COPC Annual Report Jan 2001-1

COPC Annual Report Jan 2001-1

NEIGHBORHOOD REVITALIZATION

The building of a neighborhood association that is ready to determine priorities in the allocation of those remaining COPC funds designated for neighborhood improvement.
Assisting two residents and the executive director of The Springfield Project (TSP) to go to a national conference on neighborhood revitalization:Neighborhoods USA (NUSA).
Continued work with the City to implement its plan on solid waste removal. This included TSP assistance for the first pickup of bulky items throughout the Springfield community in 5 years.
Continued exploration of acquisition of "The Lincoln Colored Home for Children" as part of the implementation of the neighborhood plan.

HOUSING

Solidification and expansion of TSP's Home Ownership Program for Equity (HOPE) including purchase and rehabilitation of its properties.
HOPE has continued with COPC assistance to work in collaboration with Lincoln Land Community College to provide prospective buyers with home maintenance training.
Continuing research on problems of code enforcement with the help of a grant from a local foundation.
Support for amendments passed by the Springfield City council that strengthen nuisance legislation that has as its goal the reduction of problem properties throughout the community.

MICROENTERPRISE DEVELOPMENT

Establishment of a broader working group to provide direction and support for the micro enterprise initiative.
Provided direct counseling to clients to help finish their business plans in order to qualify for loan funds.
Analysis of current education program for either prospective or existing small business owners. A new direction, utilizing the NxLevel Program for business training is being adopted.
Continuing solicitation of contributions to a COPC/LLCC micro enterprise loan program. Continuing discussions with LLCC on establishment of a micro enterprise incubator.
Plans to provide basic computer training to prospective and existing business owners in the targeted area.

COMMUNITY ORGANIZING/EMPOWERMENT

Working with TSP to include the hiring of a community organizer for the TSP/COPC neighborhoods within its plans.
Support for the newly established neighborhood association that will allow residents greater access to resources and potential ownership and control within their neighborhood.
Working with TSP to support the development of the leadership of both the TSP Neighborhood Enhancement Team and the neighborhood association.
COPC faculty member, Peter Boltuc, has established a collaborative effort with Lincoln Land Community College to provide basic computer training to residents of the TSP neighborhood.

EDUCATION

Assisting the UIS Public Service Committee in their efforts to sponsor a daylong convocation on "Re-visiting the Public Affairs Mission".
Support for the visit of Dr. Barbara Holland, the Director of the HUD Office of University Partnerships.

2001 COPC MID-YEAR REPORT

JULY, 2001

This report summarizes activities during year three of the University of Illinois at Springfield Community Outreach Partnership Center (UIS/COPC) from January to July, 2001. At the center of the COPC grant is support for the work of The Springfield Project. COPC and TSP often work as one unit. In all instances except for micro enterprise we work very closely together.

The following is a summary of activity during the past six months according to the major categories of the COPC Grant.

1)Neighborhood Revitalization

The COPC working with The Springfield Project (TSP) proposes to conduct various activities to help revitalize a 27-block[sic: 21-block] area. The COPC proposes to develop a model that can be replicated in other neighborhoods throughout our blighted areas of Springfield. The model involves an intensive focus on a concentrated geographical area to build neighborhood solidarity, leadership, and empowerment through consolidation of a variety of community resources with resident direction and control.

This year COPC/TSP entered a period of moving from construction of a plan to prioritization, feasibility assessment, and recommendations for implementation. COPC Director Larry Golden and UIS Professor Peter Boltuc are working with residents and TSP Executive DirectorTimothy Rowles to find ways to implement the most important elements of the neighborhood plan. A subcommittee of the neighborhood association has been established to develop planning priorities and to link those with budgetary recommendations regarding the remaining COPC funds. Important to this process was support for attendance by two resident leaders to attend the national NUSA conference, where they were exposed to ideas regarding neighborhood revitalization in communities around the country. These two residents are both members of the neighborhood association planning committee.

As a result of these actions, we expect during the next 12 months to see specific steps taken to bring ideas in the plan and other ideas for change into the action stage. Those discussions will be ongoing; we expect to report on the progress in that regard in our final COPC report.

