Impacting Communities

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Grant to foster health equity among Chicago youth
Aug 25, 2021 9:45 am0 views
A new grant will help reduce disparities in healthcare through a unique new training program led by Carle Illinois College of Medicine’s Ruby Mendenhall.
Providing laptops and internet hotspot to communities
Aug 10, 2021 9:30 am2 views
Families in the Georgetown-Ridge Farm school district were provided with laptops and internet hotspots thanks to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Community Data Clinic, led by Anita Chan.
Sampling sewer water for COVID-19 in the C-U community
Aug 9, 2021 11:45 am0 views
Illinois State Water Survey researchers have been sampling sewer water to look for traces of SARS-CoV2, the virus that causes COVID-19, at the neighborhood level in Champaign-Urbana to help monitor the spread of the disease.
Improving health and wellness in urban communities
Jul 28, 2021 2:45 pm0 views
Peoria, Illinois-based OSF HealthCare is partnering with the University of Illinois Chicago to establish the Community Health Advocacy (CHA) applied research program to address health and wellness challenges in urban communities.
UIC websites offer early science and math resources for teachers of young children
Jul 28, 2021 2:30 pm0 views
The UIC College of Education offers free online resources for both early math and early science education for caregivers of young children.
Evaluating plastic litter prevention strategies on Lake Springfield
Jul 27, 2021 9:30 am0 views
Researchers at University of Illinois Springfield are examining pollution in and around Lake Springfield and devising strategies to reduce the litter and its impact on the environment.
Helping communities market themselves in remote world
Jul 27, 2021 9:30 am0 views
Being able to work from anywhere these days has many setting their sights on small towns, a trend that can boost dwindling rural areas. The University of Illinois Extension offers advice to towns on marketing themselves as remote-ready to potential new residents.
Illinois Extension contributes to vaccination awareness effort in state
Jul 19, 2021 10:15 am2 views
A new partnership is empowering land-grant universities across the country to strengthen immunization education with a special focus on adult vaccine hesitancy around both COVID-19 and other adult vaccines.
SHIELD CU helping raise vaccination rates among people of color
Jun 16, 2021 9:00 am0 views
The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's SHIELD CU team is partnering with local organizations to help boost COVID-19 vaccine rates in Champaign County's community of color.
Helping prevent postpartum depression in Black women
Jun 2, 2021 12:45 pm2 views
The Sunnyside for Moms app created by researchers at University of Illinois Chicago aims to help pregnant women of color who are shoing signs of depression but haven't reached the point of clinical depression.
IDPH & DPI announce statewide system to monitor COVID-19 in wastewater
May 25, 2021 8:30 am0 views
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) and the Discovery Partners Institute (DPI) today announced a statewide system to monitor the virus that causes COVID-19 and its variants in wastewater, providing public health officials with early warnings of a potential outbreak on a county-by-county basis.
UIC to create kindergarten readiness website
May 24, 2021 8:30 am0 views
Educational researchers from the University of Illinois Chicago have received a $100,000 grant to help fund the creation of an online kindergarten readiness website for teachers and family.
State invests big in COVID tests for schools
May 12, 2021 6:00 pm0 views
In an effort to ensure in-person learning can fully resume as quickly and safely as possible, the Illinois Department of Public Health today announced a $225 million investment to expand access to covidSHIELD saliva-based testing, developed by the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, to middle and high schools across the state at low or no cost.
Community colleges in Illinois now have option to provide free covidSHIELD tests to state residents
Apr 19, 2021 1:00 pm0 views
Community colleges across the state now have the ability to provide the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign’s (UIUC) innovative, saliva-based COVID-19 test at no cost to any state resident who wants one.
K-12 Shield Playbook offers guidance for reopening schools
Apr 15, 2021 12:15 pm0 views
A new resource is available to help guide teachers and school administrators as they reopen schools amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, assembled by researchers and experts at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.
Saliva test being expanded in Champaign-Urbana community
Mar 24, 2021 10:15 am0 views
OSF HealthCare announced a new partnership with the University of Illinois Tuesday that will expand the U of I’s saliva-based COVID-19 test into the broader Champaign-Urbana community.
Volunteers help Chicago residents without internet connect to COVID-19 vaccines
Mar 23, 2021 10:30 am0 views
A UIC computer science student created a volunteer group on Facebook aimed at helping individuals from Chicago's Black and brown communities book vaccine appointments online.
