Underground Meetings, Big Projects and More: Meet the CIW Co-op
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| CIW Co-op member Jimmy Odom leads the group’s underground discussion Wednesday at Three Dots and a Dash. |
Beneath a Near North Side alley within the bamboo-lined walls of tiki bar Three Dots and a Dash, more than 60 Chicago Ideas Week (CIW) Co-op members convened for its third meeting last Wednesday. But the passion fruit rum and cinnamon gin drinks with names like Saturn and Jet Pilot didn’t lull the group into an island-escape mindset. Instead, they were revved up for action.
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| Co-op member come from all sectors. |
The Co-op launched early this year as a new-age social chamber of commerce to bring Chicago’s most active individuals and their organizations together to improve the city. It’s a refined model of CIW’s 2012 Community Partner Program, where CIW joined with more than 200 businesses, foundations, nonprofits and community centers.
CIW hand-selected its inaugural 130 members, who hail from organizations like the Field Museum, The City of Chicago, Accenture, the Cook County Jail and smaller nonprofits. The Co-op mosaic includes philanthropists, artists, activists, teachers, coders and more working to reshape the way people experience the Windy City.
“The best ideas come from an eclectic mix of brilliant people with endless talents,” said Kelly Hagler, CIW’s program and community manager. “We’re demolishing the industry silos that close off partnerships and create obstacles for collaborative impact.”
At the Aug. 8 underground event, the group shared their stories and brainstormed different issues to tackle the rest of the year.
Imran Khan, executive director and founder of EMBARC, a nonprofit that takes Chicago’s most isolated students on explorations throughout the city, urged everyone to take advantage of the CIW platform. With CIW’s help, he said his organization exploded from just 25 students in one high school in 2009 to about 360 students in six schools come this fall.
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| Imran Khan shares EMBARC’s story. |
“Don’t just let these kinds of events to go by and don’t let CIW come and go,” Khan said. “I challenge you to take these experiences and let them meld with your mind, meld with your spirit and turn into action that you use to shape your own life – and the world for the rest of us in it.”
Kahn, who has taught at Englewood’s Harper High School for nearly a decade, said he is tackling obstacles like gangs, drugs and poverty by exposing students to the city’s thriving cultural community. In an area where only about 41 percent of the students finish high school, he said 97 percent of those enrolled in EMBARC graduated last year – and 100 percent are going to college.
“What determines who you decide to become in life?” Khan asked. “There are so many answers to this question but, fundamentally, it’s the experiences you have … Experiences give us the language of our dreams.”
WeDeliverfounder Jimmy Odom led an in-depth discussion of how the Co-op will change the way people experience Chicago.
“This is the group that can actually have an impact on making a difference,” said Odom, whose company specializes in customized, on-demand delivery services. “What passions of the group do we want to solve as a whole?”Erin Dragotto, executive director of the Chicago Council on Science and Technology, won a round of applause when she proposed a broad goal.
“The rallying cry for me and for this group is about giving everybody access to anything they want in the city of Chicago,” Dragotto said.
Education could provide one path to achieving that vision, she said, pointing out that Finland, one of the world’s happiest countries, implemented a series of education reform in the 1970s to expand access and improve quality.
Amanda Britt, founder and CEO of social enterprise incubator Panzanzee, suggested public safety as another unifying theme to tackle.
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| High-fives and big ideas abounded at the last Co-op event. |
“Crime and public safety is probably one of the biggest problems facing Chicago,” she said. “So many things go into that, so many issues, so many community elements, so many economic elements…”
And as the group rehabilitates Chicago’s reputation as a “crumbling city,” Lynn Furge, senior fashion editor of The Dirty Durty Diary magazine, said it should create a media strategy to highlight its progress through television, radio, Twitter and more.
“Step by step, baby steps, we’ll start the revolution of change,” Furge said.
But the discussions don’t end when these monthly Co-op events come to a close. Members meet outside on their own time to kickoff projects and build relationships.
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| Three Dots and a Dash goes all-out tiki. |
“I came up with this term…it’s called mind-mobbing,” Odom said. “We can do amazing things if put our minds together…That’s one way we can leave a physical footprint in the city that could be a piece of the larger legacy that this group has.”
Stay tuned as the Co-op will be sharing its action plan soon.
“We’ve passed the networking and small talk phase,” Hagler said. “Wednesday’s deep, group-wide discussion about issues plaguing the city showed we have a lot of work to dive into together.”
Want to get in on the mind-mobbing?
Hagler wants to hear from you. Reach out to her at Kelly@chicagoideas.com, and keep an eye out for announcements for 2014 Co-op applications. Not only do Co-op members shape the future of the city, but they also get early access to CIW tickets, discounts and great exposure for their organizations.
Editor’s note: Throughout the rest of the year, we’ll introduce you to the rock star members by highlighting their stories, accomplishments and more – check back to the Ideasphere for all the latest and greatest.
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Written by: Jia You and Sophia Coleman
Photography by: Kathleen Virginia Page