One major piece of the implementation might be the purchase and renovation of a historically landmarked building within the neighborhood, The Lincoln Colored Home for Children. Attempts within the past year to purchase the home have not succeeded. COPC Director Larry Golden, is continuing to work with the local chapter of the NAACP to explore this possibility.

a)"Adopt a Block" activities (Partner With Residents)

The COPC will support neighborhood enhancement activities currently being undertaken by neighborhood residents under the auspices of The Springfield Project. The COPC will help develop and promote an "Adopt-a-block" concept that involves finding sponsors to assume responsibility for working with residents to assess needs and provides resources for such efforts as cleaning up and maintaining on an ongoing basis specific blocks in the 21block area. In addition, UIS and other COPC partners will formally "Adopt" one or more blocks on an organizational basis.

Developing partnerships in The Partner with Residents program is a vital component in the TSP strategy for neighborhood revitalization. It allows us to build a bridge between various socio-economic and religious groupings while bringing resources to a neglected neighborhood within our community. While the number of partnering organizations remained constant this year--with Cherry Hills Baptist Church anchoring the program along with the University of Illinois at Springfield, Lincoln Land Community College, First Presbyterian Church, Little Flower Church, and Westminster Presbyterian Church, the program was able to expand into some new areas of the neighborhood. The level of activity increased to a crescendo on Make A Difference Day in October.

With new leadership of TSP the spring and summer have remained stable with regard to participation of the partners with one significant addition. Professor Don Ecklund from Lincoln Land Community College developed a service learning component to his introductory Sociology class that resulted in the participation of 20-40 students on neighborhood workdays. Professor Ecklund has indicated a desire to continue this participation this year.

In addition, the new Chair of TSP's board of directors has established a board committee to work on partnerships. The committee is chaired by Rachel Ommen, a TSP board member and a leader in the community participation of Cherry Hills Baptist Church.

Of major importance TSP executive director Timothy Rowles has been actively recruiting new, younger residents for the workdays and in the leadership of the neighborhood association. This is a significant development in participation of residents and partners working in the neighborhood.

Also important in neighborhood work, UIS provided the support of a student worker, Dawn Weckman, for summer, 2001 to help organize within UIS for neighborhood workdays. Ms. Weckman had previously worked for TSP in the neighborhood. As a result of her past experience she is able to provide a link with the University and the residents and to help organize the summer workdays. She is working closely with TSP in this effort.

c)Neighborhood Revitalization: Garbage and Refuse Removal

COPC, working in partnership with TSP, neighborhood residents, and others will seek to reduce or eliminate three problems that threaten the health and well-being of residents in the 21 block area, as well as residents in the other target census tracks, fly dumping, abandoned property/items left by residents/landlords, and the ineffective disposal of household waste and garbage. In the long term, the goal will be to establish a public initiative to eliminate fly dumping throughout the area and to assist the City and haulers in the resolution of garbage and refuse problems.

As reported in our past COPC reports a COPC/TSP team started working on this issue early in spring, 1999. Some members of that group joined with TSP's initiative team to develop a community strategy to confront the problems of trash and refuse. Professor Michael Quam agreed to coordinate that effort on behalf of COPC.

During 1999 with COPC support the UIS television office produced an educational video to portray the garbage and refuse problems within the community.

Also during 1999 UIS researchers, led by professor William Warren began collecting data from the garbage haulers and inputting it into a GIS system. That resulted in a report on trash collection, which showed, when adjusted for qualifications, that approximately 15% of the single and two family residences within the City have no trash collection. This study was released in its final form in June 2000 at the beginning of a debate within the City Council to raise the rates that trash haulers charge for trash pickup.

The release of the study clearly impacted the proposal for a rate increase. The waste haulers responded by informing us that upon examination of their data, they had not provided us with full information. The two largest haulers indicated that in one case there were files that had inadvertently not been included, or in the second case that they were a new company last year and that when they updated their computer system, they realized there were numerous addresses that had not been included in the information given to COPC. Their contention was that, upon comparing information they had, there were no more than 5% of the households without trash service.

With COPC participation, TSP's initiative team was able to play a major role in shaping the debate over the rate increase and the eventual conclusion. The team developed a very important statement that outline the goals and priorities for change in the trash and refuse collection system. While those changes were not adopted with the rate increase, the City Council established a task force that included a TSP team member with the mandate to within six months bring to the Council recommendations for change in the trash collection system. COPC provided research as the task force proceeded.

