Champaign-Urbana Area Project

Advocacy, Youth

Website of the C-U Area Project - includes documentation of the annual CUperStar Music Competition.

2010

Community Engagement: WILL Youth Media Workshop Data Analysis

Youth Media Workshop

In Summer 2008, Kimberlie Kranich, outreach coordinator and co-director of the Youth Media Workshop (YMW) at WILLAM-FM-TV in Champaign, IL, began working with program evaluator Holly Downs of the University of Illinois College of Education and her colleagues to produce an analysis of interviews with program participants. The organization had been collecting the data since 2003. In Fall 2008, Kranich enlisted the help of three graduate students from the Graduate School of Library and Information Science (GSLIS) at University of Illinois (Hanna Ahn, Camille Chesley and Kristin LoDolce) to organize the 60 interview transcripts into data for the evaluators to use in their analysis. The following report is an excerpt of the analysis* in which the evaluators noted some themes that were commonly found in the interview data. These include participation (including how they learned about the program and why they decided to participate) and results of participation (including reported improvements in self-worth/change/growth). In addition the evaluators identified three themes for future study including relationships, future plans, and skills. Evaluators found that 36 students were interviewed between one to six times. The analysis states that while the data “began to show trends related to these themes” they were unable to make generalizations about some of the data given the inconsistency in data collection procedures. The interviews were conducted by YMW co-directors and, in some cases, program participants guided by YMW staff. This, along with variations in interview questions and program activities, and inability to conduct entrance and exit interviews with all participants contributed to the inconsistencies. However, from the responses, we can begin to see how the program has impacted participants on an individual level.

Ahn, Hanna; Chesley, Camille; LoDolce, Kristin

IDEALS

December 2008

Improving African American survey response rates for leisure marketing and Planning Studies

Douglas Community Center, Surveying

Investigates survey methodologies and non-response reasons for low-income African-Americans in North Champaign, especially around the Douglas Community Center.

Bruce E. Wicks, Kathryn A. Norman

Journal of Parks and Recreation Administratino

Summer 1996

The Academic Cultural Enrichment Mentorship Program: An Innovative Approach
To Serving African American Youth

Douglas Community Center, Youth

The purpose of this study was to evaluate an after school program that is designed
to meet the specific needs of African American youth. The program is called the
Academic Cultural Enrichment (ACE) Mentorship Program and is sponsored, in part, by
the Campaign Park District. The purpose of the program is to provide students with the
competencies and skills needed to be involved, resilient, and successful. The program
seeks to foster positive Black identities in the participants, and to develop strong math,
reading, oratorical, and analytical thinking skills. The program has a strong African
cultural component, as well as academic and recreation components. Three research
questions guided the evaluation project: 1) are the program’s goals being achieved; 2) do
the parents and leaders perceive a positive change in the participant’s behaviors and
attitudes as a result of their participation in the program; and 3) what are the salient
program aspects of the ACE Mentorship Program. The evaluation took place over a twoyear
period. Pretest and posttest survey data were collected from the participants for two
consecutive years. Additionally, at the end of the second year interviews were conducted
with leaders, parents, and participants. The participant’s academic grades were also
examined. The information collected from the surveys indicated that the pretest and
posttest scores on the Protective Factors Scale and Harter’s Self-Perception Scale were
not significantly different. The academic grades did indicate positive changes for most of
the participants. Further, the information received from the interviews with the parents,
leaders, and participants consistently indicated that the program is meeting its goals and is
having a positive impact on the children. The salient program elements that seemingly
contribute to the positive outcomes include effective and consistent leadership, parental
involvement, and innovative programming.

Kimberly J. Shinew
Dan K. Hibbler
Denise M. Anderson

2000

An African American Community
Recreation Center: Participants’ and
Volunteers’ Perceptions of Racism
and Racial Identity

Douglas Center

Recognizing that racial segregation often takes
place in leisure spaces, we sought to gain a greater understanding of African
Americans who specifi cally seek out leisure settings that are linked
to their sub-population. Th us, the purpose of this exploratory study was
to compare African Americans who are involved in an African American
community center and/or volunteer for associations closely linked to
the African American population to those who are not involved. Comparisons
were made based on their racial identity and their perceptions
of racism. Our research expectations were that those who chose to be
more closely associated with the African American population would have
stronger perceptions of racism and racial identity when compared to those
African Americans who were not involved. Th ere is a growing area of
research that examines the connections between racism, discrimination
and leisure behavior and we sought to add to this body of research by
examining perceptions of racism and racial identity and its relationship to
African Americans’ choices of leisure setting. Data were collected through
on-site questionnaire surveys that were distributed at an African American
community center (Frederick Douglass Community Center-FDC), doorto-
door in an African American neighborhood, and at a neighborhood
barbershop. Comparisons between FDC volunteers and non-volunteers
revealed no signifi cant diff erences with respect to perceptions of racism
or racial identity. Similarly, comparisons between community-wide volunteers
and non-volunteers suggested no signifi cant diff erences in terms
of perceptions of racism; however, community-wide volunteers reported
signifi cantly higher levels of racial identity than did non-volunteers. Community-
wide volunteers were also signifi cantly more active as participants,
both at the FDC and in other African American programs in the community.
And fi nally, comparisons between FDC participants and non-participants indicated no signifi cant diff erences between the groups, in either
their perceptions of racism or their racial identity. Th us, in response to
our research expectations, we found that African Americans involved at
the FDC (either as participants and/or volunteers) did not have stronger
perceptions of racism and racial identities than did those who remained
uninvolved. However, those who served as volunteers in various African
American programs across the community did report a stronger racial
identity than did non-volunteers. Managerial implications include gaining
some insight into those African Americans who specifi cally seek out
leisure settings that are linked to their sub-population, and recognizing
that racially segregated programs and services may be desirable for some
minority populations given today’s racial climate.

