Partnering for Community Impact

Uchicago Basketball Teams Engage With Nearly 1,000 South Side Students

At UChicago, our commitment to building strong, productive partnerships with our neighbors is shared across the whole university.

Every division and school across our university is engaged with our community, in ways large and small. We work to deepen our connections with our neighbors and build new partnerships that will benefit all of us, here on the South Side and throughout Chicago.

We welcome our neighbors’ input and insights into the issues that matter most to our shared communities and understand that ongoing, open dialogue is essential to forming effective collaborations. Our community partners inform our priorities and shape our actions as we work together to create positive change.

Our combined efforts draw upon our strength as an economic anchor and on the power of education, research, and innovation to create real, lasting impact and opportunity, in all communities.

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Community Safety

Through research, evidence-based programming, and direct service, UChicago is working with community partners on the South Side and beyond to build safer communities, save lives, and heal traumatic emotional wounds inflicted by violence.

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K-12 Education

We demonstrate our commitment to urban education by developing and investing in programs and initiatives that serve children from pre-K through high school and by working with teachers and principals to improve our city’s school system.

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Community Health

UChicago is committed to promoting health equity and improving access to care on the South Side, so all residents have the opportunity to thrive.

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Economic Opportunity and Entrepreneurship

We leverage UChicago’s role as the largest private employer and purchaser of goods and services on the South Side to foster entrepreneurship and create economic opportunities for community residents and local small businesses.

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Civic Infrastructure

To strengthen Chicago’s civic infrastructure, we offer community-based training for emerging leaders and help to build local organizations’ capacity to grow, thrive, and achieve their missions.

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Arts and Culture

As a partner in the South Side’s rich and storied arts community, we work to provide cultural opportunities, resources, and programs that reflect our community, resonate across the city, and are renowned around the world.

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Robert J. Zimmer, chancellor emeritus and 13th president of the University of Chicago, 1947-2023

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Local middle schoolers create ‘instant snow,’ map the hidden surface of planets at UChicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering science fair

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From the classroom into the community: Harris Community Action fellows partner with South Side nonprofits to increase impact

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Student groups dedicated to community service build South Side connections

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News

05/22/2023

University of Chicago Community Safety Leadership Academies host first cohort of rising police leaders from over 20 departments across America

Police leaders begin six-month leadership and management education program designed to improve community safety and reduce violence

05/19/2023

Chicago Booth grad helps underrepresented startup founders find success

Lily Xu, ’13, says the lessons she learned from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business and from her father prepared her for the ups and downs of founding her own beauty-technology startup.

05/16/2023

Public Safety Advisory Council to conduct community survey

Since last year, council representatives from various stakeholder groups within the University and South Side communities have met to outline plans for future work, which include a comprehensive community public safety survey.

05/16/2023

Chicago Public Schools student Chris Deng pursues internet equity with University of Chicago faculty

Neubauer Professor Nick Feamster mentored high school student Chris Deng through a year-long research study on Internet equity across Chicago Public Schools.

05/15/2023

Phoenix Poets Literary Festival engages students with South Side literary community

The University of Chicago Press and the Creative Writing Program celebrated National Poetry Month with a three day program.

05/09/2023

Q & A: Selwyn O. Rogers Jr., MD, MPH, Founding Director of UChicago Medicine’s Level 1 Trauma Center

Selwyn O. Rogers Jr., MD, MPH, Professor of Surgery and founding director of UChicago Medicine’s trauma center, discusses how his team is caring for the community, preventing violence and hope to reduce trauma.

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Marshall Hatch Jr., The MAAFA Redemption Project

Tammera L. Holmes, AeroStar Avion Institute

University of Chicago Community Support Initiative

Janice Jackson, Chicago Public Schools

Boyede Sobitan, founder of the the OjaExpress app

Boyede Sobitan, Oja Express

Camille McKenzie, Turner Construction Chicago

Jackie Dyess, Inter-City Supply

Juan Carlos Ocon, Benito Juarez Community Academy

Community Programs Accelerator: Five Years Forward

Profiles

100 Black Men of Chicago

“Being part of the Community Programs Accelerator allows us to move forward on purpose and with intention. We’re planning our next decade, which will be pivotal for us as we focus on what we can become rather than on what we are.” - Carl H. Tutt, Jr., 100 Black Men of Chicago Board President

13th Flow Fitness Studio

Akinwale is the owner of 13th Flow fitness studio, one of 182 small businesses to receive a COVID-19 small business bridge grant from the University of Chicago.

abraham karen potts maroon tutor match mtm

Abraham and Karen Potts
Maroon Tutor Match

“[Tutor Meera Santhanam] really taught him how to study and prepare for testing and, more than that, showed him the value of studying. She’s given him valuable insight into college and what it requires.”

Akanksha Shah
Maroon Tutor Match

“Maroon Tutor Match helped me learn to work with people — not just students and families, but tutors as well — who were very different from me and had different priorities and struggles. Getting a better understanding of where people are coming from is invaluable.”

Aleena Agrawal
Chicago Booth Civic Scholars Program

For Aleena Agrawal, a Chicago Booth MBA is a road map for changing the world. In her job as Director of Talent Solutions at P33, a nonprofit devoted to building a more diverse and inclusive technology ecosystem in Chicago, Agrawal aims to drive systems-level change.