The City task force met regularly through fall 2000. In October, the Task Force held a public forum. COPC and TSP, along with input from the landlord association and other neighborhood associations, helped develop statements to focus the debate on the issues of most importance to the residents.

The task force issued a report to the full Springfield City Council early in 2001. A copy is included in this report. The report addressed most of the issues raised by TSP/COPC Initiative Team. However, it failed to provide a specific timeline and commitment to follow through on those recommendations. In late spring, the City solid waste coordinator approached TSP to ask for assistance in the City's first attempt to meet the problem of the accumulation of bulky items in Springfield households. TSP provided assistance and the first bulky item pickup was relatively successful.

We now have plans to meet again with the chair of the task force to determine when further actions of the City will occur to follow through on the recommendations of the task force. The TSP member who was on the task force joined TSP's board of directors in spring. He continues to participate in this effort.

In addition to the work at the City level, TSP has been utilizing UIS students to help residents police their neighborhoods for code violators and to keep empty lots from becoming dumping grounds for trash and refuse. The regular cleanups in the neighborhood have also allowed the residents to limit the buildup of trash.

2)Housing

a)Housing Code Enforcement

...providing assistance in monitoring administrative hearings and following up on specific cases, reformulating in code form newly proposed recommendations for amending the existing Springfield housing code, and developing educational materials that help both the public and policymakers understand the nature of the problems posed by the existing housing code.

Student interns continue to attend administrative housing hearings and monitorthe complaints. An intern also documented violations in TSP neighborhood and assisted residents in filing complaints and following up on individual cases. During spring, the intern also organized the files on the complaints that we had been monitoring. He then charted the complaints so that we could follow those that had been filed in TSP neighborhood. A copy of that is included in this report.

TSP/COPC supported amendments passed by the Springfield City council to strengthen nuisance legislation to allow the police to act in ways that would reduce problem properties throughout the community. The original legislation was passed after extensive discussion with TSP/COPC code enforcement initiative team. When initially passed, it was thought that the criteria were too narrowly drawn to allow the City to act against the more common "problem properties" throughout the poorer parts of the community. The City soon realized this problem and acted during spring, 2001 to change the criteria. A copy of that ordinance is provided in this report.

In early summer TSP purchased a video camera for use in monitoring code violations in the neighborhood. Student interns are now traveling through the neighborhood on a regular basis, taking pictures of problem properties and monitoring progress on the City's actions to deal with them. This will allow us to work with the City to get more aggressive enforcement where needed.

b) Home Ownership

COPC is proposing to work with TSP and community residents to identify individuals in the community who have unfavorable, unenforceable, or poorly drafted CFD (Contract For Deed) arrangements; match them with volunteer attorneys who will provide them with legal advice and assist in renegotiating CFD's develop a pool of attorneys who will initiate legal proceedings on their behalf should that be necessary; prepare a model CFD that is written in understandable language by the residents; conduct workshops for community residents to educate them about CFD arrangements; assist potential home buyers in their attempt to obtain conventional/alternative financing and, if that fails, to assist them in buying homes by CFD; develop a pool of carpenters, electricians, and plumbers who will conduct non-certified inspections for potential home buyers; explore the benefits and costs of requiring by law that CFDs be recorded with the county.

Early in the grant period substantial work had been accomplished regarding the use of contract-for-deed including the development of a model contract and assistance to individuals with regard to their contracts. A major shift occurred when the attention moved away from strictly Contract For Deed to helping renters move towards home ownership. It was realized that people who reside in the houses in the TSP neighborhood own only 28% of the properties in the neighborhood area. The other 72% include vacant properties and lots, rental property etc. While Contract For Deed is clearly one problem that needs to be addressed, it was deemed higher priority to focus attention on increasing the number of residents who can move from rental to home ownership.

With the assistance of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, a not-for-profit corporation was established in 1999 to work in conjunction with TSP organization. Called TSP's Home Ownership Program for Equity (HOPE), it provides for the purchase and rehabilitation of vacant houses in the neighborhood to assist residents who are presently renting and unable to obtain conventional financing to move to home ownership. Where necessary, such residents will obtain financing through a Contract For Deed arrangement with HOPE.

