Office of Civic Engagement and Career Advancement

This Milgrom Education Impact Fellowship, administered in partnership with UChicago’s Career Advancement office and the Neighborhood Schools Program, leveraged the HMSO’s generous two year gift by connecting UChicago students with local youth on Chicago’s South Side. Thirty-seven UChicago students were selected in late 2017 to serve as tutors, mentors, and role models in 19 local schools and community centers, and seven students either created a new venture or expanded capacity at their youth serving student organization.The participant count was then increased to 57 students by the addition of a 13 person summer cohort.

In addition to direct service, the Milgrom Fellows engaged in a series of workshops led by leaders of this initiative, as well as by outside speakers. These workshops served to build Fellows’ abilities in contributing to their work environment, building requisite skills, and developing an understanding of one’s ethnographic context in given communities. Workshops addressed communities of poverty, urban schooling, community entry mindsets and expectations, and understanding career context and navigation strategies.

The program began in early January 2018 and sought to achieve four overarchign goals:

1. Increase UChicago students’ understanding of community engagement, education impact, and one’s place within contemporary and historical social currents;

2. Develop UChicago students’ transferrable competencies while clarifying career aspirations;

3. Build positive community rapport and relational value with partners and program participants, engage local students in their education, and meet mutually agreed upon program targets; and

4. Encourage UChicago students to contribute to improving urban education in their community.