More that 60 Hyde Park residents gathered at the Polsky Exchange North in downtown Hyde Park this week to hear from University of Chicago representatives and partners on the latest University opportunities for community members. The meeting was the third installment in a series that has previously updated Washington Park and Woodlawn residents on opportunities tailored to their respective communities. Speakers at the Hyde Park event presented on a broad spectrum of community-facing projects including the New Engineering and Science Building planned for campus, UChicago property ownership in Hyde Park, community access to UChicago libraries, the Public Safety Advisory Council, the Campus South Mixed Use Facility Community Room, and UChicago community programs currently accepting applications.
“Part of what we are trying to do a bit differently is to make sure that people across the South Side feel that UChicago is their university, a place that they can come visit, get answers, understand what we’re thinking as much as we want to hear what you’re thinking,” Vice President for Civic Engagement Christian Mitchell told attendees at the start of the meeting.
Mitchell kicked off the evening with an overview of the University’s Inclusive Innovation initiative, a University-wide effort led in partnership with the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Argonne National Laboratory, and Fermilab National Accelerator Laboratory that aims to ensure South Side residents benefit from the economic opportunities that will stem from several key scientific domains that hold immense potential for scientific breakthroughs, commercialization, and job creation in the coming decades. Mitchell also introduced Nadya Mason, Dean of the Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering, to speak to the pioneering science and broader promise helping to drive the planned New Engineering and Science Building on UChicago’s campus.
“One of the things that is really important to President Alivisatos, one of the things that’s really important to me, is that we make sure at a ground floor level, as we are making these investments, that the people in our community, many of whom look like me, will have a chance to be ready for those careers,” Mitchell said.
Other presenters included Angelica Marks, Associate Vice President for Commercial Real Estate Operations (CREO), who shared maps of and statistics about the properties the University owns throughout Hyde Park. Marks provided details about the University’s real estate portfolio and her office’s work to support a vibrant commercial corridor that offers a mix of national and local businesses, with a particular focus on attracting and supporting small local businesses that reflect the community’s unique character. Of the 65 tenants currently in CREO’s portfolio, 66 percent are small/local businesses and 58% of those are minority- or women-owned.
Wendy Walker Williams, Executive Director of Community Partnerships in the Office of Civic Engagement, then talked about the newly-opened Campus South Mixed-Use Facility Community Room—an accessible meeting space that can accommodate up to 30 people and can be reserved by community residents free of charge. Williams also addressed ways residents can access Regenstein, Mansueto, Crerar, and Eckhart libraries, which are open to the public all year, and make use of their many resources. Sharon Fairley, Professor from Practice at the UChicago Law School, covered the Public Safety Advisory Council and how members of the community can get involved and ensure their voices are heard on matters of public safety.
“Community engagement is really at the core of the mission of our council because the whole point is to provide community feedback to the administration on public safety topics and the reason why that’s so important is because we have a huge and very diverse community,” Fairley said, encouraging attendees to attend the council’s next meeting on Nov. 20. “When you talk about all the stakeholders—between faculty members, students, staff members, and then all the people who are served by the public safety systems that we have here—it’s incredibly diverse, so it’s really important that we have a formal way to gather the opinions and attitudes of that group of people in a positive and productive way.”
Abel Ochoa, Associate Vice President for Programs and Development in the Office of Civic Engagement, and Isra Omar, Senior Assistant Director at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, then closed out the meeting by discussing free programs for community residents currently accepting applications and other upcoming opportunities. Ochoa highlighted the Office of Civic Engagement’s suite of college and career readiness programs, including the South Side College and Career Catalyst Program, which is accepting applications from Chicago public high school students from the South Side through October 31, while Omar invited residents to participate in programming offered through the Polsky Exchange, such as the Small Business Growth Program and the Financial Fundamentals Program, which both are accepting applications until Nov. 18. Community entrepreneurs can additionally take advantage of free Polsky resources like workspace, mentorship, and a full calendar of programs and workshops to support startups and small business ventures.
As a way for attendees to stay connected to all the University has to offer and plug in to the full breadth of the University’s community programming and resources, Ochoa also introduced the Office of Civic Engagement’s recently updated Programs and Resources webpage, which allows local residents to discover and connect with community programs offered by units across campus and filter based on their interests and who the programs serve.
To learn more, access the community meeting presentation slides here and the links referenced during the presentation here.
Questions? Email civicengagement@uchicago.edu or subscribe to the University’s civic engagement newsletter here.