Hope purchased its first home in fall 1999 and completed rehab in May 2000. Three new homes were quickly acquired followed by six more during the next 12 months. A family was approved for purchase of the first home through contract-for-deed and moved into the house during fall 2000. More families are being recruited to be part of the program of moving from rental to home ownership

One part of the HOPE process is a requirement that homeowners who are buying homes through the program participate in an educational and mentoring system for new homebuyers. COPC participated in an effort to put together a model education/mentoring process. That includes a partnership with Lincoln Land Community College to hold workshops on home maintenance. From the time the program began, LLCC and HOPE with COPC assistance have held regular workshops, first in the fall, 1999 and throughout the calendar years 2000 and 2001.

In addition to the training and home maintenance workshops, there are plans to develop a mentoring process that will assist residents throughout the purchase of the property. COPC may be able to play a significant role in the identification of resources for this purpose if HOPE requests our assistance.

In 2000 HOPE received a grant from the Federal Home Loan Bank in Indianapolis. That grant will help "draw down" the cost of the first 5 houses for new homebuyers. HOPE also applied for and received CHDO status from the City of Springfield. The City approved use of those funds for the purchase and rehab of the next three HOPE houses. HOPE has also applied for a grant through the Illinois Housing Development Authority to assist in purchase of additional properties.

COPC staff are discussing what resource assistance would be most valuable to provide to this program during this last period of the grant. We will be reporting on that in our final grant report.

Now that the process of purchase and rehab by HOPE is well underway, COPC and TSP are again reassessing the problem of contract for deed. Such contracts seem to be particularly common in their use by "plum landlords" and are part of the "predatory lending" practices that are being challenged in our area. We will begin a preliminary study of this issue during the coming months.

3)Microenterprise Development

...COPC will...engage in technical assistance and outreach Microenterprise activities...that benefit the residents of the nine census tracks providing educational and technical assistance, as well as access to capital, to interested persons from the target community. Individuals seeking to set up small businesses may need training in financial, human resource and sales management and in marketing techniques.

a.)COPC has established an expanded working group consisting of LLCC and UIS staff and community members to guide the micro enterprise program in the target areas. Additional money has been committed from Springfield area banks and the local CRA Council. Much work was done on the mentoring program and mentors were identified.

The first recipients for the Program have completed the education program run by the LLCC Small Business Development Center. The clients had difficulty completing their business plans. Starting in February, 2001, COPC staff Denise Rothenbach and Angelique Little began working with 2 clients to assist them in their efforts to complete their business plans. It became apparent that the level of mentoring necessary was very different than originally thought. The mentoring was divided into two categories: first, to assist in the completion of the business plan; and second, to provide the original mentoring with an established business owner. The difficulty of completion of the business plan is a common problem in all SBCD.The SBCD has adopted a new training program, NXLevel that has impressive statistics in business training.

NxLevel classes have to be taught by certified instructors.While both SBDC staff members are certified upon the decision to utilize NxLevel for the COPC program, COPC staff Denise Rothenbach was asked to attend the training and has now been certified. Plans to start classes for fall are underway.

As trainees complete the training program, we look forward to offering the opportunity for them to apply for some financial assistance they may need to assist them to set up and go forward with their businesses.

While the minimal goals of setting up a program have been met the challenge now is to bring this to a new step of institutionalization. This calls for a mentoring program to be established and an ongoing way of publicizing the availability of the program and the successes it achieves. These are included in the goal for the third year of the grant, Professor Peter Boltuc has been playing a significant leadership role in this effort.

b.)COPC Director Larry Golden continues to serve on the site selection committee for a LLCC "learning Center" to be built within the HUD impacted areas that COPC is working in. Discussions are ongoing within that committee about the establishment of a micro enterprise incubator in the new LLCC facility. Peter Boltuc has been added to the team.

c.)Plans to obtain a building from a local bank donating to TSP a significant business property within our neighborhood have not worked out.The good news is that the business was sold and now can serve as a sign that the neighborhood has begun to turn around attract new businesses.In addition, TSP's HOPE purchased the office space directly next to the business, establishing a more permanent presence of the organizations within that neighborhood area.

4)Education

a) Serve as a Clearinghouse for Dissemination of Information Locally and Regionally

COPC...will cooperatively administer a clearinghouse for dissemination with the targeted community information about COPC activities, future plans, opportunities, and the availability of resources for use by interested persons.

