Veteran’s Day Events
Looking to honor our Veterans? Below is a list of events that you can attend to do so! National Louis University is holding multiple events throughout the week. You can learn more about these events at their site here. The Mission Continues is hold a Veteran’s Day Project, register here. McHenry County College is hosting a Veteran’s Day Ceremony. Learn more about that here.
Webinar Resource: Campus Voter Engagement
Illinois Campus Compact, State Matters, BallotReady, and Campus Election Engagement Project teamed up for a Webinar on Campus Voter Engagement. This webinar discussed the tools and resources that these organizations use to engage students voters. You can watch the entire webinar below. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8wm7ApqQP4&t=43s
VISTA Spotlight, Millikin University
My name is Angie Bravo I am the AmeriCorps VISTA at Millikin University. So far my experience as the VISTA has been AMAZING! I am so happy to be doing something important in the Decatur community, but also within Millikin University. With being a 2018 Millikin graduate I hold this university very close to my heart. It is exciting for me to come back and do something I never saw myself doing. As a student I never really understood what the AmeriCorps VISTA did. I knew that we had one every year, but I never found myself searching for the…
October Membership Spotlight – North Central College
This year, Illinois Campus Compact teamed up with the Campus Election Engagement Project (CEEP) to offer member institutions mini grants to increase voter engagement. One of the six schools that received this grant was North Central College. We spoke to Josh Simmons, a North Central student who is working as the college’s CEEP Fellow. Josh is a junior studying political science and economics. His main goal as a CEEP fellow this fall is to raise voter awareness on campus. Before voter registration ended, one of Josh’s duties was to register students. He did a lot of outreach through tabling on…
CONNECT FROM YOUR DESK THIS FALL
Too busy for conferences, meetings, and networking? We have your answer with our Fall 2018 virtual learning line-up. The 2018-2019 webinar series takes the great and varied work happening on the ground around the country and brings it straight to your desk. Topics touch on issues of relevance to faculty, staff, students, and their partners in education and community building. Be sure to tune in to each session for information, tools, and resources to support and inspire you. See the rest of the series. Also, this fall is a series of more informal learning and networking opportunities with colleagues in the Midwest. Peer…
Welcome Our 2018-2019 VISTA Cohort
Illinois Campus Compact would like welcome our new cohort of VISTA’s for the 2018-2019. ILCC VISTAs will be located at the following universities and colleges, North Park University, Millikin, Governors State University, North Central College, University of Illinois Springfield, Northwestern, McHenry County College, Northeastern Illinois University, Parkland College, National Louis University, Adler, Western Illinois University- Quad Cities, Loyola, Rockford University, Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Knox College, and Illinois Institute of Technology. At these institutions VISTAs will work in civic engagement offices, youth programming, volunteer recruitment, and much more. Follow ILCC on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to stay updated on…
September Membership Spotlight – Dominican University
Not only was Natalie Sanchez a Tyson Foods Summer Community Intern at the Erie Neighborhood House, and a 2018 Civic Newman Fellow, but she also is an intern for Civic Learning at Dominican University. We met with her last week to learn about her position and civic learning at Dominican. As an intern in the Civic Learning Office Natalie works with students to find community organizations that fulfill their community based learning class requirements. Dominican offers students anywhere between ten to twenty five community based learning courses a semester. It is Natalie’s job to make sure students in these…
Voter Engagement Networking Event Recap
Last Wednesday, Illinois Campus Compact gathered faculty and staff from colleges and universities to discuss campus voter engagement. Hosted at University of Illinois at Chicago, attendees listened to organizations, BallotReady, State Matters, and Campus Election Engagement Project explain their resources. A representative from BallotReady described their online voter guides. Voters can see what and who will be on their ballot by just typing in their address. Not only can a voter see who is running, but BallotReady also offers information on each candidate. BallotReady has gathered information on candidates from reliable sources so that voters can find all the information…
2018-2019 Webinar Series
Campus Compact’s 2018-2019 webinar series takes the great and varied work happening on the ground around the country and brings it straight to your desk. Topics touch on issues of relevance to faculty, staff, students, and their partners in education and community building. Be sure to tune in to each session for information, tools, and resources to support and inspire you. The 2018-2019 webinar series is being offered free of charge, but all attendees must register. Register To learn more details about the webinar series and register please visit Campus Compact’s page here.
August Membership Spotlight- Loyola University
In 2015, Loyola University Chicago put a strategic plan into place called the 2020 Plan. The development of this plan started with the question, “How do we, as a university, live in and for this social reality and use our influence to transform it?” In answering this question, Loyola decided they must think of themselves more as a transformative agent, rather than a group of schools, departments, and programs. In one of their steps to make a positive impact on their community, a year and a half ago Loyola initiated Schools 2020. This program, directed by Mitchell Hendrickson, works with…
Voter Engagement Networking Event
Illinois Campus Compact invites you to a Voter Engagement Networking Event hosted by University of Illinois Chicago! This event is for all higher education faculty and staff to gather and share their work around voter education on campuses throughout Illinois. We will be providing lunch from 12:00pm – 1:00pm during a panel discussion about available resources featuring CEEP, State Matters, and Ballot Ready. From 1:00pm – 2:00pm there will be networking for participants to connect with staff and faculty from other institutions doing similar work. Registration is free and lunch will be provided. See you there! Register at our Eventbrite page here!
