Organizing Partnerships for Sustainable Community Economic Development: Lessons Learned from the University of Illinois–Chicago Neighborhoods Initiative

Urban universities are often characterized as economic engines—directly and indirectly serving the needs of the com-munities within which they are situated. However, the relation-ship between urban universities and their neighbors is often strained. Reflecting on the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Neighborhoods Initiative (UICNI) and its historical work in Chicago’s Pilsen and West Side communities, this article out-lines how UICNI works with neighborhood groups by incorpo-rating established principles of community organizing and building trust through innovative partnerships and projects that are mutually beneficial. The design of individual projects as well as the development of different techniques to encourage community involvement in planning is central to UICNI’s suc-cess. It is proposed that UICNI partnerships are beneficial to the university community (faculty, scholars, and research assis-tants) as well as for the external community