As indicated in past reports, a web page has been developed for the COPC.We are continuing to work with a student who is finalizing the website for COPC, while also developing website links for TSP and HOPE.

We continue to receive inquiries about our COPC, particularly from prospective COPC institutions. We have provided assistance to them by phone and fax and particularly through sending them copies of the UIS proposal and semi-annual and annual reports. This spring, COPC Director Larry Golden was asked by HUD to provide technical assistance to Governor's State University (GSU) in a potential application for a COPC grant. Dr.Golden consulted with the people at GSU and then with officials at OUP during the COPC national conference in Denver. The recommendation was for them to scratch the grant proposal they were presently planning to submit and to consider another direction next year if they wanted COPC funding. Consequently a site visit was unnecessary in this case.

The Springfield Project and COPC established a neighborhood office in 1998. That office initially housed both TSP and TSP's HOPE. Beginning in 2001, TSP decided to move its primary administrative operation into a new office space in a major African-American Church on the east side of Springfield. HOPE remains in the original office space; HOPE recently purchased and will now renovate that building. The intent is to have some space within the facility for TSP/COPC activities and to possibly house a community organizer for TSP.

In addition to the above activities, COPC has been active in promoting its activities inside UIS. COPC faculty are participating in the UIS Public Service Committee as they develop an agenda to promote public affairs/public service activities within UIS. Among the most important is their effort to sponsor a daylong convocation on "Re-visiting the Public Affairs Mission". The committee decided to invite Dr. Barbara Holland, the Director of the HUD Office of University Partnerships to be a featured speaker at the convocation. Since the convocation was postponed from spring, 2001 to the academic year 2001-2002, the committee asked Dr. Holland to make a preliminary visit to the campus to help prepare the ground for the larger convocation.

During Dr. Holland's visit the Chancellor sponsored a dinner that included UIS faculty who have been working with the COPC leaders of TSP Board of directors, and a representative from Lincoln Land Community College who has been working with the COPC on microenterprise. The next morning there was a reception for Dr. Holland at The Springfield Project office. Residents of TSP neighborhood and staff joined other members from TSP Board of Directors and COPC faculty for a welcome and briefing on the work in the neighborhood.

b)Exchange of Information with Other Centers

The COPC will provide information to the University Partnership Clearinghouse and exchange information with other COPC centers and interested parties.

The UIS COPC is providing regular reports to HUD as required or requested. COPC continues to provide support to faculty and students to participate in activities where they can make contributions and/or develop their knowledge of university community partnerships. Among the outreach activities this past spring are:

Two COPC faculty, Professors Peter Boltuc and Sandra Mills, joined others from UIS to attend the national conference on University/Community Outreach in Tampa, Florida.
COPC Director Larry Golden attended a regional COPC conference in Toledo, Ohio, where he presented a paper on Faith-Based Partnerships using the UIS COPC and The Springfield Project as a model.
COPC Director Larry Golden and TSP Executive Director Timothy Rowles attended the national COPC conference in Denver, Colorado where Professor Golden again made a presentation on Faith-Based Partnerships.
COPC Director Larry Golden and TSP Executive Director Timothy Rowles were joined by two neighborhood association residents and the head of Springfield's Department of Community Relations at the national NUSA (Neighborhoods USA) conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
COPC facilitated the attendance of UIS faculty, Cathy De Barr, to attend "Community Campus Partnership for Helath" in San Antonio, Texas.

5)Community Organizing/Empowerment

a)Community Advisory Board

The COPC will set up a Community Advisory Board [and] constitute functional area advisory committees to help provide direction in two areas, Home Ownership Enhancement and Microenterprise Development.

As indicated in previous reports there were problems constituting a separate community advisory board from that of The Springfield Project and HOPE Boards of Directors plus TSP Neighborhood Enhancement Team, composed of neighborhood residents. COPC now has achieved the balance that it believes is critical in this area: the neighborhood association is assuming responsibility for review and recommendations of COPC support for its area. This includes implementation of planning initiatives. TSP meanwhile provides review and recommendations for work with code and trash initiatives which are city wide.And a recently enhanced microenterprise team will provide review and recommendations of COPC support for microenterprise activities.

