Transportation Policy Intern, Developing Communities Project - Chicago

DEVELOPING COMMUNITIES PROJECT

TRANSPORTATION POLICY INTERN POSITION DESCRIPTION

Developing Communities Project (DCP) is seeking a transportation policy intern to focus on issues
related to DCP’s campaign to extend the CTA Red Line to Chicago’s far south city limits.

Intern selected will work closely with the transportation planning consultant and the executive director
to prepare a Transit Oriented Development Plan and to build a Workforce Collaboration that will work
to meet the workforce needs anticipated by the construction of the CTA Red Line Extension, to include
but not be limited to the following:
• Organize community and faith based leaders around this urban transit issue.
• Develop position papers, letters and fact sheets.
• Communicate DCP’s position to the larger community.
• Work closely with elected officials at the federal, state, and local levels and monitor
their efforts to implement recommendations that can assure Red Line Extension
funding.
• Participate in meetings with DCP agency planning and transportation partners
around transit oriented development, workforce development, and environmental
concerns.
• Engage in meetings with transit officials.
• Organize relevant meetings.
• Help insure the campaign’s effectiveness.
• Assist with resource development, including prospect (foundation and government)
research and proposal writing.
The successful candidate is expected to meet the following requirements:
• Be enrolled in an accredited graduate level public policy, urban planning or social
administration program.
• Possess excellent writing and speaking skills and proficiency with Microsoft Word,
Excel, and Power Point.
• Be available 15-20 hours a week.
Ideally, the intern will have had some experience working in an urban setting and possess a working
knowledge of resources and policies that relate to the community, city, state, and federal government.
The successful candidate should possess a valid Illinois driver’s license and an insured automobile or
vehicle in good working condition.

Stipend:
Traditionally, stipends are provided at the end of each academic term. The amount will be determined
based on the experience, hours dedicated to the internship, and agency budgetary considerations.

Send cover letter and resume by mail or e-mail to:
Gwendolyn M. Rice
Executive Director
Developing Communities Project
212 E. 95th Street
Chicago, Illinois 60619
gmrice@dcpchicago.org
www.dcpchicago.org
773-928-2500
Questions are encouraged by e-mail. Your questions will be responded to promptly.

Developing Communities Project (DCP), now in its 25th year, continues its work to enhance the quality
of life in Greater Roseland by working to increase access to services, by training community leaders so
they may be empowered to advocate for favorable public policies for Greater Roseland--and through
program services that strengthen and build capacity for youth and their families so they may become
effective and contributing community residents.

History& Mission
Developing Communities Project (DCP) was organized in 1984 as a branch of the Calumet Community
Religious Conference (CCRC) to address the impact of the massive lay-offs and closings of manufacturing
plants in the 1970’s and 1980’s by providing job retraining and supportive services for Greater Roseland
residents. As an arm of CCRC, DCP initiated a range of local action campaigns among residents. In 1986,
DCP was incorporated as a not-for-profit organization under the leadership of its first executive director,
then community organizer and now President of the United States Barack Obama. DCP remained
church-based with a mission of serving as a vehicle for grassroots leaders in Greater Roseland to impact
decision-making around issues that impact their community through leadership training, community
organizing, advocacy, and public policy to promote an improved quality of life. Since DCP began,
thousands have been trained and mobilized through local churches to create access to programs and
to promote equity around workforce and economic development, public safety, youth development,
education, health, and criminal justice.

Past initiatives include getting a public library built in Altgeld Gardens; gaining collaborative relationships
with the police department to address public safety concerns; training parents as effective advocates in
their children’s schools; providing access for residents to attend selective high schools; and, mounting
a training arm, the Urban Training Institute (UTI) to provide leadership development, organizing,
advocacy, public policy and literacy training for its members. DCP has also provided youth leadership
programs through a Young Women’s Leadership Development Program and trained parents for Local
School Council Leadership and to assist teachers by providing tutoring in their children’s schools.
In 2006, DCP received a 2006 ShoreBank Faith-Based Community Impact Award and the Community
Organizing Honorable Mention Award. In 2007, DCP received the Community Organizing Award.

To accomplish its work, DCP is guided by the following principles:
• That it Be Institutionally Based: Institutions have the long-term investment, stable leadership and
resources to impact major issues. DCP is comprised primarily of local churches and collaborates
other institutions and organizations that are willing to become powerhouses for community reform
and that work together to mobilize their constituents around a common agenda.
• That it Systematically Recruit and Train Community Leaders: Through on-site and field trainings
community leaders are helped to develop the skills to identify, articulate and solve local problems.
• That it Conduct Multi-Issue Organizing: The problems that face any community are interrelated.
DCP leaders must be able to identify factors that contribute to an issue. To be most effective, DCP
focuses on multiple factors when addressing an issue realizing that no issue is fully solved until all
factors are addressed.
• That it Espouse Collective Leadership: No single individual leads DCP. Leadership is facilitated
through task forces, coalitions, institutional members and committees.

