On Friday, February 1st, our Team Captains in our leadership development program — Take the Lead- participated in a leadership retreat at MB Ice Arena. MB Ice Arena is the Chicago Blackhawks’ official practice arena and we were so grateful for the Blackhawks partnership in executing an incredibly successful retreat.
Urban Initiatives and Allstate Insurance presented the 2019 Soccer Ball at Rockwell on The River on Friday, January 25, 2019. Featuring fundraising, dancing, cocktails and delicious appetizers, Soccer Ball 2019 was a complete success!
Every year, we look forward to this event as a way for the UI staff, Associate Board and participants to genuinely connect and get to know each other through an evening of games, team building exercises, and, of course, pizza.
The Urban Initiatives Associate Board is a group of approximately 150 young professionals who dedicate their time to volunteering with UI participants, helping to plan UI events, and raising funds to support our work. Our members come from all over the greater Chicago area to support the kids and families that we serve. Although their…
Urban Initiatives is excited to announce that our 2017-2018 data and evaluation results are complete and our programs have once again showed strong results in physical activity, academic success, and social emotional learning. Urban Initiatives is committed to being a proven organization that continually evaluates our programs to determine success and to make curriculum and…
Workforce development is critical to the success of our organization, our city, and our employees. Here’s how we are prioritizing the development of our staff.
As we approach the start of a new school year, high school juniors and seniors are contemplating their future — whether headed towards the workforce or a college experience — and they are weighing their grades, extracurricular activities, and test scores to determine next steps to reach their goals. Regardless of their SAT scores, their…
Our 4-week daily “camp” is staffed by Urban Initiatives coaches and enhanced by partnerships with Chicago Cubs, After School Matters, Common Threads, and others.
During the 2017–2018 school year, Urban Initiatives made a commitment to prioritize our efforts to foster unity, as well as diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI). We believe these values are critical to our mission. Developing a plan and actions to be proactively an anti-oppressive and anti-racist institution is foundational in our work.
The World Cup is one of the clearest representations of the power of sport because of its international audience, its length and its worldwide appeal. Soccer is the most popular sport in the world, and the World Cup is its greatest stage. The World Cup has pulled communities like our office together as millions of…
This year on June 2nd, Urban Initiatives celebrated our 6th Annual Work to Play Cup presented by Target. The Work to Play Cup is our opportunity to celebrate the hardwork and commitment shown by our continuum of programming participants throughout the year. These students step up to the plate every day in their classrooms, on…
