Community Partners

The Center of Excellence for Eliminating Disparities (CEED)
The Center of Excellence for Eliminating Disparities (CEED) at Chicago is focused on eliminating the health disparities in diabetes and cardiovascular disease for Hispanic and African Americans through community engagement and systems change.  The (CEED) at Chicago  is seeking to grow a network of organizations throughout the Chicago and Midwest region that have the shared goal of reducing diabetes and cardiovascular disease in the Hispanic and African American communities.

Contact Information:
Sheila R. Castillo
CEED Project Manager
UIC-Midwest Latino Health Research,
Training and Policy Center MC 625
1640 W Roosevelt Road, Suite 636
Chicago, IL 60608
Phone: (312) 413-0507
Fax: (312) 996-3212
Email: srcastil@uic.edu
Website: www.ceedchicago.org

Near Northwest Neighborhood Network  
Near Northwest Neighborhood Network also known as (NNNN) became a community organization in 1987 and grew out to the Neighborhood Housing Services movement (NHS) which operated within the community from 1975 until 1983. During 1984-86, NHS put into place a loose network of local community institutions to work beyond the issues of housing. This changed the orientation of service to issues. Since 1992, the focus has been on developing the community through institutional partnership, which work through issue driven action teams. More than 80 institutions and organized groups are involved in three organizing partnership representing more than 15,000 people. NNNN uses a progressive approach to organizing. We take into account the social and political reality of the communities that identified the fractured nature of relationships that separates residents from their institutions. We have determined that in order for our organizing efforts to be successful, they must be led by the people affected by the problems. Our organizing strategy must add to the local social and economic development of the community.         

West Humboldt Park Family & Community Development Council   
The West Humboldt Park Family & Community Development Council is a non-profit community revitalization organization located on the Westside of Humboldt Park in Chicago, Illinois. WHPDC worked with the community to develop the First Community Land Trust of Chicago. In 1992, WHPDC was founded by the Orr School Network, a federation of Orr High School and its ten feeder elementary schools, together with the Continental Bank, to deal with issues such as crime and safety and economic development in the community. Although its mission has not changed since 1992, today WHPDC works with community stakeholders to understand the causes of recurring problems, to help the community formulate appropriate responses, and to otherwise implement long-term approaches designed to make the West Humboldt Park community a better place.        

Southwest Youth Collaborative  
Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC) is a network of youth and community organizations working together in five diverse neighborhoods on the Southwest Side of Chicago - namely in Chicago Lawn, West Lawn, West Englewood, Gage Park and West Elsdon.         

Centers for New Horizon  
Centers for New Horizons is a people-centered, culture-based organization. Their partners are families that seek to strengthen themselves by giving hope, education and health to their children and build the communities in which they reside. Since 1971, they have been on a journey to achieve a strong family-based self-reliant community. Since its inception, Centers for New Horizons has educated over 20,000 young children, helping them enter school ready to read and able to achieve; Encouraged thousands of school-aged children and youth to stay in school and achieve in school and to find supportive friends, encouraging adults, and compelling interests in life; Supported the employment of thousands of parents, caring for children while parents work, assisting parents in finding jobs or going back to school, providing or finding services to overcome barriers to work, and employing some of them directly. After 35 years of providing excellent services, Centers for New Horizons has successfully built communities of engaged residents, and it has successfully prepared people from racial and ethnic minority groups to succeed in life. In doing so, CNH provides important lessons for a wider society struggling with problems of civic engagement and diversity.    

Latino Organization of the Southwest  
The Latino Organization of the Southwest (LOS) is the sole Latino community-based organization in Southwest Chicago. LOS was founded in 1992 by a group of Latino immigrants who saw a need to work toward improving the lives and developing the leadership skills of Latino residents. The mission of LOS is to create the awareness of the social, political, economic, and cultural reality of Latinos on the Southwest side in order to enable Latinos to develop critical thinking and knowledge for further growth as individuals. Through a variety of educational, cultural and social programs LOS strives to complete its mission. LOS serves community residents in four community areas located in the southwest area of Chicago: Gage Park, Chicago Lawn, West Lawn, West Englewood as well as the suburb of Burbank.   
     
Nobel Neighbors   
Located in the heart of West Humboldt Park, Nobel neighbors is a community organization founded in 1985 that focuses on improving living conditions for residents. They do this through various avenues such as community organizing, educational opportunities, leadership building, and encouraging residents to work towards empowerment. Nobel Neighbors spotlights attention to six areas in their community. These six areas of interest are Neighborhood beautification, community safety, community development, community reinvestment, capacity building and mobilization, and the working on decreasing of abandoned buildings in the neighborhood.   
     
Block Club Federation  
With its beginnings in 1990, the Block Club Federation set out to help the residents of Humboldt Park toward self- empowerment. They concentrate on topics such as education, having regular progress meetings within the community, and holding the politicians in the area accountable for what they promise. Also, Block Club Federation provides the youth in the community with leadership opportunities. The Block Club Federation sponsors many events such as movies in the park, back to school fairs, and informational sessions at Humboldt Park library. They have a junior leadership division that creates positive chances for youth to showcase what it can do to improve its community they sponsor a range of youth resource fairs, rummage sales, violence prevention classes, computer workshops, and various craft activities.   

Center for Excellence of Elimination of Diseases (CEED)
The Center for Faith-Based and Community Health Initiatives (the Center) is a joint project of Advocate Health Care, the Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago with support from the Chicago Department of Public Health, and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Neighborhoods Initiative.  The Center’s mission is to catalyze community partnerships that draw on the wisdom and energy of faith communities to create the long-term social change that will eliminate health inequities and make it possible for all people to be healthy.

• The Center is organized around four work areas:  
• Developing outcomes-oriented faith and health partnerships in specific communities.
• Exploring models of working with faith communities that best support their capacity to lead in impacting the health of their communities.
• Providing leadership development to strengthen and expand the base of leaders at all levels of faith and health partnership.
• Connecting the myriad faith and health activities in the metropolitan area.

Community Justice for Youth Institute
CJYI has expanded its program to include regular trainings in restorative justice and peace-making circles; technical assistance in the implementation of restorative practices in schools, communities, and the juvenile justice system; and advocacy around disproportionate minority contact with the juvenile justice system (DMC) and the school-to-jail pipeline. The mission of the Community Justice for Youth Institute is to build community capacity to resolve youth crime and conflict through restorative justice training, technical assistance, and advocacy.

Columbia College - Center for Community Arts Partnership CCAP
CCAP develops and implements arts education programming that cultivates ongoing relationships -  true partnerships - among Columbia College, public schools and community-based organizations. CCAP currently partners with the EUC on the Dropping Knowledge and the Englewood Community Cultural Planning Council projects.

The Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute, Northwestern University
The ABCD Institute works with community building leaders across North America as well as five other continents to conduct research, produce materials and otherwise support community-based efforts to rediscover local capacities and to mobilize citizens’ resources to solve problems. The Institute continues to build on the stories and methods about successful community building reported in the popular book, Building Communities from the Inside Out: A Path Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets (1993, with John L. McKnight.)