Global Leaders Summer Session
Next week the Global Leaders Program at Illinois Institute of Technology will be ending their summer session. The Global Leaders Program creates access and opportunity for Chicago-area high school students in STEM fields by offering four weeks of collaborative, project-based programming each summer, the implementation of a Community Innovation Project of their own design during their junior year, step-by-step college advising and guidance during their senior year and workshops, field trips, and career development opportunities. Each summer the program creates a theme and hold workshops around that theme, this summer the chosen theme was Design to Overcome. To help…
2017-2018 ILCC AmeriCorps VISTA Farewell
In the following months Illinois Campus Compact will be hiring a cohort of new AmeriCorps VISTAs, this means we will also be saying goodbye to some amazing VISTAs who are ending their year of service with us. During the past year our VISTAs served at higher education institutions throughout the state working to advance the public purpose of higher education. The VISTAs built capacity by leading programs with youth, coordinating volunteers, and developing community engagement initiatives on campus. Haley Dutmer is finishing her year of service at Western Illinois University- Quad Cities. Haley has a background in philosophy so is…
July Membership Spotlight
Illinois Campus Compact (ILCC) is excited to welcome and spotlight our new member institution, Wilbur Wright College. In an interview with Gabe Estill and Merry Mayer, we found out all the amazing things Wright College is already doing in terms of civic engagement and learned some of their future plans. One of the first benefits of ILCC that Wright College will be taking advantage of is our AmeriCorps VISTA Program. Wright is currently accepting applications for a VISTA to start a yearlong year of service on August 20th. This VISTA will have a wide range of responsibilities, including assisting service-learning…
Monthly Membership Spotlights
Every month Illinois Campus Compact (ILCC) publishes an article spotlighting a certain membership institution. These spotlights focus on VISTAs, faculty and staff, or even an entire office. Often times the spotlight is connected to a project or event that we are involved with at the time. Below you can find a short blurb about each article, and a link to read the full monthly spotlight. Learn about the Office of Community Engaged Learning and designated community engaged learning courses at Lewis University.Find out what Governors State University does for food and house insecurity on campus. Learn how University of Illinois at…
Tyson Foods Summer Community Internship Kickoff!
Yesterday, Illinois Campus Compact (ILCC) kicked off our Tyson Foods Summer Community Internship Program. This internship program is a partnership between Campus Compact and Tyson Foods to provide an invaluable opportunity for select college students to gain professional experience while making a positive impact in the community. This program provides 40 nonprofit organizations in the Chicago area, and Sioux City, Storm Lake, and Council Bluffs, Iowa with a grant of $3,000-3,500 to hire a qualified college student for the summer. 20 of the 40 nonprofits are the following Chicago area organizations, Alliance for Immigrant Neighbors BEDS-Plus Care Bridge Communities Cambodian…
June Membership Spotlight
As Illinois Campus Compact continues to fill our several open AmeriCorps VISTA positions, we wanted to learn why some of our successful VISTAs chose to serve with ILCC and AmeriCorps in general. Stacey Dixon and David Kintz serve with National Louis University. Both started last August so have two months until they become VISTA Alumni. For those who don’t know, VISTA stands for Volunteers in Service to America. It is a program through AmeriCorps. VISTAs serve at organizations throughout America to build capacity with the goal of eradicating poverty. Thirty two VISTAs currently serve with ILCC, they are placed at…
Webinar Resource: How Colleges and Universities can support building sustainable rural communities
This webinar was led by Christopher Merrett, Director and Professor in the Illinois Institute for Rural Affairs (IIRA) at Western Illinois University and Anne Hlavacka, Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation (CEI) as well as the Wisconsin Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. Our presenters discussed rural civic engagement and trends in rural communities while addressing what makes rural communities appealing to university partnerships, combining classroom experience with experiential learning. They spoke about the unique opportunities available in rural communities and current trends in rural communities and how colleges and universities can support growth…
May Membership Spotlight
In recent weeks Illinois Campus Compact has been sponsoring and marketing voter engagement projects, including College Election Engagement Project mini grants, the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge, and our Campus Election Project Graduate Assistant position. These all have a similar goal in increasing voter engagement on college campuses. Our membership institution, University of Illinois at Chicago, has proven to be an expert on this front. Last year, on October 19th at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., UIC received the ALL IN Campus Democracy Challenge’s Champion Award for being the most engaged campus.They also received a bronze seal for achieving a student…
Campus Election Engagement Project Graduate Assistant
Position Description – Campus Election Engagement Project Assistant (June –December 2018) This limited term position, 10-15 hours per week during academic year and up to 20 hours per week June – August, will work to engage Illinois Campus Compact member institution students, faculty and staff in the 2018 elections. This non-partisan project will help provide CEEP resources for institutional commitments to election engagement, support faculty and staff programming, and assist college students in registering to vote, getting educated on issues, volunteering in the campaigns, and showing up at the polls. This person will also help recruit and manage student fellows…