UIC works with Chicago to deliver vaccinations to city's most vulnerable
Mar 16, 2021 10:00 am0 views
The University of Illinois Chicago along with Protect Chicago Plus have partnered to provide 1,000 COVID-19 vaccines to residents in the Englewood neighborhood, with plans to expand to other city areas with vulnerable populations
Social work students help kids struggling with virtual learning
Mar 9, 2021 9:15 am0 views
The Housing Authority of Champaign County and UIUC students are giving academic support to families in the community. Social work students will work with kids who are struggling with virtual learning.
U of I System receives FDA authorization for covidSHIELD test process
Mar 1, 2021 1:15 pm2 views
The University of Illinois System received emergency use authorization (EUA) today from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for covidSHIELD, its innovative saliva-based COVID-19 test that was used on the U of I campuses to hold the virus in check by utilizing widespread testing with rapid results.
Preventing child fatalities and training the workforce
Feb 10, 2021 1:45 pm0 views
The UIS Child Protection Training Academy has trained close to 1,000 DCFS child protection investigators over the last five years. The model has been expanded to Chicago and will soon be replicated at Southern Illinois University.
UI Health leads Chicago in providing vaccines for phase 1B
Feb 10, 2021 9:15 am0 views
The first day it opened a community COVID-19 vaccination site UIC and UI Health administered more than 1,600 shots to phase 1A and phase 1B eligible people, representing nearly a quarter of all vaccine doses (23%) distributed in Chicago on that day.
In person or over Zoom, UIC students help the community
Feb 3, 2021 9:00 am0 views
Nearly 200 UIC students spent their day off volunteering in the Chicago community for the MLK Day of Service.
UIC students provide business with free consulting
Feb 2, 2021 10:30 am0 views
Graduate students at UIC Business are giving free consulting service to a West Side business as part of a consulting competition organized by non-profit Earth's Remedies.
UIC recognized for recovering food for homeless
Jan 8, 2021 1:00 pm0 views
In the fall of 2020, volunteers with UIC’s Food Recovery Network (FRN) chapter collected 7,589 pounds of food and donated it to area homeless shelters. UIC has been recognized for the achievement of the most recovered pounds by any FRN chapter nationwide in the Fall of 2020.
Technology loan program helps families
Dec 18, 2020 9:30 am0 views
A technology loan program provided by the Illinois Early Intervention Clearinghouse at UIUC is helping many families across the state obtain the equipment they need to participate in live video – or telehealth – visits with their children’s therapists.
Donation to help DPI develop more inclusive tech talent
Dec 15, 2020 1:15 pm0 views
A $10 million gift will establish the Pritzker Tech Talent Labs at DPI, which will help Illinois workers better adapt to a challenging and quickly changing economy, and help thousands of women and people of color secure high-paying tech jobs.
Pop-up testing clinics for Rantoul ag workers
Dec 2, 2020 1:30 pm0 views
An interdisciplinary team of scientists at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is working with clinicians and community researchers to expand access to COVID-19 testing by providing pop-up testing clinics for agricultural workers and others at various locations in Rantoul, Illinois.
Community map locates food assistance sites
Sep 29, 2020 3:00 pm0 views
To help Illinois residents meet their basic food needs, University of Illinois Extension launched a new Illinois community food map that allows individuals to search by Illinois zip code for all food resources in that area.
Healthcare leaders protect homeless during pandemic
Sep 9, 2020 3:15 pm10 views
Chicago nonprofits, shelters, city and healthcare leaders, including UI Health, have come together to address the problems those experiencing homelessness are facing while protecting public health.
U of I to expand COVID saliva testing nationally
Aug 10, 2020 3:15 pm0 views
The U of I System has embarked on a broad effort to expand the reach of saliva-based testing pioneered by U of I researchers that supports widespread testing with rapid results to limit spread of the COVID-19 virus.
Instructors benefit from UIS course on teaching online
Jul 29, 2020 2:00 pm2 views
The University of Illinois Springfield ION Professional eLearning Program’s Overview of Online Instruction course is helping Illinois higher education professors and K-12 teachers to better teach online during the pandemic.
