It started 10 years ago with 12 boys and girls at Byrd Academy in Cabrini-Green. Fast forward to today where Urban Initiatives now serves over 10,000 boys and girls throughout 21 Chicago communities. Coach D and Coach Ish never thought the Work to Play program would expand to 26 schools and Urban Initiatives would offer other programs like…
Jim Dower, Urban Initiatives’ Co-Founder and Executive Director, has been selected to join Leadership Greater Chicago’s 2014 Fellows Class. Congratulations to Jim on being recognized for his consistent dedication to empowering and inspiring children and for his tireless efforts to promote social change in Chicago. We are thrilled to have him as the leader of…
In an effort to encourage and reward upstanding behavior, staff members from Prieto Math & Science Academy put together a carnival of epic proportions for their students. With the help of Urban Initiatives Program Associates and a group of volunteers from BMO Harris Bank, the school set up a number of fun and interactive booths…
We couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate the 10th year of the Work to Play program than to bring over 700 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders together for a day of soccer, fun and friendship.
To celebrate their inaugural year with Urban Initiatives’ Play with Potential partnership, Daley Academy hosted a field day in Cornell Square Park. For two hours during the school day, the entire school participated in jumping rope, musical chairs, and playing in the beautiful weather. Every student enjoyed some time out in the perfect weather, snacked…
On Friday, May 24th students at Maria Saucedo Scholastic Academy worked together on a large project to brighten up their school’s playground area. When Saucedo’s recess coordinator, Coach Paul, suggested that the school improve recess quality by adding fun designs to the playground blacktop, students in Ms. Korth’s elective art classes stepped up to the…
To wrap up the end of the school year, each Play with Potential school created a variation on the theme of “Field Day.” At Otis, students raced around the school, trying to beat their teacher, a marathon runner. At Tarkington, a classic field day will give kids a lot of time outside playing games of…
Listen to UI’s April Lillstrom discuss health education in Chicago Public Schools on this podcast from the Centers for Disease Control. April has two years of work under her belt with the CDC’s grantee Healthy Places program, and it’s great to see another UI expert sharing knowledge with the national community of educators and health…
Urban initiatives shouts out a huge THANK YOU to Team pwc for volunteering at the indoor center last week. pwc volunteers spent their friday afternoon brushing up on rusty soccer moves and cheering on their teams. players from PECS, marquette and greene were proud to show off the soccer skills that they have beeN Practicing all season.…
Throughout the month of May, urban Initiatives’ Junior board conducted a bus Campaign. the goal of the campaign was to raise $15,000 to offset urban Initiatives’ massive costs to transport students to and from practices, games, field trips and other events. Urban Initiatives spends thousands of dollars each year on over 200 bus rides for…
Read the article here: https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130528/chicago/impact-100-chicago-organization-award-more-than-120000-grants