments related to urban studies.

“Many of the academic things that one does in school-you look at the community and study it, look at the statistics and so forth. But here- the separation from the other programs I’ve been aware of – is this reliance on having people from that community who are very responsible people, who know the community and speak to it to the students in a learning fashion,” Averette said. “For example, if we are going to deal with Bronzeville, we would invariably talk to Tim Black or Harold Lucas who are the reigning experts on these areas.”

By all accounts, students currently at the center give high marks to the approach.

Student Ryann Bird, who comes from a small town in rural Nebraska and attends school in Lincoln, said her initial impression of the South Side of Chicago was, like many people, based on pretty unreliable source of information.

“I’m from a really tiny town in Nebraska with 5,500 people.  My parents, they knew everything they see on TV about the South Side of Chicago.  I was nervous at first,” Bird said. “But Hyde Park is really safe and homey…it’s not like the media portrays it at all.”

Bird is interning at the DuSable Museum of African American History, which she gets to via public transportation each day from the apartment building the center recently purchased for its students.  Student Beth Izzo, who is teaching second grade at Beasley Elemetary on State Street, said the shared living quarters have been a big help to her as a student teacher.

‘It’s good to live with other student teachers so we can talk about our experiences, which always helps,” Izzo said, “It’s nice to have that support system.”

Chicago Center is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a full day of events this Saturday, Nov. 6, culminating in an evening at Carnivale.  For more information, call Althea Conyers at 773-363-1312 or visit chicagocenter.org

Plenary speaker Dr. Gregory Michie discusses Public Education in Chicago and its Implications for National Policy

October 4, 2010 – Chicago, IL – On November 4 & 5, Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture (CCULC) will host an Urban Education Symposium, bringing in educators from across the country to take an in-depth look at Public Education in Chicago and its Implications for National Policy. The symposium will begin with a plenary address co-sponsored by the International House Global Voices Program and will be delivered by Dr. Gregory Michie, author of “Holler If You Hear Me: The Education of a Teacher and His Students” and “See You When We Get There: Teaching for Change in Urban Schools.” Dr. Michie’s address is at 5:30 p.m. on November 4 in University of Chicago’s International House, 1414 E. 59^th Street, and will be free and open to the public.

Dr. Michie has worked in education for the past 20 years; he spent 9 years as a public school teacher on the South Side of Chicago before stepping into the role of a teacher-educator in 2001. He was a recipient of the Golden Apple Foundation Award for Excellence in Teaching in 1996.

“The crisis in our public education system has moved front and center in the national dialogue, spiked by the ‘Race to the Top’ and the movie ‘Waiting for Superman,’” Scott Chesebro, CCULC Executive Director said. “Chicago Center has developed a recognized urban teaching program and has been placing student teachers in Chicago’s Public schools for three decades. It is the perfect moment to bring together educators and students to engage in the dialogue, and I can’t think of anyone more capable of stimulating the discussion than Greg Michie.”  

Recognized nationwide as a leader in experiential education and founded in 1970, Chicago Center has extended the classroom walls for thousands of students from more than 30 liberal arts colleges and universities from across the country by providing practicum opportunities in ALL academic majors, as well as urban teaching and urban social work in Chicago. Through its Urban Teaching practicum, CCULC has connections with dozens of Chicago Public Schools and currently has 23 student teachers placed around the city.

“At Chicago Center we connect our students with experts and leaders in their field and give student teachers the resources they need for cross-cultural teaching.  We ask Dr. Michie to speak to Chicago Center student teachers because of his commitment to understanding the children we are teaching within the contexts of their lives,” Nancy Friesen, CCULC Urban Teaching Practicum Director said. “Top down education policies can leave little room for students, families and communities to be heard; he’s a voice for making sure the children don’t get lost.  He encourages people to be responsive to their students while working with mandates from above.”

On November 5, the symposium continues with a structured introduction to Chicago Public Schools via CPS school visits and discussions with educators from various Chicago neighborhoods. Participants will also have the option to spend the morning observing a CCULC cooperating teacher or current student teacher.

