October 28th - November 2nd 2012 Outreach Weekend

This outreach weekend was se up a bit differently than previous weekends due to the nature of the projects. Certain projects needed to be done on certain days therefore we split up the students between these projects, and completed our tour on Saturday morning, rather than Friday. The first time sensitive project involved preparation for the Halloween Extravaganza at Prosperity Gardens. This is always a fun project for us, and we wanted to ensure we would be available to assist Nicole. Students worked to carve pumpkins, spread spider webs, blow up balloons, and do anything they could to make the garden spooky. The second project was the actually Halloween event itself. We invited the students out to interact with residents and the children at the Extravaganza. Students were encouraged to wear costumes. Many of us volunteered at different stations and events for the children arriving while others blew up balloons or did face paint. It was a great event enjoyed by all! The third project included small things around Center for women in transition that needed to be attended to. Students moved old furniture from the front of the buildings to the restore for the center to donate. Students also gave the women a day off of chores and helped them around the facility with any odd task that needed to be completed. This was a great opportunity for the students to engage with the women at the center, and also pitch in at the same time. Finally a smaller group worked at A Woman’s Place, which is the Urbana location of Center for Women in Transition and raked leave and beautified the exterior of the building. Finally we concluded out weekend with a Tour of the North first street neighborhood. We made stops of the project sites throughout the week as well as visited with Nicole Bridges at Prosperity Gardens, Mary Wallace at the Center for Women in Transition, and Claudia and a few residents at the 5th and Hill site. The 5th and Hill site was particularly interesting being joined by the residents who have a firsthand account of the issues the community is facing due to the former Ameren site. All in all it was a great weekend and the students were exposed to a variety of projects and issues facing the residents of North Champaign. – Chase Miller

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Halloween Outreach Weekend!

We had a great start to the Fall semester with an awesome outreach weekend here in Champaign Il. We worked with Nicole Bridges at Prosperity Gardens, as well as Mary Wallace at the Center for Women In Transition. We were also joined by Bob Hughes and a few of his HCD students bringing our total to 21. Though it was a bit cold and wet, we had a wonderful tour on Friday morning. We were joined by John Ruffin, the Neighborhood Coordinator for the City of Champaign. He gave us a bit of information on the North First Street and Church and Hill neighborhoods as well as compared and contrasted them to other neighborhoods in Champaign. We then heard a bit from Nicole Bridges about her work with Prosperity Gardens, and her long term goals and vision for the garden. She is very proactive about achieving this and is incredibly passionate about the work she is doing with the garden. Upon leaving prosperity gardens we drove through a bit of the neighborhood passing some residents and local services. We stopped by Douglas Park. Following the stop at Douglas Park we made our way to the Fifth and Hill site. This site is owned by Ameren and was formerly used in chemical manufacturing. Regardless of what was done on this site, countless chemicals have leeched away from the site or been dumped around the site causing chronic illness to plague the community. Jose Castillo-Pilcol a Graduate Assistant with ARI has researched this and shared a bit of his findings with us on the tour. Or final stop of the tour was at the Center for Women In Transition. We were joined by Mary Wallace who showed us around the center and gave us a brief description of what they do. Students were full of questions, and very interested to learn more about the Center for Women in Transition. Of the three houses they have on site we visited two of them, and were also able to talk with a couple of the residents. As we wrapped up the tour we all filled out stomachs with the local flavors of Fiesta Café. Students dialogued with one another about their own backgrounds and how eye opening much of the tour was. This was also a great opportunity to warm up and fuel up for the projects in the afternoon After lunch we split into two groups. The HCD students along with Bob Hughes made their way to CWT to help with come painting they needed to do were the FAA students went to Gardens to begin the process of winterizing the garden for the winter. The group at the Center for Women In transition was joined by a few children who live there. They successfully repainted the hallway that lead to many of the short term stay rooms. Students also had the incredible opportunity to talk with the children. The FAA students spent the rest of the afternoon working at Prosperity Gardens, and fortunately the rain decided to hold off. The primary goal for Friday was to clean out the evidence building and organize everything that was stored in there. As we began Saturday, we again broke into the same two groups. The group at Center for Women in Transition finished up the painting that was not completed on Friday as well as completed some odd jobs and organization that needed to happen. The FAA students at Prosperity Gardens began winterizing the garden. Some students emptied out the storage shed to organize it, while others cleared and harvested the remaining plants in the garden. This garden waste was then transferred to the compost bins that we helped Prosperity Gardens build on our previous Outreach Weekend. We all has Pizza for lunch at Land of Lincoln where the students had an opportunity to share what they had been working on In the afternoon all of the students went out to the Fall Festival in Champaign. Some students helped Nicole Bridges with the Prosperity Gardens booth that she set up, while others participated and helped with the fun and games. One particular event that students had fun with was the pumpkin toss into the boneyard creek. Kids would toss a small pumpkin at a target in the pond and students would help to retrieve it. After a long hard day of work we wrapped everything up with a delicious Ice Cream from Custard Cup! – Chase Miller

Spring 2012 Outreach at Prosperity Gardens!