DCP’s Overarching Objectives
To provide an opportunity for individuals and representatives of local institutions and organizations to
meet together and combine ideas for promoting the general welfare and enhancing the quality of life
for all people in Greater Roseland.
• To assist churches to develop and implement ecumenical strategies for social justice.

To provide leadership training so that leaders can make an effective impact on the decisions
that influences their lives.

Finally, DCP uses the framework of: Education + Advocacy + Activism to engage the community to
promote policy change and generate programs to build strong families and communities.

Target Community: Greater Roseland
Much of Greater Roseland is socially excluded — it is an area “in which groups of people are
systematically marginalized vis-à-vis resources, rights and opportunities that are normally available
to members of a given society and that are key for social integration and participation.” (from Social
Exclusion: A Different Paradigm for Thinking About the Causes Of and Solutions to Disproportionality a
presentation at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration by Lynn C. Todman,
PhD, Executive Director, the Institute on Social Exclusion, Adler School of Professional Psychology,
February 19, 2011)

When the huge steel manufacturing plants closed in the late ‘60s and ‘70s and the huge population
of whites fled to the suburbs, businesses left Roseland, which had a flourishing shopping hub with
major department stores and large food chains. Essentially, Roseland became a food desert. With so
many jobs leaving the community, residents had to travel long distances to get to work—as well as to
shop for groceries. Essentially, Roseland became a transportation desert as well. This was always a
problem for the residents of Altgeld Gardens, Chicago’s most isolated public housing community. Only
1 out of 4 residents in Greater Roseland are car owners, the same ratio as was in the 9 th Ward in New
Orleans during the Katrina disaster. The more recent population shifts resulting from the CHA Plan
for Transformation and the current economic climate, including home foreclosures, have exacerbated
neighborhood problems.

Greater Roseland is sandwiched in between two major interstate highways, I-94 on the East and I-57 on
the West and North. Two landfills are on the east and west of I-94 and adjacent to the Altgeld Gardens
Public Housing Development where cancer rates soared in recent years. In West Pullman, after two
community organizations assisted by DCP, advocated for soil remediation and proof of same in and
around a large former industrial site adjacent to their communities, did they receive it. The advocacy
continues to insure that families benefit from the construction in the area, including the nation’s largest
urban solar panel farm.

While the area is well represented by local and state elected officials, some in powerful positions, DCP
finds that it must often act as a “municipality” when it comes to addressing the most deep-seated
problems in the community—transportation, food, and environmental inequity, violence, joblessness,
economic deprivation, and educational under- preparedness—all of which contribute to families under
stress.

Our Supporters
DCP is funded by the Chicago Community Trust, the Catholic Campaign for Human Development,
the Woods Fund of Chicago, the Wieboldt Foundation, the Field Foundation of Illinois, the Polk Bros
Foundation, After School Matters, the Illinois Department of Human Services, the Illinois Violence
Prevention Authority, the Chicago Department of Family and Support Services, and the Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) through the Nathalie Voorhees Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago.
DCP also receives support from individuals and member churches.

FY 2012 and FY 2013 PROGRAMS

TRANSPORTATION EQUITY: THE RED LINE EXTENSION CAMPAIGN: For nearly ten (10) years, DCP
has worked to address transportation inequity through its major and long-term transportation
justice policy campaign to extend the CTA Red Line to the South Side city limits: from the 95th
St. Terminal to 103th Street near the Altgeld-Murray Homes. This work is promoted through its
volunteer driven Red Line Oversight Committee (ROC) and related sub-committees: Transit Oriented
Development (TOD), Legislative Advisory, Workforce Development, and Adopt the 95 th Street
Station that are staffed by the community transportation organizer and a public policy consultant.
Volunteers and staff work arduously to advocate with the CTA, RTA, CDOT and other transportation
agencies and elected officials to insure the completion of this project where DCP gained official
approval from the CTA Board for the Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) route, advocated by DCP, to
extend the Red Line. Months later, the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) included
the Extension in its Go To 2040 5-year Plan.

As a supplement to this effort, CMAP is working with DCP to conduct focus groups around
sustainability and livability as it relates to the Red Line Extension. Through an agreement with
Loyola University’s Center for Urban Research &Learning (CURL), focus groups will be conducted
across Greater Roseland to buttress the need for the Red Line. This year, DCP will produce
community generated Transit Oriented Development and Workforce Development Plans to present
to the CTA and other transportation agencies.

HIGH SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION INTERNS: Last summer, 10 high-school transportation interns
from After School Matters worked with our organizer and to learn transportation concepts, assist
with TOD visioning sessions in the community, and attend and/or work with DCP’s technical
assistance partners such as the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) and other
transportation and planning groups.