Kimberly J. Shinew
Rasul Mowatt
Troy Glover

Journal of Park and Recreation Administration

Summer 2007

Harold Drish obituary

Genealogy, Family

Harold "Bernie" Drish's obituary

News-Gazette

Urban Exchange Center web site

Website of the now defunct Urban Exchange Center, an initiative of the University of Illinois in partnership with the Urban League of Champaign County. This site is preserved at the Internet Archive.

University of Illinois. I-Labs

University of Illinois

Ca. 2006-2007

First Annual Report Diversity Initiatives Planning Committee, University of Illinois

Campus--Community, Education--Higher--University of Illinois Urbana Champaign, Racism, Research and Data, University Community

See Appendix C, pp. 30-32, for Working Group Recommendations on Public Outreach, based around the Urban Exchange Center.

On November 10, 2000, the Chancellor and Provost appointed a campus-wide committee to recommend action items for enhancing diversity at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The committee is composed of students, faculty and staff. Its work focuses on the following areas: preparing students for a diverse workplace; recruiting and retaining students, faculty and staff from sectors of the population that currently do not, in large numbers, view Illinois as a place to study and work; creating a campus climate that values the contribution of all members of the Illinois community; and broadening the opportunity for Illinois to foster learning, discovery and engagement through diversity. The committee's work is ongoing; the recommendations that follow reflect the committee's work to date.

Diversity Initiatives Planning Committee, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

UIUC Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society

University of Illinois atı Urbana-Chatnpaign Library Digital Content Creation Unit

1 May 2002

PDF

Document

Those with Washington ties celebrate school's history

Schools, BTW

CHAMPAIGN – With 13 school days left in the existing Washington Elementary School building, students, parents and teachers – past and present – celebrated the school's 50-plus years of history.

The school hosted a "Night to Remember" on Tuesday. The school will be vacated after the end of the semester. Students and teachers will move into the old Columbia building at Neil and Bradley, and Washington school will be demolished, making way for a new, two-story magnet school on the same site.

"It gives the children a point to say, 'This is the last time in our building, and we start preparing for the transition to another building,'" said parent Ann Benefiel, one of the organizers of Tuesday's celebration. "The hope is to ease them into the idea."

Hester Suggs, who served as the school's principal for 22 years, from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s, said the evening was bittersweet. She said Washington was a wonderful place to work, and she sometimes gets nostalgic about it.

But, she added, "I see the wonderful plans for the children who are going to be coming and the opportunities they'll have."

Ibeth Zarco, a fourth-grader at Washington, expressed mixed feelings as well.

"I think I'm going to miss this one, but I think there's going to be a better one," she said. "We're going to have more space. It's going to be cool."

Mary Dickinson of Loda taught at the school from 1973 to 2004. She remembers how teachers would make do with what they had. The heat was so sporadic, they used to put wet paper towels and ice cubes on the thermostat to get the heat to turn on.

"Then we were told we shouldn't do that, so we all got in trouble," she said.

Dickinson has long hoped for a new building on the site.

"We never had enough room for what we wanted to do," she said. "I think Washington school should have had a nice, new building long ago. The community deserves it."

Kaamilyah Abdullah-Span and her five siblings all attended Washington. It was a magnet school then, and Abdullah-Span appreciated the diverse student body. She still keeps in touch with many of the friends she made at the school.

She also benefited from creative teachers who provided field trips and hands-on learning for their students. Abdullah-Span hopes that by making Washington a magnet school again, it will attract a broad group of students without displacing any neighborhood children.

Even as Suggs remembered all the years she spent in the school, she noted it isn't the bricks and mortar that matter the most.

"The school is not the building," she said. "The school is what goes on inside the building. The school is how the children are treated."

Jodi Heckel

News-Gazette

12/02/2009

Jazz Threads

Jazz, Music

Jazz Threads commemorates the history, celebrates the present, and builds the future of the vibrant American art form of jazz on a local level. Long committed to bringing artists into deeper contact with the diverse constituencies of Champaign-Urbana, Krannert Center convened a broad spectrum of community artists to consider a jazz-based artist residency project that would touch the community in a significant way. From that first meeting in January 2002, we began to refurbish a tapestry created years ago. It depicts a love affair with jazz; it looks at the environment that allowed the art form to grow through the mid-20th century; and it celebrates our area's treasure trove of professional jazz artists. As we gaze at this tapestry, we'll consider the promising future of our community, making connections through jazz.

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

40 North

2000-2004