WCIA 3 News Covered a demonstration by Mike Brunk regarding Composting!

 Despite the rain, we weren't going to let it stop our day of fun-filled learning and community engagement. Friday morning, the students were introduced to Nicole Bridges, who is the visionary of Prosperity Gardens. She explained to us the future plans of turning the old evidence building into a community center that will serve as a center of education and production of fresh food year-round. Shortly after, we toured the neighborhood and Nicole shared community plans and informed us of additional community-based programs and establishments. Later, Mike Brunk, the Arborist for the City of Urbana, met with our team and explained the ins and outs of composting and demonstrated how to compost in our own backyards! WCIA 3 News covered the demonstration and hopefully we can get the word out about the ease of composting!! Prior to lunch, we visited another community-based organization, the Re-Store, run by the Habitat for Humanity. I got to know the students much better during our lunch at the Fiesta Cafe. After lunch we visited the Landscape Recycling Center in Urbana to see "where the [composting] magic happens!" What a massive place! Our final visit during our rain-plagued day was to the IDEA Store on First and Springfield. It's a great little store that recycles anything and everything and generates great adaptive re-use ideas for patrons! Anything from Pringles containers to zippers and dental tools, there's something for everyone!

Saturday we were blessed with a great deal of sunshine that motivated the mass efforts of revamping Prosperity Gardens. Patrick Hatch and I led a crew of students in building a 6' x 3' composting bin!

It took all day, but we got it done and it is the most beautiful composting bin I've even seen! We else edged the flower garden with freshly painted edging bricks, weeded the corn field, built a fence around the produce garden to keep hungry critters at bay, and spread mulch.

Lord & Lacy hosted an awesome Cook-Out Jubilee and neighborhood residents and business owners came out to join us! It was a great weekend and the student learned so much about their C-U community, benefits of gardening, and we really broke the invisible boundaries that exist between the University and Community. For me, it was a great end to an awesome experience over the last three years working with ESLARP and AR.I. I'll miss everyone and am elated to see the progress we are making here an home, in our own neighborhood, amongst our own people. - JG

Hoop Houses for the Prosperity Garden

Here are some pictures of students hard at work constructing the hoop houses at the North First Street Prosperity Garden on Saturday February 25th. The hoop houses will allow the garden to get an early start on the planting for this growing season!

February 24-25 Outreach Weekend Summary

This weekend 30 University students made the hour long trek out to Decatur Illinois for our first outreach weekend working with Old Kings Orchard Community Center. The community center is situated in the center of Old Kings Orchard Neighborhood; a neighborhood known for its poverty, crime rate, prostitution, and poor living conditions.
When we arrived students were greeted by Alida Graham and several members of the Old Kings Orchard Board. One of the board members, who has been an advocate in the community for years, graciously volunteered her time to give us a historical perspective of the neighborhood and the city. This was a very eye opening time for many of the students. Following the informational session, the board members took us out on a walking tour throughout the neighborhood. In a matter of minutes students were face to face with a level of poverty many of them had never seen before, or even knew existed. We saw men and women living in condemned houses, using windows to gain access. We even saw several men gathered around a large bonfire (these men live at this fire). While on the tour, students were encouraged to hand out flyers for a community “Cook In” at Old Kings Orchard Community Center on Saturday afternoon. Upon the completion of the tour, students had the unique opportunity to eat lunch at The Good Samaritan, a soup kitchen in the neighborhood. This was an incredible experience for the students, as they got to sit down and talk with men and women who literally had nothing.
Later in the afternoon our group split into two. Half of the group returned to Old Kings Orchard Community Center to begin clearing out a room, in preparation for a computer lab installation by Martin Wolske, and a group of LIS students. The remaining students stayed at The Good Samaritan and assisted them with their operations. A few students were asked to sort out donated meat and organize it in the walk in freezer. Other students painted parts of the kitchen storage area and the dining room. These are tasks that need to be completed at the Good Samaritan, however because they are so irregular, they cannot afford to spare the manpower when they arise. When these projects are completed we wrap up for the day and head back to Champaign
On Saturday, when we arrive at Old Kings Orchard Community Center, some students begin preparations for our afternoon “Cook In”, while others assemble groups to visit homes in the neighborhood, in need of smoke detectors. These groups canvassing the neighborhood are accompanied by a police escort, who has worked in the area for several years. Students received answers at about half of the homes they were schedule to visit. When the students entered the homes they were confronted with the reality of how the residents live. Its begins to give poverty a new meaning. As the afternoon draws near, residents begin approaching for the “Cook In”. When they arrive they are served a baked potato and/or a hotdog and chilli. This truly made their day. Students were mingling with the residents while they ate, lending an ear to anything the residents wanted to talk about. Old Kings Orchard provided the students with a short questionnaire they can use as a guide in conversing with the residents. This was a great way for students to get personal with the residents, and really understand the struggles and hardships they face everyday.
Simultaneously, a small group of students worked at Prosperity Gardens on Saturday morning. This group of students began the installation of Hoop house’s in the garden in preparation for the April Outreach Weekend. The students were able to install 6 hoop houses with the help of Nicole Bridges, who is the director of Prosperity Gardens.