“Providing all students, including those in urban classrooms with highly-qualified and highly-effective teachers is essential to the ongoing development of our students, our communities and our nation,” said Suzanne Katz, symposium participant and Associate Professor of Educational Studies at Ripon College. “Events like the Urban Education Symposium, led by CCULC provide those seeking teacher licensure the opportunity to experience the promise and challenges associated with teaching in an urban setting.  The Symposium is a means to clarify their eventual classroom role as one of engaging in productive, positive learning experiences with a wide circle of students, families, and communities.” 

The symposium will conclude with a post-observation discussion led by experts in urban education. For registration information, visit: http://events.constantcontact.com/register/event?llr=ygigjtdab&oeidk=a07e310h3d26feca6c9

Just days after the symposium, CCULC celebrates its 40^th anniversary on November 6 with a full day of Exploring Chicago’s Communities and Cultures. The day includes a Chicago Center Signature South Side Tour, an Alumni Lunch Reception, and an evening Anniversary Gala. For more information, visit: www.chicagocenter.org.

Chicago Center equips college students and other participants to learn from diverse urban communities through innovative programs, seminars and internships. The Center expands the traditional classroom with a community-based, first-voice pedagogy that prepares its students for greater self-awareness and global citizenship.

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Chicago Center raising digs dough

By DASCHELL M. PHILLIPS
Staff Writer

The Chicago Center has begun fundraising for its new Hyde Park student building.

The Chicago Center, which is a Hyde Park-based non-profit organization at 1515 E. 52^nd Pl., offers programs that expose college students to city living and world cultures. The center has cooperative agreements with about 40 colleges to act as a host to students who want to study any subject in an urban area.

The center’s newly purchased student housing, which is located on the 1600 block of Hyde Park Boulevard near Kenwood Avenue, is a three-flat with five bedrooms on each floor, which has 3,300 square feet. Each floor can house up to eight students so the building can hold up to 30 students total.  The property also has a garden level where a study, recreation and laundry room will be added

Each residential floor is named after the center’s principal founders Don and Unice Shatz, Phyllis Cunningham and Jim Bertucci. The center is planning to make plaques with the founder’s names for each floor.

Scott Chesebro, executive director of the program, said the center once owned a building at 5004 S. Blackstone Ave., but sold it in 1992 “because it was too small for the program’s purposes.”

Although the program went on to rent several apartment units in the neighborhood, Chesebro said that they always intended to purchase another housing unit, so when the center’s real estate agent called to tell them about the property, which once served as housing for students of the Zavarian religious order, they moved quickly, purchasing the property on Dec. 21, 2009, and moving in on Jan. 5, 2010.

“This building represents more than a building – it’s how our students relate to one another and community,” said Althea Conyers, marketing and public relations director at the center. “The students will learn what it means to live as a community.”

Chesebro said with all the students living in one building they won’t feel isolated and the center will have an easier time dealing with issues of safety and maintenance.

“Since most of the students come from rural areas their colleges and parents will feel better knowing they are together in a central place,” Chesebro said.

Conyers said weekly student staff meetings and other workshops also help students feel secure and gain confidence in their areas of study.

Kevin Renderman, who completed his urban teaching practicum at Kenwood Academy in April, was a part of the first group of students to live in the new student housing property. He said he enjoyed the level of support he received. He was especially grateful for the education seminars and other professional and lifestyle support classes given through the center.

“In the [education seminar] class we would just talk about our week and our experiences and when problems arise we would talk them out and get advice and lesson plan ideas from each other,” Renderman said.

Shortly after the property was purchased, the center received a $200,000 loan from the Illinois Facilities Fund for remodeling. Now the center is reaching out to alumni and friends to make donations toward maintaining the property.

Donators can sponsor the upkeep of a room for $1,000 or have their names inscribed in bricks for the garden for $200.

The Chicago Center is gearing up for a weeklong celebration of its 40^th anniversary in November. In addition to the purchase of the student housing property, the organization  has a new logo and Web site.

For more information about the Chicago Center, call 1-800-747-6059 or 773-363-1312 or email info@chicagocenter.org.

Student as Teacher

Chicago Center student taught at Kenwood

By DACHELL M. PHILLIPS
Staff Writer

 Although Kevin Renderman is a Chicago native he never traveled too far outside of his tight-knit Irish Catholic neighborhood of Mount Greenwood until it was time for him to attend Millikin University, an undergraduate, Presbyterian institution in Decatur, Ill.  Once he decided he was interested in teaching in the city, Renderman found the Chicago Center for Urban Life & Culture’s Urban Teaching Practicum as a great help.

