Fieldwork Day

Civic Engagement is useful and necessary. Contrary to popular belief, its not just about getting hours and doing 'community service', its about actually learning about a topic and then finding a way to take action. This course calls for a more direct approach, it calls for the individual to become engaged with themes in society, identifying issues, and coming up with ways to deal with them. This fieldwork day made me realize the importance of history. Despite having lived in Chicago for most of my life, I never really thought about the city as a whole. I have come to the realization that my view and knowledge of Chicago is extremely limited to the spaces i frequent: home and school. Its a sad fact that the south side of Chicago is virtually unknown to me. My group visited Auburn area and were kindly hosted by Carlos Nelson who is a part of the Auburn-Gresham Community Development Corporation. The presentation we were given was eye-opening. Previous to it, I had never put much thought into the importance of community development, from the creation of open spaces to after-school programs, and house restoration, its all crucial in the maintenance of safety in a neighborhood. Carlos took us on a walk around the neighborhood and showed us some of the houses that had been restored and saved from foreclosure/demolishment. The majority of the houses were bungalows, a historic type of house in the city of Chicago. He showed us traditional bungalows, grand bungalows, and two flats. I found the passion the organization possessed regarding their neighborhood to be inspiring and extremely moving. It feels good to know that there are people out there that care about the spaces we inhabit and are constantly working hard to make us feel safe and at ease. I learned a lot about what goes into this sort of work. There was a lady at the organization who had retired and then come out of retirement for the sole reason that she felt the work she did was necessary. Actually, Carlos Nelson was the one who convinced her out of retirement. The lady is the one in charge of contacting the city officials such as the state reps, senate reps, and alderman about things like budgeting and programs.