Prepping beds in Prosperity Gardens

On Saturday, February 25th, students from FAA 291 worked with Prosperity Gardens to build protective tents for six of the planting beds. The tents will protect seedlings from the harsh and often unpredictable weather conditions that a Midwestern spring bring. The tents will also allow Prosperity Garden to get an early start on developing their delicious vegetable garden. Vegetables harvested in the summer months will be sold at the North First Street Farmers Market, right next to Prosperity Gardens.

February 24-25th, 2012 - Saturday Outreach Weekend Activities

[Students preparing smoke detectors for installation]

On Friday, Alita, Officer Bob and I took students around the OKO neighborhood to install smoke detectors in residential homes. Bob gave us a history and crime overview of the neighborhood and explained what measures the Decatur Police Department put in place to cool down crime and drug hot spots in the area.


We installed about ten smoke detectors and provided the residents maintenance information and instructions for care. Afterwards, we were briefed on our tasks for our Community Cook-In and greeted residents as they arrived. The students were given clipboards and conversation starters for their interactions with the residents during the Cook-In.
They learned about the needs and desires of the neighborhood and what resources are in demand so the OKO Community Center can strategize how to better serve their community and involve more adults. They students also played with the children!


Lunch was a great success for the students, residents and supports of the Community Center. Following the Cook-In and cleanup, we all sat with Alita and she asked for our reflections and findings of the residents during lunch. Many adults were keen on the integration of more adult-targeted support activities.


We also did a "plus - delta" assessment of our weekend with the Old Kings Orchard Community Center, whereby the students were able to share their opinions of success and what they think can change next time around. After our reflection, we helped clean up and a team went back around the neighborhood to install more smoke detectors. We capped our weekend at Decatur's Kreckles restaurant and returned back to campus before dark!

Nov. 28/29, 2011 ~ This weekend 30 University students, faculty and staff travelled to East St. Louis for what might very well have been our last official ‘Outreach Weekend’ in East St. Louis. The group was comprised of students from three courses, Martin Wolske’s LIS 451 graduate students, Vicki Eddings’ FAA 291 group of undergrad students from across campus and Prof. Robert Hughes’ FAA 291 HCD group of Human and Community Development Freshmen students.

Upon arrival at Eagle’s Nest Martha Watts (founder and Executive Director) joined us and gave the students a wonderful overview of the Veterans shelter followed by a tour of the facility. Billie Turner soon joined us for her legendary ‘tour’ of East St. Louis where she treated the students to lots of stories and historical facts about her city.

After lunch the students were eager to begin their weekend projects at Pirtle's, Village Theatre and the Public Television Station. Patrick Hatch, ESLARP alum currently working as an auditor with HUD came to work with us for the weekend. It was fitting that he joined us this weekend as he has been with ESLARP almost since its inception.

Projects:

Village Theatre – Patrick and Bob Hughes took on the siding project which turned out to be much more than they bargained for. The two leaders, with assistance from Christina, and six undergrad students got right to work and before the weekend was over they had successfully accomplished their goal! The students learned new skills and made new friends – it was an excellent experience just to watch!

Pirtle’s – Pirtle’s is becoming a new favorite project spot for our students. The undergrad students worked with LIS grad students to install desks and vinyl flooring in both the new computer room and the ice cream store. They had a blast this weekend. Mr. Pirtle treated everyone to free ice cream and lots of positive feedback about their work.

Public Access Television Station – Friday, some of the FAA 291 students worked with LIS grads painting and preparing for a new computer lab. This project is a new venture and we’re looking forward to seeing the results of the LIS 451 students’ technical efforts.

