On a recent trip to the doctor’s office, Maria, a fifth grade soccer player at Prieto Elementary, received some surprising news. Though many would prefer to avoid surprises in this particular setting, for Maria, it was nothing but positive. She recalled that her doctor was, "surprised because I used to weigh a lot when I…
Last week Urban Initiatives’ very own Jim Dower spent a day on the Hill in Washington D.C. educating members of congress about the impact of our Work to Play Program. Urban Initiatives met with several Congressman, Senators, and their respective staff, who represent the communities that host the Work to Play Program in their districts.…
Urban Initiatives knows that our kids love being on the Urban Initiatives soccer team. Why else would they show up bright-eyed and bushy-tailed at 7:30 AM on a Monday for practice? But what do the parents think? To answer that question, Urban Initiatives asked the parents at Reavis Elementary for their feedback on the Work…
Last week Healthy Schools Campaign, the Chicago Public Schools, and the Office of Minority Health, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services teamed up to recognize Minority Health Month in a series called Heroes for Healthy Schools. On April 8th, they concluded the week’s activities by joining Urban Initiatives for our game day at…
With only two practices under their belts, the soccer players at Alfred Nobel Elementary already have a good grasp of what it takes to be on the Urban Initiatives soccer team. As soon as they arrived on Thursday, Jose, a third grader on the team, excitedly told Coach Cynthia that he had gone running with…
Join Urban Initiatives in celebrating Karen’s 52 weeks of experiences at her finale party. The event will be held at LaSalle Power Company on April 30th at 8:00pm. The event is open to the public and admission is a choice between a $20 charity cover charge or a 3-hour $40 charity drink package. Proceeds from…
Urban Initiatives has been selected as the nonprofit beneficiary of the SUIT UP business networking event on April 27th at Bull & Bear (431 N Wells). Our tremendous partner LTS Chicago and Maven chose Urban Initiatives to receive all proceeds from the $5 donations collected at the door. The event will run from 6:00-9:00pm. The…
Program participants at Libby celebrated the end of their winter season with a party on March 29th. At the event, the kids also completed their service learning project. For two and a half weeks the participants collected as much canned food as possible for the Salvation Army Emergency Disaster services. This project was selected at…
Next week, Urban Initiatives will welcome the Tarkington School of Excellence and Alfred Nobel Elementary School to our team. Both of these schools are a great fit for our Work to Play Program and we are thrilled to make them our 15th and 16th program sites. This expansion will enable us to serve 60 additional…
Urban Initiatives loves working with volunteers from Northwestern’s Civic Education Project (CEP). CEP is an award-winning leadership and civic engagement program. We are thrilled to have taken part in their CivicWeek for the past few years. On March 24th, CEP volunteers served as Assistant Coaches at Morton and Otis during our early morning program session.…
ABC News reports on the importance of recess to youth development. Click here to watch the video.