Category Archive

August 2014

  • Meet Brandon!

    Brandon Reed hails from Chicago’s south side community of Englewood. Brandon attended Curie Performing Arts High School where he played basketball and trombone in the school band. He then went on to University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana where he studied Recreational Sports. His favorite thing about Chicago is the “Soul” of the city rooted in the various…

  • Meet Kevin!

    Kevin attended Mount Carmel High School in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. He then went downstate to Bloomington Illinois where he was a student at Illinois State University. His favorite part of Chicago is Blues Fest weekend. He is drawn to working with UI because of the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of…

  • Meet Helena!

    Helena Correa is originally from Sao Paulo, Brazil. At 13, she moved to Indiana, where she currently resides today. She attended Indiana University, Bloomington, where she majored in political science. One of her favorite things about Chicago is being able to eat food from all over the world due to the city’s culturally diverse neighborhoods.…

  • Summer Campers have a Ball at Cubs Game!

    What a night at the ballpark! For the final stretch of Urban Initiatives’ partnership with the Cubs on the Move Fitness Trolley this summer, the Cubs generously invited over 200 UI participants and their families to watch the Cubs take on the Giants on August 19th. The kids from Beidler, Gunsaulus, Kozminski, and Lloyd were…

    Summer Campers have a Ball at Cubs Game!
  • UI’s 1st Ever Take the Lead Education Fair

    Last thursday was Urban Initiatives’ 1st ever Take the Lead education fair. UIC hosted the event to highlight opportunities in education (mentoring programs, scholarships, advocacy groups). We couldn’t have asked for a better evening; the weather was so nice that we held the question and answer portion of the event outside.

    UI’s 1st Ever Take the Lead Education Fair
  • Gunsaulus Visits the Chicago Red Stars!

    The students from the UI Summer Camp at Gunsaulus had a reunion at the Chicago Red Stars soccer game. students, siblings, and a few parents loaded the school bus in Brighton Park and embarked on a trip to Lisle, IL to watch Chicago’s professional women’s soccer team do what they do best.

    Gunsaulus Visits the Chicago Red Stars!
  • Urban Initiatives’ Impact

    Urban initiatives’ 2013-2014 program year was certainly one to be remembered. Participants across all three of our programs played hard, had hours of fun, and made many new friends. Urban Initiatives’ programs, though, aim to provide kids with so much more, and our 2013-2014 program evaluation results tell the important story of learning, growth, and change. Here’s…

    Urban Initiatives’ Impact
  • UI’s Summer of Sports Summer Camp

    This summer UI continued its partnership with chicago Cubs charities by running its second year of summer of sports summer camps at four cps schools lloyd elementary in belmont-craigin, kozminski elementary iN HYde Park, gunsaulus Scholastic academy in brighton Park and BEIDler Elementary in garfield park. throughout July students came together every day to play…

    UI’s Summer of Sports Summer Camp
  • Take the Lead Team Captains go to Camp!

    This past week four of our Take the lead participants (and one coach) had the chance to participate in a week-long boy Scout camp in the northwoods of wisconsin. camp makajawan is about 4 ½ hours north OF Chicago and offers all sorts of outdoor activities (hiking, FIShing, camp fires, boating). to say the least,…

    Take the Lead Team Captains go to Camp!