ESLARP tool move – A few of the students volunteered (?) to help pack and clean up ESLARP’s tool shed in preparation for the move to Champaign. Although the work was dirty and sometimes heavy lifting was involved, they were great and hung in there with me as we went through all the tools and other things we had stockpiled over the years. By the end of Saturday the U-haul was packed with tools ready to be brought to their new home with Action Research.Illinois in Champaign . . . progress can be good but sad!


Many thanks to those who helped this weekend – you know who you are! I’m looking forward to all the new adventures in East Central Illinois.

Prosperity Garden

The second outreach weekend in Champaign was kicked off to a great start Saturday morning with a new group of students from both FAA and HDR classes working hard in the Prosperity Gardens on North First Street. Students began their morning by winterizing the vegetable garden, clearing the corn field, and trimming back the rain garden on the north side of the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance building. Maintaining the growth of the rain garden keeps the plants healthy and adds to the aesthetics of the neighborhood. Before breaking for lunch, students got a head start on various tasks to prepare for the North First Street Halloween Extravaganza event for neighborhood children on Monday afternoon.

During the lunchtime cookout, everyone had an opportunity interact and get to know one another over some great barbeque and sports time in the park. The best part was that community members and neighborhood kids came out to join us in playing games and they referred to the college students as “the cool big kids.” It was great to see as many smiles on the students’ faces as there were on the kids’!

After lunch, our team continued preparing for the Extravaganza and started decorating the site by turning the scarecrows into mummies and carving pumpkins to set out. When we finished up turning the garden into a scary graveyard, we set out to help another team rake leaves at the home of an elderly couple who have made a great contribution in the community. Thanks to our team’s extra effort, everyone’s yard was finished as scheduled. AR.I and all of our community partners made this a great outreach weekend and a huge success!!!

October 2011 Outreach Weekend

Saturday morning got off to a cold start, but quickly turned into a beautiful day. My team got started bright and early and Shadow Wood. Our project was to paint the community center that the Library and Information Science students are working on turning into a computer lab. While our group was small, we were eager and quickly had the first coat up on the walls.

Lunch came at a perfect time because we had worked up quite an appetite. The community cookout was so much fun! We got to eat GREAT barbecue and mingle with the other students. The best part however, was getting to meet some community members and play football and soccer with some of the neighborhood kids. Seeing their reaction and excitement to have us around was extremely inspiring. The cookout came to an end and we went back to Shadow Wood to finish up painting.

By the end of the day Saturday, we were tired and covered in paint, but felt accomplished and inspired by the community and the people who are working to make it a better place. We were all very excited to be back, working in the Champaign-Urbana community. Can't wait to see what the future holds for AR.I!!

Welcome to AR.I in Action!! Formerly ESLARP in Action

Greetings!

I would like to welcome you to our new Blogspot Domain: http://ariinaction.blogspot.com

Action Research.Illinois (AR.I) is a public outreach program that works with partners across the State of Illinois, with a particular focus in East Central Illinois Communities.

AR.I maintains an on-going program of sustained engagement with community partners and public agencies, addressing social justice, human and environmental sustainability, and development in distressed areas and with marginalized populations through service learning and action research.

Together with residents and community organizations in severely distressed areas of Illinois, faculty, staff and students from across the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign endeavor to work on highly tangible and visible projects that address immediate and long-term needs.

Action Research.Illinois acts as an umbrella organization to support and sustain these vital University of Illinois projects:
~The East St. Louis Action Research Project (ESLARP)
~ILLINOIS Global Action Research (IGAR)
~Citizens Air Quality Project (CAP)
~Courses

Available Funding:
~Seed Grants for Course Development 2011
~Faculty Mentor Program 2011


Please see our website for more information: http://www.actionresearch.illinois.edu

Pirtle's Community Technology Center

When we started on our East St. Louis adventure on Friday morning, we were tired but excited to start the weekend! We arrived in East St. Louis and were greeted by Billy, our beloved tour guide. We went on a tour of East St. Louis, then gathered at Eagle’s Nest to eat a delicious lunch. We were introduced to Amy Funk, who told us all about the clean air initiative.

After an eventful and educational morning, we all separated into our groups and headed to our work sites. Our group spent the weekend at Pirtle’s. Our task was to paint the new community technology center that is in the process of being built. We had no idea the work that was cut out for us when we started on Friday, and feared that we would not be able to get the room cleaned and the walls painted come Saturday afternoon. However, with the commitment and determination of the FAA 291 students on site, we were able to complete the task.