Functional area advisory committees continue to support of a number of COPC activities:

The Microenterprise Team includes:

Larry Golden, Director, UIS/COPC

Rita Roosevelt, Executive Director, LLCC Business Training Institute

Frieda Schreck, LLCC Director, Small Business Development Center

Peter Boltuc, UIS Professor of Philosophy

Richard Bowen, Jr., Chair, Business, Public Services, LLCC Professor, Business/Accounting

Beverly Meek, Bank One, CRA, Vice President

Karen Kunz, UIS graduate student and successful small business owner

Timothy Rowles, Executive Director of The Springfield Project

Denise Rothenbach, UIS/COPC Administrative Clerk

The Trash and Refuse Team includes:

Dyanne Ferk, UIS Professor of Management

Michael Quam, Professor of Sociology and Public Health

Larry Golden, Director, UIS/COPC

Timothy Rowles, Executive Director, The Springfield Project

William Clutter, Community member

Warren Stiska, Springfield Landlords Association

Deborah Cimarossa, Sangamon County Board Member

Marilyn Piland, Executive Director, Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association

Fletcher Farrar, Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association

Denise Rothenbach, UIS/COPC Administrative Clerk

The Code Enforcement Initiative Team includes:

Guerry Suggs, TSP Board Member; retired Senior Vice-President for Mercantile Bank

Larry Golden, Director, UIS/COPC

Merrill McDaniels, TSP Board Member

Timothy Rowles, Executive Director, The Springfield Project

Kathy Saltmarsh, attorney, Office of the Illinois State Appellate Defender

Marilyn Piland, Executive Director, Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association

Of particular importance are the plans by TSP to hire a community organizer. These plans have been linked to an application for funding from the national Catholic Campaign for Human Development to help complete work in the Mather-Welles neighborhood. TSP was recently notified that they were awarded such a grant. One goal of this funding was to hire a community organizer who could assist in organizing TSP neighborhood activities. TSP is now in the process of soliciting applications for that position.

b)Neighborhood Improvement Structure

Objective:Foster lasting change in the targeted community by helping residents establish an ongoing structure to enhance their own assets, remedy their own problems, acquire new skills, and continue to pursue neighborhood revitalization activities.

Much has already been said in this report regarding the formation and development of the Mather Welles Neighborhood Association. The formation of this association has been an important step in helping the residents to obtain vital resources from the City and others and to take control of their neighborhood.

The original COPC grant contained a provision for exploration of a vehicle by which the neighborhood could own and possibly develop land and other resources. With the founding of TSP's Home Ownership Program for Equity (HOPE) an important part of that goal was achieved. However, HOPE and TSP recently acquired land on behalf of the neighborhood association. And it is anticipated in the future that additional acquisitions might be made. This has again raised a question about the need to investigate ways in which the residents as a group can best own and retain assets. If necessary, COPC plans to help the residents in their investigation of such vehicles including another look at the idea of a community land trust.

KEY COPC PERSONNEL

Listed below are key UIS students and faculty working on COPC projects:

Peter Boltuc, Assistant Professor of Philosophy assumed a major leadership role in COPC initiatives with particular emphasis on Neighborhood Enhancement and Micro enterprise.

Sandra Miller, Assistant Professor of Social Work continued her role as the coordinator for UIS work in the TSP neighborhood. She has been able to work with Academic Professionals from other offices on the campus to accomplish these goals. Professor Mills has regularly included a service-learning component in her social work classes and her students continue to be actively involved in our Neighborhood Revitalization Program.

Numerous students have been placed in either research or other support roles within COPC or TSP. During spring Semester 2001, COPC had the services of a large number of students in the COPC office:

Giovanni Randazzo assumed primary responsibility for working on code enforcement. He monitored City Hearings and developed a chart of code violations in TSP neighborhoods.

Angelique Little, who joined us in fall of 2000 continued to assist on micro enterprise and COPC office work

Paulette Harris worked on marketing materials for TSP and also played a leadership role in the coordination efforts surrounding Barbara Holland's visit.

Willie Reeves assumed a small role in COPC activities working on specific areas of research as needed.

Melvin Armstrong worked directly with TSP Executive Director, Timothy Rowles on building a plan for dissemination of information throughout the Springfield area.

Gloria Johnson worked directly with TSP Executive Director, Timothy Rowles on community organizing and research into new areas. This summer she was hired by TSP as a staff assistant to Mr. Rowles.

Dawn Weckman is working on organizing the UIS campus to help TSP on work weekends.