The Social Impact Lab is a project-based course in which students work in small groups to develop a proposal for a business, government agency, nonprofit, or other organization to address an opportunity to drive social impact in Chicago's South Side and surrounding neighborhoods. Throughout the quarter, students learn about strategy development as well as an area of social impact with a client objective in mind. Alongside the project, students delve into the domain area to enhance their understanding and inform their recommendations. Anchored around questions of economic development and wealth creation, prior clients have included the The Obama Foundation and the Obama Presidential Center, The Office of Civic Engagement at the University of Chicago, the City of Chicago, and other economic development agencies all with a focus on economic development and wealth creation in the South Side and surrounding communities. In addition, the Social Impact Lab includes various optional field trips and guest speakers to offer broader exposure to the people, culture, and the places that make Chicago's South Side such a vibrant community.
Research by the Urban Institute and others have documented the significant wealth inequality, often referred to as the “wealth gap”, which exists in the United States. This gap is particularly acute for Black and Latinx households. Specifically, white households in the U.S. on average have 10 times more wealth than Black households and eight times more wealth than Latinx households. Data also tells us that this gap is even more pronounced in the Chicago region, as Black and Latinx households earn less than the national average, and white households earn more. Homeownership rates, housing cost burden (defined as the percent of income spent on housing), and unemployment rates follow similar patterns. Certainly, policies and practices built on systemic racism have played a significant role in shaping this outcome. In Chicago, as in many major cities, the evolution of the economy – particularly the disappearance of manufacturing jobs – has also contributed substantially. Therefore, closing the wealth gap will require both changes to the policies and practices that disadvantage people of color, as well as spurring economic development in the communities in which they live and work.
On this second piece, a key tool for the revitalization of neighborhoods and economic development lies in the work of community development. At its core, community development is a strategy to build wealth for individuals and families within a defined geographic place, thereby building wealth for the whole community. In turn, the doing of community development is about creating thriving businesses, viable real estate development, and ultimately jobs and homes. Community development works to shift the wealth gap directly by building wealth for people and places. It also impacts the wealth gap indirectly as strong communities, in turn, are better positioned to demand changes in the policies and practices that have held them back for so long.
This class will explore community development as a practice, including better understanding both the inputs and outputs of the work. Professor Foreman is fond of saying: “Wealth is the byproduct of solving problems and creating value. If you do these efficiently, you create a high rate of return.” The challenge is that the typical approaches to generating high rates of return – whether it’s starting a business or a real estate development project – often do not translate directly in communities that have faced a history of disinvestment, population loss, and poor infrastructure development. Further, to achieve success in community development you have to deliver higher rates of return not just to investors, but to the community and individuals as well.
Alongside the classroom learning, students will work on a project that seeks to bring the realities of community development to life. Detailed project descriptions will be posted in the fall in advance of the winter quarter.
Applications are due Tuesday, November 13th at 11:59 pm. Interested students can apply here.