We were sweetly rewarded after the weekend with Mr. Pirtle’s infamous ice cream. As we all loaded the bus to head back to Champaign on Saturday we were exhausted, but had an incredible feeling of accomplishment. East St. Louis and it’s residents are always so kind to us and we love the time we get to spend there!

Audrey Sanders House

6 students in FAA 291 spent the weekend completing an ADA accessible wheelchair ramp at Audrey Sanders house in East St. Louis. Audrey Sanders fosters children with both physical and mental disabilities; giving them attention and love, and caring for them when their own families have rejected them. This ramp will allow Audrey to easily move the children in and out of the house.

Specifically our team completed the ramp by attaching the few remaining spindles to the railing. The students were given the opportunity learn how to use tools such as a circular saw, and a drill.



The team also dug holes and poured concrete, repairing a fallen chain link fence. In fixing the fence, the children will have a safer area to play in outside.

ARCH 572 Students Document Sites in East St. Louis

Professor Dearborn introduces students to the site.

Twelve students from Professor Dearborn’s ARCH 572 Studio visited E. St. Louis as part of the Sept 9^th-10^th Outreach Weekend to analyze two neighborhoods for a semester-long research project exploring development strategies in Winstanley-Industry Park and Olivette Park. After lunch on Friday the ARCH 572 Studio discussed air pollution with Amy Funk of ESLARP’s Citizens Air Quality Project before departing on our tour of the two neighborhoods led by Leverne Backstrom. Students were exposed to key locations and historical facts of both neighborhoods as a portion of our detailed analysis for development studies. On Saturday the students documented two potential development sites in Winstanley-Industry Park and one in Olivette Park. While on site, the students were able to meet with some neighborhood residents and make contacts for future neighborhood meetings where residents can provide feedback, a crucial step of the design process, for the designs that will be created by the class.

Urban Agriculture in North Champaign

Students weeding the corn field

Happily moving mulch

For the first time, Illinois Action Research brought students in FAA 291 to volunteer in our own backyard of Champaign. Twenty students worked in the Prosperity Gardens, located on North First Street, near downtown Champaign. On Friday and Saturday students weeded, mulched, regraded, and re-soiled planting beds in the gardens and the introductory corn field across the street. The vegetables grown in the garden are sold at the North First Street Farmers Market and those proceeds are invested into local food justice programing, such as agriculture and nutrition education programs with local youth.

Prepping a space for future composting

Prepping the vegetable beds for winter

On Saturday students also weeded the rain garden on the north side of the Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance building. The rain garden is a great environmentally conscientious method to control runoff and prevent flooding of storm water systems, while using plants to filter pollutants from the water as it enters the ground. After lunch students examined the Bone Yard redevelopment area to better understand the plan for connecting north and downtown Champaign to campus town. The successful weekend ended in the building of four scarecrows to be used to deter groundhogs and other animals from the vegetable and rain gardens. IAR hopes to continue working with Prosperity Gardens as we continue to engage in community projects in Central Illinois!

One of many garter snakes seen on Friday

The bull frog that lives in the rain garden

41st Street

Friday morning came early and the students gathered outside of Temple Hoyne Buell Hall eager for a weekend of work. We hit the road and began our journey to East St. Louis.

Just outside of East St. Louis we stopped at Cahokia Mounds and took some time to learn about the rich history of the area. We climbed to the top of the tallest mound and were able to see a great view of the St. Louis. The view was beautiful!

After spending some time at Cahokia Mounds, we headed into East St. Louis and gathered at Eagle’s Nest for a delicious Fish Fry! After lunch my group and I headed to 41^st Street/Pullman Porter Park. On the last outreach weekend we had painted a new sign for the park, and this weekend we were going to be putting that sign on the ground and cleaning up the park to get it ready for the spring season.

The group was eager to get started, so we didn’t waste any time. We got right to it pulling weeds, raking leaves, cutting bushes, and picking up trash. By the end of the day on Friday the park was starting to look much better and more alive. After a full day, we went out, as a group, to dinner. Over dinner each group took turns talking about the work that was done that day. Friday night ended with a trip into St. Louis so that we could go to the City Museum.

Saturday morning came and we started with a tour of East St. Louis, which was lead by our community liaison, Billie Turner. We drove all over the city learning about its history and resilience over the years. It was great to get to see the city through Billie’s eyes.

After the tour, we went back to our respective work areas. We continued cleaning up the park and hung the sign. At the end of the day, we went to Pirtle’s Ice Cream shop and enjoyed a delicious treat before heading back to Champaign.

We ended Saturday night back where we had start at Temple Hoyne Buell Hall. We all worked very hard all weekend and accomplished so much. The park looked great and ready for visitors!