This Community Engagement Activity includes:

The Law and Policy Think-Tank at Stateville Correctional Center (Think-Tank primarily consists of students who have taken DePaul's Inside-Out courses)

-Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights

-Chicago Votes

The Think-Tank meets bi-weekly at Stateville. Chicago Votes and the Chicago Lawyers Committee are also members. It discusses matters of law and policy that relate to the criminal legal system, incarcerated individuals, and their families and communities. In particular, we seek to educate and engage individuals with a felony conviction about their voting rights while incarcerated, so that they will be prepared to utilize those rights upon their release. A key accomplishment was writing a bill that mandates voter education workshops as part of the exit process from prison.  That law, the "Reentering Citizens Civic Education Act", was passed nearly unanimously at all levels of the Illinois state legislature, and was signed by Gov. Pritzker in August of 2019. https://via.library.depaul.edu/depaul-magazine/vol1/iss412027/8/.

Since 2016 I have also worked with Chicago Votes and the Chicago Lawyers Committee on voter registration and access for pre-trial detainees at Cook County Correctional Center (the county jail.)  We have provided opportunities for detained citizens to register to vote, and to actually vote.  We now work to implement Illinois Public Act 101-0442, which mandates voter access for eligible voters in Illinois jails, which was also passed in August of 2019.

Girls N Power is a restorative circle workshop in which elementary school girls who are currently menstruating participate in a circle process where they have the opportunity to share stories, feelings, experiences and questions about menstruation, self-image and sense of self.

The Egan Office views Chicago as a mosaic of communities and neighborhoods. In these neighborhoods that are pieced together with uneasy symmetry, there are stories and voices unheard, heroes, movements, and recycled dreams.

The Egan office hosts conversations with community and movement builders, activists, and organizers in an effort to recognize the critical voices that give shape to the Chicago Mosaic.

This community engagement activity is a collaboration between the Egan Center and the University Center of Lake County.  Families United in Education provides information for Latinx and African American families in the Lake County area about college readiness, access to college, and college experience. 

The participant families will:

Learn about grants and scholarships to pay for college for your student or yourself.

Develop different strategies and expand your knowledge to get better results at the SAT exams.

Build your knowledge on how to prepare and support your college-bound student.

Meet and talk to college and university representatives about their admission requirements and special programs.

Hear from college students and college graduates on how to effectively navigate college life.

Discover new strategies to help your student obtain a college degree which will open doors to career success.

This family event is a collaboration between higher education institutions and community organizations. 

Asset-Based Community Development Faith-Rooted Curriculum Training Workshop focused on your congregation and its relationship to it's neighbors. This one-day workshop facilitated by ABCD Institute Faculty Mary Nelson, Melissa Browning and Richard Townsell will cover:

• Tools for asset-mapping your congregation 
• Stories and inspirations to open up creative new ways of doing things 
• Strategies to connect people over difficult issues facing communities 
• Experiential training in your immediate neighborhood 
• Ways of overcoming the deeply-ingrained charity model 

Journey for Justice (J4J) is an alliance of grassroots community, youth, and parent-led organizations in over 30 cities and growing across the country organizing to win Community-Driven alternatives to the privatization of and dismantling of public school systems. The Organization is led by Black and Brown parents, students and families centered in racial, social, and education justice. One of our key goals is to support and grow Black and Brown Organizers and organizations.

Each year DePaul student-athletes make blankets to benefit the Marillac St. Vincent DePaul Center. During autumn quarter, first year student-athletes deliver the blankets to MSV's Lincoln Park site to learn more about the Vincentian Mission and interact with the youth.