Fund to aid family advocacy initiative at law school clinic
Jul 20, 2020 2:45 pm0 views
A new fund will help support those in need of representation in family law matters through UIC John Marshall Law School's Pro Bono Litigation Clinic.
Awards recognize UIUC excellence in public engagement
Jul 10, 2020 8:45 am2 views
The Campus Awards for Excellence in Public Engagement spotlight faculty members and staff at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who have consistently applied their knowledge and expertise to issues for the public good.
UIS offers free public webinar series on community health
Jun 17, 2020 8:45 am0 views
As part of the Springfield Innovation Hub, UIS and the Community Health Roundtable have launched a new webinar series on community health with immediate focus on the impact of COVID-19.
DPI launches new education and workforce research center
May 31, 2020 8:30 am0 views
The Discovery Partners Institute has launched a new education and workforce research center, IWERC, with $3.9 million from some of the city’s most influential philanthropists and foundations.
South Shore clinic expands COVID-19 testing
May 5, 2020 10:15 am0 views
UI Health Mile Square Health Center — a network of federally qualified health centers, or FQHCs, in Chicago — is now providing COVID-19 testing to community members on the South Side who meet testing criteria at its South Shore clinic, located at 7037 S. Stony Island Ave.
Child Development Laboratory cares for children of essential, critical personnel
May 5, 2020 10:00 am0 views
Since mid-March, the staff at the CDL has stepped up to provide emergency childcare for a limited number of essential and critical personnel during the pandemic, under the state’s emergency childcare license.
UIS helping private and community colleges and state agencies transition to remote learning
May 5, 2020 9:45 am0 views
The University of Illinois Springfield Center For Online Learning, Research and Service (COLRS) is helping Illinois private and community colleges and state agencies transition to remote learning as a result of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
UIC leads largest nationwide effort to protect the monarch butterfly
May 5, 2020 9:45 am0 views
Since 2017, the University of Illinois at Chicago has partnered with more than 45 energy companies and transportation agencies to develop the first nationwide Candidate Conservation Agreement with Assurances to engage in important conservation actions to protect the monarch butterfly.
U of I at Urbana-Champaign helping families across the state
Feb 18, 2020 2:45 pm0 views
Here's just 10 ways the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is helping kids and families across the state. More...
Gov. Pritzker commits $500 million to IIN and DPI
Feb 12, 2020 2:45 pm2 views
The State of Illinois is moving forward with $500 million in capital funding for the University of Illinois System’s Illinois Innovation Network and Discovery Partners Institute – a network of research and innovation hubs that will serve as a magnet for technology and talent. More...
Studying access to early childhood education in Illinois
Feb 10, 2020 2:45 pm1 views
UIC researchers, supported by a grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, will examine feedback from families who are living with the effects of their child’s expulsion. More...
New UIS data analytics course for business professionals
Jan 19, 2020 2:45 pm2 views
UIS is offering a chance for business professionals to become data analytics ninjas through a new highly marketable Splunk fundamentals course that can be completed online in only a month. More...
New Peoria Innovation Hub to be part of statewide network
Nov 4, 2019 2:45 pm0 views
The Peoria Innovation Hub will be dedicated to finding solutions to improve the wellness of underserved populations and advance systems related to food, farming, and transportation. More...
Two projects to help communities with lead-elimination
Oct 16, 2019 2:45 pm0 views
UIC received $1.7 million in research funding from HUD to study lead and other household health hazards. The funds will support two different projects in Illinois communities. More...
Assisting military-dependent communities
Aug 19, 2019 2:30 pm0 views
UIC has received a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Economic Adjustment to support economic research and resiliency in Illinois’ military-connected communities. More...
Child Protection Training Academy
Aug 19, 2019 2:00 pm0 views
The Child Protection Training Academy at the University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) trains case workers and investigators to better spot and report kids who might be in danger. More...
Training community firefighters
Aug 19, 2019 1:00 pm0 views
As the statutory fire academy for Illinois, the Illinois Fire Service Institute (IFSI) serves firefighters throughout Illinois and beyond with coursework and hands-on training at regional centers throughout the state. More...
Impact on the state economy
Aug 14, 2019 1:00 pm0 views
The U of I System contributes $17.5 billion annually to the state’s economy through its research, hospital, and entrepreneurial activities, along with the universities' students and visitors, according to a recent study. More...

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