CKP Lauded for Sustainability
October 2008
Tree Ins, Enviro Bicycle Tours, environmental dance, theater games featuring Socrates and Wangari Maathai—this must be the Civic Knowledge Project.
Such was the upshot of a comment overheard by Bart Schultz, Director of the University’s Civic Knowledge Project (CKP), at a recent panel discussion featuring the CKP’s newest program, Partnering for a Sustainable Chicago. It was just the type of thing he hoped to hear, an informal recognition of the distinctive work that the CKP is doing.
The CKP is the community connections branch of the Division of the Humanities at the University of Chicago. Founded five years ago by MacArthur “genius” grant winner and former Dean of the Humanities Danielle Allen, its mission is to develop and strengthen community connections, helping to overcome the social, economic, and racial divisions among the various knowledge communities on the South Side of Chicago. The CKP provides an extraordinary array of ways for people to learn more about their city and to get involved in actively working to make it a better place, advancing the forms of civic friendship that matter most.
And it is now receiving more than informal recognition: the CKP’s Partnering for a Sustainable Chicago network recently won one of the “Champions of Sustainability in Communities” awards from the Sustainable Endowments Institute. Eric Heineman, the Sustainability Council’s Project Manager, recognized the work the CKP was doing and with the help of Kathleen Fabiny, Director of Data Research in the office of the president, submitted the nomination to the Institute. Special mention was made, in the nomination, of the new network’s support for and co-sponsorship of the recent Woodlawn Youth Solutions Project, under the direction of master gardener Dorothy Pytel, a project that produced the beautifully decorated and planted containers now sited around the Woodlawn area. And the work continues. The Sustainability Partners (as it is called, for short) is in fact continuing to develop new and ongoing programs as part of Woodlawn Youth Solutions. Watch for more announcements soon!
Sustainability Partners is an environmental and social action network giving many individuals and groups a voice, facilitating the spread of knowledge and building bridges within our community. The network is committed to promoting educational tools to help both young and old learn about matters of sustainability, environmentalism, and biodiversity. These tools include environmentally educational bicycle clubs and food awareness programs that will highlight how our dietary choices can make a big difference, both locally and globally. Members of the network will have the opportunity to learn from each other's experiences and support each other's efforts by sharing information and resources through the following:
- An email listhost
- A website with an online calendar, moderated blog, and directory of our network
- A series of discussion forums at which experts and community members can exchange information and action strategies on various topics
- Various action initiatives designed to help local planting projects and the green belting of Chicago
- Various creative educational activities, such as "tree ins," designed to help combat "nature deficit" disorder by bringing adults and children together and getting them outside to appreciate the potential of our urban ecology
- Specially designed and supported adult education courses, offered through the University's Graham School of General Studies, that will offer professional development credit
- Please join the Sustainability Partners in working together to make Chicago a more sustainable place for all of us to live in.
If you would like to be added to their listserv or join their network, please fill out our Network Directory Form and email it to either nvasudevan@uchicago.edu or rschultz@uchicago.edu. And please feel free to call them at 773/834-3929 if you have any questions!
