About

"Building bridges between the community and DePaul University"

The Monsignor John J. Egan Urban Center was founded at DePaul University in 1994 with grants from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and The Chicago Community Trust to extend opportunities for DePaul, in collaboration with its Chicago communities, to address critical urban problems, alleviate poverty, and promote social justice through teaching, service and scholarship.

Our goal then as now is to channel community and economic development assistance to minority and underprivileged neighborhoods in a direct and concentrated way.  Drawing upon faculty, student and neighborhood resources, we work with and at the invitation of our community partners to support revitalization from the "bottom up."

The Center is named for a legendary Chicago figure and nationally recognized champion of civil rights and social justice, the late Monsignor John J. Egan.  From his earliest days as a parish priest on the impoverished West Side, Father Egan labored to focus institutional attention on people in distressed circumstances and communities.