ZOOM: Another summer project conducted with a small CDBG grant from the Chicago Department
of Family and Support Services (DFSS) was an eight-week summer camp called ZOOM (Zealously
Organizing Others for Movement). The focus was on transportation (from walking to space travel)
to include the Major Taylor Bicycle Trail that runs from the Whistler Woods Forest Preserve near
Riverdale to 83rd and Damen Streets. Major Taylor was an African American bicyclist who was
denied the opportunity to race in this country but a champion in France. The camp will incorporate
reading, writing, research, guest presenters from the transportation industry and event planning
to prepare for a culminating Family Bike-a-Thon along the Major Taylor Trail. ZOOM was a
collaboration with Lilydale 1st Baptist Church, site of the camp, Reformation Lutheran Church and
DCP.

ALL STARS: For over 20 years, DCP conducted the “All Stars” Alcohol, Tobacco, and Other Drugs
(ATOD) prevention and character building program curriculum funded by the Illinois Department
of Human Services. This past year, the program was conducted in nine (9) public schools for
1,088 students in grades 6-8. DCP has two prevention specialists who are often called on to assist
teachers with discipline, counseling and meetings with parents. They are also on-call to conduct
special trainings on the curriculum in local Safe Havens and other outreach programs for youth.

PARENT LEADERSHIP ACTION NETWORK (PLAN): Last April, DCP began working through the
Neighborhood Recovery Initiative (NRI) of the Illinois Violence Prevention Authority (IVPA) as
coordinating partner for the Parent Leadership Action Network (PLAN) where 50 parents were
trained to train other parents to address youth violence in their homes and in their communities.
An administrative coordinator and two lead parent coordinators were trained to implement the
program and to train the parent core. Parents are equipped with the appropriate tools to help
them to note warning signs and how to address them among their own youth and to help other
parents do likewise. The parents who are recruited from the community have formed a strong
bond as they shared their stories and prepared to serve. Parents come from diverse backgrounds,
from a homeless father to a master’s degree level mother. Some were ex-offenders but all shared a
common commitment to make a critical difference for youth.

SAFETY NET WORKS: In August of 2011, DCP began serving as lead agency in Greater Roseland
for the Safety Net Works (SNW), also of the NRI/IVPA. Through this effort, DCP is building a
collaboration of youth service organizations, churches, schools, workforce organizations, public
agencies, businesses and others concerned with youth to address youth violence through primary
youth development programs and case management services—and to engage in working to share
resources and facilitating greater use of underused resources, such as parks—and that where critical
resources for youth are non-existent or scarce, to advocate and seek resources to provide them.
DCP also subcontracts with six organizations to provide case management and youth development
services. A program coordinator works with coalition members and sub-contractors and a youth
organizer works with a 15-member Youth Leadership Council that will host a major youth outreach
event at Chicago State University this summer.

PROJECT CONNECT: In May of 2012, DCP launched Project CONNECT to help reduce youth violence
by: increasing the protective factors for over 200 youth at-risk, ages 10-18, at six (6) local church
sites through provision of comprehensive activities and skill building workshops; engaging parents
in workshops and as volunteers to support their parenting and reinforce the efforts of their youth;
to dispel territorial obstacles across gang turfs and perceived social boundaries by engaging youth
in cross-site activities and discussion groups; to increase youth, community, and stakeholder
investment in reducing risk factors associated with youth violence by engaging volunteers in
the programs and conducting Brotherhood (Men & Boys) and Sisterhood (Women & Girls), and
Community-Wide Church Summits and by engaging youth in community service and/or civic
engagement activities.

MORTGAGE FORECLOSURE PREVENTION: DCP has expanded its activities to include participation
in the Circuit Court of Cook County Mortgage Foreclosure Prevention Program, administered
through the Chicago Community Trust. We now have two outreach workers referring individuals for
assistance whose mortgages are in foreclosure to either avoid foreclosure or achieve a dignified exit
from their properties. This work includes personal calls on homeowners, outreach through churches
and other community institutions, and networking with even more institutions. This program is

an opportunity to assist families, but also an opportunity to strengthen our contacts with potential
member institutions and to help preserve the reservoir of affordable housing in the community.

ENVIRONMENTAL EQUITY: In partnership with the Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood
and Community Improvement (VC) at the University of Illinois at Chicago, DCP engages in an
Environmental Equity program where local environmental stakeholders collaborate around the
environmental issues and needs in the community. The Voorhees Center provides research and
technical assistance to document environmental issues and assist in organizing the collaboration.
The data collected will be made available through the EPA as well as other relevant resources to
inform residents and environmental stakeholders of their local conditions so they can identify and
prioritize areas for advocacy. After needs and services are identified, a strategy will be developed
for environmental equity.