University of Illinois Chicago
EN-13: Community Stakeholder Engagement

While there is no formal community stakeholder engagement policy or framework, UIC has a multitude of stakeholders that affect the University's ongoing governance, strategy and operations. Stakeholders participate in a variety of ways. Many academic units, including the UIC Urban Health program have advisory committees and alumni groups that offer opportunities for input from stakeholders. For example, the Office of Development most likely consults with major donors to the University regarding fundraising campaigns. Stakeholders such as the Mayor, influential alumni and donors have a great impact on policy and practice at UIC. Stakeholder engagement occurs at UIC, but not necessarily in the terms of engagement in governance. The Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement, under the College of Urban Planning & Public Affairs, focuses in transforming democracy by creating a more fully engaged citizenry with more effective leaders. The Institute creates opportunities for scholars, concerned citizens, students and government officials to actively participate in social discourse, research and educational programs on policy issues and social trends.

The Office of Community Relations is an office within the Office of the Vice Chancellor for External Affairs. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for External Affairs works to build and maintain relationships between UIC and its neighboring communities. The office works with local civic, corporate, and community organizations, and with alumni and internal constituents. The Office of Community Relations works to actively engage all of its units in heaping UIC attain recognition as a leading urban based research institution. The Office of Community Relations is involved in many external organizations, projects, awards and foundations.

Some stakeholders include Connecting4Communities University Village Little Italy residents Alderman's offices Illinois Medical District Little Village Environmental Justice Organization Lighthouse for the Blind

During the process for the development of the Multimodal Transportation Plan for UIC - stakeholder engagement was conducted. Input was received to inform the plan. Since we were particularly interested in addressing issues that are confronted by people with disabilities, a meeting was held at the Lighthouse for the Blind. Also a survey was developed and administered that could be used by vision-impaired people.