Celebrating 50 years residence as ICA GreenRise turns 100. Honoring our past while building for the future.
The Mutual Insurance building in Uptown was constructed in 1921. It was donated by Kemper Insurance to the Institute of Cultural Affairs and Ecumenical Institute in 1971. We celebrate 50 years of ownership and the centennial ICA GreenRise in the midst of a year marked by significant global, national, and local change. At the intersection of our past and our future, we reflect on our recent accomplishments:
We’re on a mission to build a just and equitable society in harmony with planet Earth by enabling people everywhere work together to shape their lives and communities. We need your help!
- 2021 is the centennial of ICA GreenRise, which has previously been known as the Kemper Insurance Building and Mutual Insurance Building. The building is part of the Uptown Historic District, a designated Chicago Landmark, and listed in the National Registry of Historic Places.
- We are closer than ever to launching the GreenRise Historic Restoration Project. With prospective new tenants, investment from the State, and the interest of the Mayor’s Office, we plan to close the capital stack next month.
- We partnered with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition to train and support a cohort of grassroots community leaders representing 10 organizations in using our participatory ToP methods. These leaders used ICA methods to engage communities in a statewide campaign to bring renewable, clean energy benefits and jobs to Illinoisans.
- The national Technology of Participation (ToP) training program has gone virtual in response to the global pandemic, exploring new frontiers of facilitation. ICA and ToP trainers have collaboratively launched new four online courses, with even more in development.
- The Global Research Network hosted more than 100 people from nine different countries for a Virtual Global Research Assembly exploring how our archival collections can generate tools and insights for the needs of the present. In November, colleagues met again for a three-day Problem Solving Unit to discern the form of the project for the next year.
We’re on a mission to build a just and equitable society in harmony with planet Earth by enabling people everywhere work together to shape their lives and communities. We need your help!
