Events

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Series
The Egan Urban Center, in partnership with the Center for Latino Research, is hosting an event on February 11, 2009 in honor of the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The event will host residents and members of North and South Lawndale to discuss issues around race, human rights, and inequality. We would be greatly honored if you would consider being a panelist and co-facilitator of the event. We want to honor the work that you do, and give North and South Lawndale residents, as well as DePaul University students and staff, a chance to become familiar with and discuss the issues relevant to North and South Lawndale. The event will focus around serious issues facing Chicago’s communities, within a context of social equity and civic dialogue. The event will seek to make progress in breaking racial barriers and moving toward a common goal. 

Bridging Humanity- Race, Identity & Human Rights 
The Egan Urban Center (EUC) will continue its partnership with the Center for Latino Research (CLR) to produce five separate events that build on the existing dialogue and community-building efforts by the Black-Latino Working Group Initiative. The events will take place in the winter and spring quarters. The EUC has previously collaborated with CLR on its Young Lords Photo Exhibit currently housed at the Richardson Library. The events aim to engage community-based scholars and activists with DePaul students, staff and faculty in an exchange of ideas and community building approaches. The events will be marketed to civic, social and history high school teachers with the hope that the high school students’ participation will lead to organized civic engagement in their community.

Hour Glass Economy Conference  
The Institute for Latino Studies (ILS) at the University of Notre Dame and the Sociology Professor & Senior Egan Research Fellow John Koval have proposed a two-year project focused on the occupational fate and mobility of low-wage workers – especially minorities and recent immigrants – in the context of an industrial economy that is rapidly morphing into a post-industrial hourglass economy. This two-stage project would include a national conference, tentatively entitled “The Hourglass Economy: Its Characteristics, Causes and Consequence,” that would document and analyze the change process.  

Harold Washington and Municipal Led Job Centered Development during the 1990’s: Critical Reflections and Lessons Learned - Conference  
Authors from six cities presented case studies of their projects at a conference the Egan Center sponsored with the Harold Washington Foundation in May 2003, Harold Washington and Municipal-Led Job-Centered Economic Development During the 1990's: Critical Reflections and Lessons Learned. Many of the Chicago area community practitioners, activists and public officials who attended the two-day summit are longtime supporters of the equity agenda Washington promoted.

The conference gave those working in community and economic development a forum to explore and compare efforts, successes and challenges other cities experienced during the 1990’s economic boom. The cities selected for examples of municipally led job-centered development were: Austin, Texas; Chicago, Illinois; Cleveland, Ohio; Oakland, California; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Portland, Oregon; Rochester, New York; Savannah, Georgia; and Seattle, Washington.

Click here for the final report of the conference proceedings
Click here for the press release   

Social Justice Award Award Ceremony   
DePaul University's Egan Urban Center honored the legacy of Msgr. John J. Egan at the first annual Social Justice Award Breakfast on Wednesday, Oct. 9, from 8.30 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Student Center, 2250 N. Sheffield Ave., Room 120. The Rev. Michael Pfleger, pastor of St. Sabina Church delivered the key note address and received the first Egan Social Justice Award.

The occasion marked the 86th anniversary of the late social activist's birth. At the time of his death in May 2001, Egan held the position of assistant to the president for community affairs at DePaul, where he had worked for 15 years. Ordained a priest in 1943, Egan fought tirelessly for the poor and was visibly in the forefront of Catholic social issues throughout his extensive term of community service. Known as "the people's priest", the former pastor of Presentation Parish on Chicago's West Side and member of the board of the National Catholic Reporter, marched in Selma, Ala. with Martin L, King, Jr. in the 1960s, and walked the picket lines with Chicago union workers in the 1990s. Msgr. Egan was the recipient of numerous awards and honors recognizing his pioneering efforts for social justice.

The inaugural Social Justice Award offers a vehicle to recognize individuals who embody the sprit, courage and commitment of Msgr. Egan. As an advocate for justice and voice against racism, Pfleger, 53, who is a Diocesan priest like Egan, has attracted national headlines by spreading social protest movements in Chicago. In 1997, after waging a successful campaign against alcohol and tobacco billboards in African American communities, Pfleger won a major victory when Chicago City Council voted to ban billboards throughout most of the city.

The Egan Urban Center represents DePaul's enduring commitment to develop and deliver innovative, educational programs and services that have significant social impact and give expression to the university's Vincentian mission. The Egan Urban Center was founded in 1994 and has offices on DePaul's Loop and Lincoln Park campuses. Dr. Michael Bennett is the executive director.

DePaul is the largest Catholic university in the United States and the largest private university in Chicago. Founded by followers of St. Vincent de Paul, the 17th century French priest who dedicated his life to serving the poor, DePaul's mission emphasizes academic excellence, service to the community, access to education and respect for individual. The university enrolls a richly diverse population of 21,363 students in nine colleges and schools. DePaul offers a wide range of academic and professional programs on eight campuses in the Chicago area.

Click here for more information about Rev. Michael Pfleger

SCUPE Conference  
As part of our Black-Latino initiative described above, the Egan Center participated in the Seminary Consortium for Urban Pastoral Education (SCUPE) 2006 Conference on Urban Ministry meeting in March in Chicago. Egan Center staff took part in a panel discussion on tapping church assets to build Black-Latino relationships in Humboldt Park and hosted a conference session to identify commonalities.