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Celebrating 50 Years Residence as ICA GreenRise Turns 100

1/14/2021

 
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Scenes from our local programming, Global Research Network, and ICA GreenRise.
2021 is the centennial of ICA GreenRise, which was constructed for Mutual Insurance in 1921 and donated by Kemper Insurance to the Institute of Cultural Affairs and Ecumenical Institute in 1971. We approach this milestone in celebration of the accomplishments of the past year and enthusiasm for our vision of the future!

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Chicago Chief Sustainability Officer Visits ICA GreenRise

10/26/2020

 
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EI COO Lesley Showers gives Chicago CSO Angela Tovar a tour of the community kitchen at ICA GreenRise.
Chicago’s new Chief Sustainability Officer, Angela Tovar, visited ICA GreenRise on September 28, 2020 to tour the mixed-use building and learn how it serves both people and the environment as a hub for sustainable community.

Tovar’s visit came in response to a letter sent by the GreenRise Restoration Project (GRRP) Advisory Team to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot urging her administration to support the project with capital investment and an operating grant. Lightfoot was previously introduced to ICA GreenRise at a North Side community meeting organized by LISC Chicago in May, 2019, just prior to being sworn in as Mayor.

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Creativity and Innovation Embedded in Virtual Facilitation Trainings

10/9/2020

 
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ToP Trainers hold up cards to share brief reflections on the progress made during a virtual planning meeting.
Four new Technology of Participation (ToP) online training courses launched this past month, a major milestone in a months-long journey to translate the facilitation methods authentically to the virtual world. We're proud to offer a small selection of courses available now--ToP Facilitation Methods (TFM) Online, ToP Strategic Planning (TSP) Online, Shift Happens: Design Principles for a Virtual World, and Action Planning Practice Lab on Miro. All the online courses are designed to train participants to apply ToP facilitation skills virtually.

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Volunteer Spotlight: Matt Cardoni

10/9/2020

 
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Matt Cardoni at the Third Annual Uptown Garden Walk in 2018.
I feel like the [ICA] team consistently cares about the planet and the community, and are willing to put their time and effort into making them better. I trust their intentions and their actions, which is a rare thing.
Matt Cardoni is founder of Green Lightning Marketing, a digital marketing consultancy that works with nonprofit organizations, mission-driven businesses and educational institutions. He has been a member of Chicago Sustainability Leaders Network for six years, helped launch and organize the Uptown Garden Walk, and has connected numerous digital marketing students and volunteers with ICA.

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Parking Lot Redevelopment to Bring Supportive Housing to Uptown

10/9/2020

 
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The new development by Sarah's Circle will cover 40% of the lot at 4747 N Sheridan Rd and provide supportive housing for women.
The Ecumenical Institute (EI), ICA’s sister organization that owns and operates ICA GreenRise, has signed a sales agreement to sell 40% of our parking lot at 4747 N Sheridan Rd to Sarah’s Circle, an Uptown-based nonprofit organization that provides a continuum of programs and supportive housing to help women permanently end their homelessness.

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Sustainability and Community Focus Earn Major Grant for GreenRise

7/17/2020

 
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The Kemper Insurance building that has housed ICA since the 1970s was rebranded as the ICA GreenRise Uptown Learning Laboratory in 2014.
We’re honored to announce that ICA GreenRise has received a major State Capital Grant from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) to invest in renovating key building features. The $150,000 award will support upgrades to the building’s fire safety system, part of a roster of capital improvements planned as part of the GreenRise Renovation Project (GRRP). ​

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Helping Facilitate a Clean Energy Transition for Illinois

7/17/2020

 
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Our Program team leads co-grantees of the Listen. Lead. Share. clean energy campaign through a virtual training on ToP facilitation methods.
“Folks in this group wear a lot of hats—community leaders, community organizers, parents, pastors. When you come into those different roles you bring different skills and focuses and things that you’re trying to do with a group, and facilitation is no different,” said ICA staffer Samantha Sainsbury to a group of organizers leading efforts to expand clean energy opportunities to Illinoisans.

​Funded by a grant through the
Energy Foundation and Illinois Environmental Council, ICA partnered with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition (ICJC) to offer a training series in our Technology of Participation (ToP) facilitation methods to fellow grantees engaged in the Listen. Lead. Share. (LLS) campaign.

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Facilitating the Shift to a Participatory Virtual World

6/9/2020

 
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Our team leads a pilot session of Shift Happens, a new virtual facilitation course for designing participatory events.
The Technology of Participation (ToP) methods were distilled from decades of experience facilitating meaningful, transformative experiences in community. The methods have been applied throughout the world, in cities, towns, and villages. They have been used at every scale from the United Nations and Fortune 500 companies down to staff meetings and family gatherings. For most of its history, ToP has thrived in-person, face-to-face.

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Colleagues Worldwide Gather for Virtual Global Research Assembly

6/9/2020

 
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More than 100 people representing nine different countries participated in the virtual Sojourn.
Read the Report
For years, the focus of the ICA Social Research Center (SRC) has been to translate our massive collection of written and recorded material to a comprehensive and accessible website. Throughout that journey of digitizing documents and building websites, the dedicated team of volunteers also began exploring tools for working together virtually. By last fall, the team was reconsidering the in-person meetings that had brought colleagues to Chicago twice each year for the past decade.

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Centering Participation in the Campaign for Clean Energy

6/9/2020

 
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ICA staffer Caitlin Sarro introduces the four pillars of the Clean Energy Jobs Act to a group at Bronzeville Neighborhood Farm in 2019.
We’re excited to announce that ICA will be working with the Illinois Clean Jobs Coalition on the Listen. Lead. Share. (LLS) campaign! Last year, we joined a cohort of organizations working to educate the public about clean energy and hear feedback from residents about recommendations for the upcoming energy bill for Illinois. ​

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Copyright 2021 The Institute of Cultural Affairs. All rights reserved
  • About Us
    • Mission & Approach
    • History
    • Our People >
      • Staff
      • Board
    • Get Involved >
      • Volunteer
      • Employment
    • Contact Us
  • Programs
    • Chicago
    • National
    • Global Involvement
  • ToPĀ® Services
    • Consultation and Facilitation
    • ToP® Training
  • GREENRISE BUILDING
    • About ICA GreenRise >
      • #CarbonFree2035
    • LEASE at ICA
    • LIVE at ICA
    • MEET at ICA
    • Tenants & Residents
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Publications
    • Past Events
  • Store
    • Store For Trainers
  • Donate