Introduction

Community development is the process whereby organizations, institutions, business and government work together for the physical, social and economic well-being of a particular community. The modern community development movement emerged in the 1960s and 1970s as local agencies and individuals worked to reverse the severe decline in both inner city and rural areas of the United States.

The Mission of Illinois Institute of Technology's Community Development Department is to strengthen IIT's effectiveness and credibility in its surrounding neighborhoods and leverage the university's student, faculty, staff and facility resources to help achieve community development goals in partnership with community organizations, institutions, business, and government.

Since its founding over a century ago, Illinois Institute of Technology has been committed to providing access to higher educational opportunities and resources to the Chicago area. IIT was one of the first universities to recognize and appreciate the complimentary affect universities and neighborhoods have on one another.

Founded as the Armour Institute of Technology in 1890, the university grew up around the site of the Armour Mission, created by the meat-packing family to serve the needs of stockyard employees and their families. The Armour Institute's mission was to educate Chicago's youth to meet the needs of the rapidly emerging industrializing economy of the Midwest.

In 1946, IIT's President, Henry Heald, helped form the Southside Planning Board, with Mercy and Michael Reese Hospitals and the City of Chicago, to lead the urban renewal process. This initiative led to the creation of IIT's current campus, McCormick Place, Prairie Shores, Lake Meadows and South Commons communities.

1764_06.jpg (11523 bytes)

Establishing The Community Relations Department

In 1989, Illinois Institute of Technology formally established its Community Relations Department through a grant from the James S. Kemper Foundation. Leroy Kennedy, long-time community organizer and activist, was recruited as its first director. The original priority of IIT's community relations initiative was to build formal relationships and partnerships between IIT and local associations and community-based organizations and institutions in those neighborhoods.

Stimulating Community Investments: The Mid-South Strategic Development Plan

Illinois Institute of Technology has been a major proponent of additional capital investments in Bronzeville. A 1989 grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation had "…the attraction of capital investments to the communities adjacent to the IIT main campus…" as one of its objectives. In 1990, the City of Chicago's Department of Planning and Development received a major planning grant from the McCormick Tribune Foundation to develop a land use plan for those adjacent communities.

Between 1990 and 1993, that land use plan, the Mid-South Strategic Redevelopment Plan, was developed. Completed in 1993, this award-winning Plan was a direct result of IIT's partnership with local neighborhood organizations, the City of Chicago, and the corporate and philanthropic communities. IIT's role in securing the initial grant, encouraging community participation and utilizing its physical, academic and financial resources to aid in the development of the plan is well-documented in the plan itself. The university, through various partnerships, has now begun to implement key aspects of the plan and assist in furthering many of the Mid-South Plan's goals.

Meanwhile, in 1992, IIT helped organize the first Urban Parade of Homes in Chicago, in the neighboring Gap Community. By encouraging developers to build market-rate homes on lots sold to them by IIT, the university helped stimulate the first new market-rate housing in the community in fifty years. This stimulus, along with the White Sox replacement housing, led to acceleration of the Gap Community's transformation.

In 1993, Illinois Institute of Technology established the National Commission for IIT to reflect on the university's future and its relationship with the community. For IIT to thrive in the 21^st century, that community, recently re-identified as Bronzeville, would have to return to its former state as a viable urban neighborhood. IIT made the basic decision to stay in the community and rebuild its main campus and accelerate its work to support community development. The recent and remarkable economic growth that has taken place in Bronzeville is both the result of and the reason for the university's renewed focus.

As an indicator of this renewal, IIT's community relations department has identified some $450 million in public and private physical improvements within 10 blocks of the campus either underway or planned for completion by 2005.

The Physical Development Map provides a rough schematic of many of these developments.

The most prominent investments include the decision to locate the new City of Chicago Police headquarters on the south edge of IIT's Campus at 35^th and Michigan, the creation of the Chicago Public School's ROTC Academy, and the investments associated with the IIT campus itself.

The Southside Partnership

In 1989, an informal grouping of community organizations, institutions, IIT and First National Bank of Chicago came together to form the Southside Partnership. This group guided the development of the Mid-South Plan, worked for school reform, the establishment of the Empowerment Zone, the renovation of Martin Luther King Drive, and human capacity building through major grants. IIT continues to play an active role in the Southside Partnership.

Leveraging Institutional Resources for the Community's Benefit

The Community Relations Department's main responsibility has been to identify and respond to community needs by leveraging the talents of its faculty and students, and making its facilities available as appropriate for community and educational programs. Over the last ten years, these activities have varied widely based on changing community requirements. They've included:

Conduct of volunteer tutor/mentor programs for community youth involving some 120-150 students per year.
Use of IIT's Hermann Hall Student Union for numerous community science fairs, exhibits, planning meetings, arts programming and fund raisers.
Support of faculty research and counseling on community-oriented issues.

Support of four years of joint design studios between IIT and the Harvard Graduate School of design, commencing with the redesign of the 35^th St. Commercial Corridor.

Linking of Bronzeville school teachers with IIT's SMILE program, that provides teachers with new methods for teaching science to students.
Help provided to Dearborn Homes CHA Community to IIT's north to redesign its campus and successfully attract $2.5 million in capital funds for the project.

Identification of corporate grant funds for both Douglas Community Academy and Daniel Hale Williams School to provide support for technology upgrades in the schools.

Expanding Community Support: MacArthur Foundation Grants

Commencing in 1996, The Community Relations Department joined with community organizations in Bronzeville and the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to develop a comprehensive program to sustain positive change in Bronzeville. An initial $45,000 grant to IIT supported a staff position to facilitate increased community development activities in the adjacent areas. This was later expanded to a three year, $225,000 grant. The grant's objectives included:

Develop and maintain a database of all physical development projects in the community, making it available to other community groups
Develop a human capacity building database and link IIT academic departments and students to projects, programs and activities designed to support human capacity building
Support active involvement of IIT faculty and students in innovative community projects through Community IPROs (Interprofessional Projects)

Establishing the Center for Community Development and Technology

As a direct result of the capabilities developed through the MacArthur grant, IIT's Community Relations Department applied for and received in 1998 a three-year, $394,000 Community Outreach Partnership Center Grant from the U.S.Department of Housing and Urban Development. The grant led to the establishment of IIT's Center for Community Development and Technology, whose purpose is to leverage university and other resources to address the complex issues of school reform, welfare reform and the transformation of public housing.