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Developing and Connecting Community Leaders
Connections that Work (1997)
This joint project between Imagine Chicago and Case
Western University’s Weatherhead School of Management in 1997 was
focused on connecting and scaling up the impact of the W.K.
Kellogg Foundation’s youth and community health grantees in
Chicago. Through a series of conferences, forums, and training workshops,
the process helped build shared visions, creating and
strengthening partnerships, and deepening institutional capacity to
innovate.
The initiative included a 3-day Future Search conference, run
with David Cooperrider from Case Western, in which health,
religious, educational, cultural and leadership organizations joined together
to discuss strategies on how to create and sustain vital communities
for children in Chicago. In June, 1997 45 community leaders participated
in a 2-day workshop on Appreciative Inquiry theory and practice.
With funding from the Seabury Foundation and the W.K. Kellogg
Foundation, Connections that Work continued throughout 1997 to provide
bi-monthly forums on topics of common interest to Kellogg grantees and
others interested in a positive future for Chicago’s communities
and children. For program details and lessons learned, please click here or visit Case Studies section of this website.
Moving to Health (2001-2002)
 In 2001, Scrap
Mettle SOUL (SMS), a community performance group in Uptown, Chicago, entered
into partnership with Imagine Chicago to experiment with ways arts and civic
dialogue could be combined around issues of urgent social impact. In
consultation with multiple local organizations, the partners decided to focus
on gathering and presenting stories about health. Since Uptown is a community
with poor health outcomes which houses many newly arrived immigrants,
mentally ill and elderly residents, ‘moving to health’ seemed an important
theme.
In 2002, stories gathered in Uptown were brought together in
a performance enacted by local residents entitled “And the Whole
World Gets Well.” The dress rehearsal was seen by a group of visiting
UK dignitaries in April 2002, including UK Health Minister Hazel
Blears, who had brought a team to Chicago to learn about effective
community participation approaches to improving health outcomes.
 In
September 2002, two groups, one from Scotland, the other from
London (Southwark), met SMS at the global Imagine Chicago celebration
in Chicago. Tasting community performance doing the storytelling
game raised interest in how a visit by SMS to the UK might be a catalyst
for local health conversations. Because SMS’ cast and stories
involve ‘hard to reach’ populations (mentally ill, homeless, abused
young people, drug addicts, etc.) the hope was that their presence
might provoke richer community dialogue about what makes health possible.
It would also demonstrate the importance of storytelling and
community participation in moving to health.
The tour was set for
January 2003, requiring a whirlwind effort of organizing which became a major
catalyst for expanded community connections in Southwark and Scotland, as
neighbors were recruited as host families, local churches and shopping malls
were transformed into theatre halls, and schools opened their doors to
storytelling and community performance workshops. Read a case study of this
process.
Women Alive (2003))
 In 2003, Imagine
Chicago's founder was honored as a Chicago social justice pioneer, and
Imagine Chicago was engaged to help organize and document a special project
honoring 24 such women in a special exhibition and public program called
Women Alive: A Legacy of Social Justice. The exhibit was created to raise
awareness about the many Chicago-area women who have been social justice
pioneers working on behalf of education, healthcare, or employment, fighting
to eliminate bias on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or disability and
who have dedicated their lives to shaping values, raising families, and
promoting social change.
From activists to elected representative,
artists to historians, women of all different ages, races, and ethnic
backgrounds, these Chicago leaders included: Dr. Rev. Willie Barrow, Marca
Bristo, Bliss Browne, Dr. Iva Carruthers, Patty Crowley O.S.B., Patricia
Crowley, Josie Opena Disterhoft, Sunny Fischer, Jacky Grimshaw, Ronne
Hartfield, Bette Cerf Hill, Mary Houghton, Jean Hunt, Indira Johnson, Eva
Maddox, Aurie Pennick, Sylvia Puente, Hedy M. Ratner, Jan Schakowsky, Diann
Deweese Smith, Alaka Wali, Bernarda Wong, Rev. Addie Wyatt. The criteria
for their selection included their commitment to improving conditions
for disadvantaged or oppressed groups and to empowering their
communities, and that they were risk-takers, creating or leading a new vision
and exploring new territory. In addition, they led exemplary lives
outside of career and public activities, dedicated to family and to religious
or spiritual values; they were considered role models who could
inspire others to socially just missions and achievements.
Each woman
created a unique installation to tell the story of her life, in partnership
with local artists and designers. These inspiring exhibits-created from
notebooks and journals, photographs, posters, works of art-testified to the
values, struggles, and achievements of these advocates for labor, health,
employment, economic opportunity, education, interfaith unity, and social
inclusion. They made visible the vital connections between personal values
and public action, and how women think about and express their devotion to
improving public life. It was the organizer's hope that this unique exhibit
would challenge people's thinking about the roles of women and raise up a new
generation of pioneers.
Imagine Chicago helped bring that connection
alive for 20 young women who volunteered to interview the honorees and
document their stories for the exhibition. The exhibition was held at
Archeworks, and was accompanied by a series of special lectures, discussions,
poetry, music, and performances organized by Imagine Chicago. Program details
can be found here.
The special events provided an uncommon opportunity to raise and discuss
vital questions about public life, and to bring awareness to the distinctive
ways women think about and advance social justice. The exhibition process
and outcomes were documented by Imagine Chicago in a publication
entitled Women Alive: A Legacy of Social Justice.
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