Renderman said he decided he wanted to become a math teacher his junior year at Marist High School, but once he got into college he changed his mind and began to pursue a degree in physical education because he “didn’t want to be stuck in the classroom eight hours a day.”

Faced with the choice to student teach in Decatur or Chicago Renderman chose Chicago and said although he is a native he has learned so much more about his hometown through participating in the Chicago Center Urban Teaching Practicum.

The Chicago Center, which is a Hyde Park-based non-profit, offers programs that expose college students to city living and world cultures. The center has cooperative agreements with about 40 colleges to act as a host to students who want to study any subject in an urban area.

“The center’s experiential learning philosophy, which allows students to learn through first-person experience, is what attracts many of the students to its programs,” said Althea Conyers, marketing and public relations director at Chicago Center. “Unlike most higher education institutions in Chicago, the students who attend are encouraged to live, work and study in all part of the city.”

Renderman, who started the program Jan. 5, said he saw parts of Chicago he’d never been to before and learned about Chicago’s architectural history.

Renderman was also part of the first group of students to live in the Chicago Center’s newly purchased student housing.  The new building, which is located on Kenwood Avenue and Hyde Park Boulevard, is a three-flat that can house up to 30 students. The program formerly had long-term leases on several apartments in the neighborhood. Renderman lived in one of the units with seven roommates.

Renderman said that he’s enjoyed the level of support he has received during his time here.

“I heard a lot of bad things about [Chicago Public Schools],” Renderman said. “When I told people I was coming here they would say, ‘Oh sorry,’ but I have not had any problems.”

On Jan. 11 Renderman started teaching three 7^th through 8^th grade PE classes and two health classes at the Kenwood Academy, 5015 S. Blackstone Ave. He was also the assistant coach for the freshman basketball team.

He said that Kenwood teachers were great mentors and that principal Elizabeth Kirby and assistant principal David Barain were great influences.

He said the Chicago Center’s weekly education seminar with Nancy Friesen has also provided a great deal of support.

“[Friesen] has been a teacher for over 25 years and is a great mentor,” Renderman said. “In the class we would just talk about our week and our experiences and when problems arise we would talk them out and get advice and lesson plan ideas from each other. “

After completing the Urban Teaching Practicum on April 30, Renderman returned to Millikin to prepare for graduation on May 16. He said that he is considering teaching in Boston for a short time but after that, becoming a CPS teacher on a permanent basis is definitely a goal for him.

The Chicago Center is gearing up for a weeklong celebration of its 40^th anniversary in November. In addition to the purchase of student housing, the organization has a new logo and Web site. For more information about the Chicago Center, call 1-800-747-6059 or e-mail info@chicagocenter.org.

d.phillips@hpherald.com

Members of the rally wore pink to illustrate the pink slips indicating the dismissal of nearly 20,000 teachers in Illinois. Below are pictures of Urban Social Work Practicum Director, Arvis Averette (pink suit) and Chicago Center Social Work Practicum students.

Last week, Chicago Center hosted First Thursday in Hyde Park, a monthly networking event for Hyde Park businesses and community members. First Thursday in Hyde Park is sponsored by the Hyde Park Chamber of Commerce, and each month a different business district in Hyde Park is highlighted. This month, the event focused on 53rd Street businesses, including Chicago Center!  We want to thank everyone who was in attendance for helping to make this event a true success.

Food and drinks were provided by CHANT, Pizza Capri, Hyde Park Produde, and Kimbark Beverage Shoppe.

“Who knew the possibility of hosting the Olympics could arouse such strong emotions? The passion of the panelists for their point of view was obvious from the start. From advocating for the Olympics to advocating for community involvement, to being flat out opposed to hosting the 2016 Games, the perspectives varied but the passion remained high. It is clear that if Chicago is chosen in October there will be an outburst of both jubilation and protest. Students, staff and others in the audience peppered the panel with thoughtful questions. It was two hours well spent. The great response from the community and the value as a class for the students has prompted Center staff to consider future panels on relevant topics as a part of the program.”

Scott E. Chesebro, PhD
Executive Director
Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture