Urban Initiatives 2018 Annual Report

2018 Annual Report

our team
Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Christian Gordon, and I’ve been an Urban
Initiatives participant since I joined 11 years ago at Sherman Elementary in the Back
of the Yards neighborhood. I was one of the first kids to grow up in Urban Initiatives’
Continuum of Programming first as a player, then as a captain, and finally as a coach.
Now I’m in my freshman year at DePaul University, studying Finance. I stay
connected with Urban Initiatives, the staff, and other students because I’ve found
this organization to be a source of love and support, and amazing connections in the
professional world.
I’ve never really been a very athletic person, and I was definitely not a very good
soccer player when I started. But one of my favorite things about Urban Initiatives
was the opportunity to practice new things and see myself getting better, with
support from awesome coaches. I really like how everyone on the Urban Initiatives
team truly values and celebrates commitment and hard work.
Now, Urban Initiatives has a range of programs that provide participants with
opportunities to explore college pathways, careers, and other amazing experiences
that they probably wouldn’t have access to if they were not in Urban Initiatives.
Fifteen years ago, Urban Initiatives created a program that would grow to become a
dynamic organization that provides resources and support for so many of their
students. What used to just be a small soccer program at a handful of schools, has
grown to serve approximately 17,000 students annually from neighborhoods across
the city. During my junior year of high school, I was nominated by my coaches at
Urban Initiatives to be a Cubs Scholar, which includes a $20,000 scholarship. A few
weeks later, I was given an interview and later was chosen as one of five Cubs
Scholars in 2017. In addition to this experience, Urban Initiatives connected me to
National Student Leadership Conference which gave me the opportunity to go to
Fordham University in New York for nine days last summer.
Years ago, I joined Urban Initiatives as an escape from the violence in my
neighborhood. The sight of students playing soccer on a soccer field in these
amazing jerseys really attracted me to the program. At first, Urban Initiatives was
simply a fun after school activity. However, as time went on, I’ve realized I not only
signed up to be a soccer player, but also I signed up to be a member of this team
whose goal was to help students gain valuable experiences and help them make
progress on their goals. This year Urban Initiatives celebrates their fifteenth year and
they continue to be committed to learning, growing, and getting better so that they
can support students across the city who are looking for a team to join.
Christian Gordon (left) with his
longtime coach, Andy Neilsen (right)
Christian Gordon, UI Alum

our 15th year
20,000
students served
15,000
10,000
5,000
Since 2003, Urban Initiatives has grown up from a small health
and education soccer program, into a progressive organization
with diverse programmatic offerings that allow us to engage with
students and families from a young age and build relationships
that last through high school and beyond. Our 15th Anniversary
in 2018 allowed us an opportunity to reflect on the dedication of
our incredible stakeholder network, while remaining focused on
the future.
0
0
2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018
2003 2006 2009 2012 2015 2018
We used our 15th Anniversary as an opportunity to get
energized around the use sport and play as a strong civic
strategy for unifying our communities and empowering our
young leaders. Urban Initiatives remains so grateful to those that
have supported our growth in the past 15 years, and is excited to
continue to grow and improve our programs in the years to
come.

programs update
In 2018, we served approximately 17,000 students in over 50
schools across Chicago through our programs. As always we
stayed true to our values and facilitated programming that
provided participants with the opportunity to learn, practice, and
achieve success in order to gain the skills they will need to be
empowered leaders in their classrooms, on the field, in their
communities, and one day in their careers.
Our fifteenth year has provided us opportunities to reflect on the
past, but more importantly it has given us an opportunity to
think about the future of Urban Initiatives, our programs, and
our participants. Through our data and evaluation efforts we are
seeing positive changes in the classroom, participants gaining
confidence in their leadership abilities, and parents seeing
healthier habits at home. These results only push us to grow and
improve as an organization so that we can continue the
incredible progress that we've seen in the last fifteen years.

work to play
K-4th
Fifteen years ago, Work to Play was our first program. Started in Cabrini-Green
as an opportunity to bring students, parents, and teachers together through
soccer, it has now grown into the first program in our Continuum of
Programming. It brings students onto the Urban Initiatives team through sport,
and encourages healthy living habits, teaches social-emotional learning like
cooperation and respect, and incentivizes participants to perform in the
classroom. Work to Play sets the foundation for continued learning in our
Continuum of Programming.
what's the continuum of programming?
Our Continuum of Programming is a series of three programs, Work to Play, Take the Lead, and
Coach for Success that supports youth as they navigate elementary, middle, high school, and
beyond. As participants get older, the curriculum adapts and intensifies to create new challenges
and learning opportunities for participants. Most importantly, the Continuum of Programming
model allows Urban Initiatives to stick with students as they get older and provide consistent
support throughout their educational career.
meet chris
Chris is a student at Morton Elementary. He
joined the Urban Initiatives Work to Play
program and soccer team when he was a new
student at Morton looking for ways to get
involved and make new friends. His favorite
part of the program is "learning new skills and
learning how to do teamwork better so we can
win games." Chris hopes to be a Team Captain
one day so that he can help all the other
students on the soccer team.

take the lead
5th-8th
Alumni from Work to Play are selected to become Team Captains in the
Take the Lead program. Team Captains assist at Work to Play soccer
practice, participate in small group discussions with UI staff and other
Team Captains about leadership and high school readiness, and attend
leadership retreats across the city of Chicago. Take the Lead works to
ensure that participants are ready for high school by building skills like
stress management and conflict transformation, while creating
opportunities for Captains to practice their leadership skills.
meet jade
Jade (left) receiving the Team Captain of the Year
award with her longtime coach, Cynthia Gonzalez
(right)
Jade is the Team Captain of the Year from Marquette Elementary School. Jade defines
leadership as, "helping others, never giving up on what you believe in, and to always stand
out from the crowd." Jade has been in Urban Initiatives' programming for many years and
says "I stayed in UI because it gave me an opportunity to help others and it helped me to step
out of my comfort zone." Luckily for Urban Initiatives, Jade plans to continue with Urban
Initiatives' Continuum of Programming in high school. "After eighth grade, I want to join
Coach for Success, so I can still be in UI and I can keep being a role model."

meet ericka & auriyon
Ericka and Auriyon met through Coach for Success. Auriyon has been in Urban Initiatives'
programming since the 8th grade, and today says that the most valuable part of Coach for
Success is all the opportunities to practice networking- a skill she says will be important in
college. Ericka defines Coach for Success as "a program that focuses on helping students acquire
skills that they need in the future like communication, networking, and teamwork." But these
young leaders recognize that the benefits of Coach for Success go beyond the professional skills
they've gained, Ericka says that the program "creates a good family and a united group from all
over Chicago." Their friendship is a testament to the relationships that these young leaders are
creating through the program while preparing for their futures.
coach for success
9th-12th
Coach for Success is the final program in the Continuum of Programming. The Coach for Success program was founded as our
Team Captains moved into high school and asked for a Urban Initiatives program that would continue to support them in their
high school years. Today, the program serves 27 participants that attend high schools all over the city.
Coach for Success pairs participants with a mentor from the Chicago community and facilitates monthly workshops where
participants learn skills like financial literacy, effective communication, networking, and resume building that will help them
succeed in their college and careers. Through these structured meetings and ongoing support from their mentors, participants
receive guidance that allows them to plan for their future.

88% of Play with
Potential principals who
responded to our survey
reported that Urban
Initiatives staff "often or
always" intentionally
engaged in
opportunities for socialemotional
learning with
students
play with potential
K-8th
In addition to our Continuum of Programming, Urban Initiatives also provides Culture and Climate programming which focuses on
creating positive school cultures through play. Play with Potential is our recess program that aims to maximize the benefits of play
time for all students at a school, grades K-8, while increasing opportunities for physical activity and social-emotional learning
during the school day. Our recess staff members are highly trained, are school-based, get to form relationships with all the
students in a school community, and can tailor programming to meet a school's specific needs.

our impact
In 2018, Urban Initiatives continued our commitment to
continual learning in order to make our programs
stronger. Each year, we collect and analyze data from
various sources including surveys, school attendance
and grades, and teacher-reported classroom
performance information in order to evaluate our
programs.
Various external research partnerships complemented
our internal evaluation efforts in 2018. Specifically, we:
Completed implementation of our randomized
controlled trial research study of Work to Play with
UChicago Urban Labs in June 2018
Worked with researchers from University of Illinois at
Chicago to improve the capacity of our Play with
Potential recess staff
Formalized our partnership with Thrive
Chicago, which will enable Urban Initiatives to access
Chicago Public Schools' academic data for our
participants in real-time and more effectively share
information with our school partners.
We are proud that our programs continue to show
significant success in the areas of health and physical
fitness, social-emotional learning, leadership, and
academic performance.
work to play
take the lead
coach for
success
play with
potential
60
The number of Work to Play
45%
parents who reported their child
40
was physically active for one hour
each day, as recommended by
20
national guidelines, increased from
just 45% at the beginning of the
0
year to 78% by the end of the year. Pre-Test Post-Test
90% of Team Captains reported
improving their leadership skills by
modeling good behavior for their
younger teammates and engaging
in goal-setting.
Coach for Success participants
reported improvements in
academics and life skills (for
example, networking and
communication), and view UI staff
and their mentors as trusted
resources as they prepare for life
in and beyond high school.
45% of teachers surveyed in
January at Play with Potential
partner schools reported that
instances of bullying and
exclusionary behavior at recess
had decreased since the
beginning of the school year
80
78%

our values
teamwork
initiative
commitment
In our fifteenth year, our values still guide every
aspect of our work. Urban Initiatives was
founded on five values that directed our
programs, strategy, and implementation:
teamwork, initiative, commitment, impact and
fun. In 2018, we added a sixth value of inclusion.
We believe individual
empowerment is a team
sport, and collaborative
efforts define our work,
produce our success, and
sustain our vision.
We believe in putting our
passion into action, getting
off the sidelines, and
creating positive change.
We believe in working as
hard, as smart, and as long
as it takes to achieve our
goals.
The addition of inclusion as a guiding value is
critical to Urban Initiatives' success and supports
our goal to build a more unified Chicago, both in
our internal and external practices. We
believe that Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion are
necessary to build a positive culture and best
support each other in our efforts to intentionally
work toward anti-racist and anti-oppressive
transformation.
impact
We provide high-quality
programs that continually
improve through datadriven
decision making in
order to achieve positive,
sustainable outcomes.
inclusion
We believe a diverse team
makes us stronger, and that
prioritizing inclusion is
essential to breaking down
barriers, creating more
equitable distribution of
opportunities, and
combating racism and
oppression.
fun
We believe in finding as
much enjoyment in work as
in play. This goes for both
the kids in our programs
and everyone in our
organization.
our diversity, equity, and inclusion committee
To support the addition of our value of inclusion, Urban Initiatives formed a Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committee that ensures that as an organization, Urban
Initiatives is upholding this value. Action around these beliefs includes valuing diversity in all ways as an institutionalized asset, developing and reviewing
organizational activities based on anti-oppression commitments, and partnering with stakeholders to interrupt all forms of oppression. This approach enables
Urban Initiatives to build positive relationships across the organization and within our programs, to validate and engage every individual, and to build an inclusive
environment with diverse stakeholders.

meet our awardees
Urban Initiatives prioritizes celebrating those that support our work and embody our values throughout the year. Meet some of
our 2018 awardees!
At our annual Family & Coach
Appreciation party in March, we
honored our Parent of the Year, Cerela
Tumbaco (left), and our Coach of the
Year, Coach Aaron O'Neil (center) of
National Teachers Academy. Both
dedicate enormous amounts of time
to supporting the participants in our
programming.
In January 2018, we were thrilled to
honor (from left to right) Jonathan
Taylor, Larry from Claremont
Academy, and Northern Trustrepresented
by Pete Cherecwich- with
awards at the Soccer Ball. All three
have shown incredible commitment to
Urban Initaitives' programs.
Each year at the Work to Play Cup we
honor a corporation and family or
individual that has committed to
serving our communities. In 2018, we
honored Union Pacific (not pictured)
and the McGranahan Family (shown
above). Both of these groups have
supported Urban Initiatives so
generously over the years and we are
so grateful to have them on our team.

our biggest fans
meet ralf
Ralf Hilpuesch, Storck USA, was the
Chair of the Board of Directors from
2013-2018. In his time as Board
Chair Urban Initiatives doubled the
number of schools we served. Ralf's
contributions to Urban Initiatives
are immeasurable, but include
bringing so many new supporters to
our team and consistently
volunteering throughout his 10
years on the Board of Directors.
board of directors
Our Board of Directors is a group of 28 highly dedicated
professionals, philanthropists, and civic leaders from across
Chicago that provide leadership, strategy, and support to
Urban Initiatives.
meet dejuan
Dejuan Lever, Metalex, is a member
of the Partners Board who has
shown his dedication to our work
time and time again. In the spring of
2018, he attended a Take the Lead
leadership retreat where he hosted
a luncheon for a group of Team
Captains. They discussed his path to
success and what it means to be a
leader in your school. Dejuan's
commitment to serving Chicago's
communities knows no bounds.
partners board
The Partners Board aims to formalize a network and
structure for the next generation of Urban Initiatives
supporters. This group is committed to raising awareness
about and funds for Urban Initiatives’ work.

our biggest fans
meet erica
Erica Iantoro, Glassdoor, is a new
Associate Board member that has
gone above and beyond this year
to provide meeting spaces for our
Coach for Success program. She
generously coordinated the
logistics for all the first quarter
meetings. We are so grateful for
her efforts behind the scenes!
associate board
Our Associate Board is over 150 members strong and has
representatives from industries across Chicago. We are lucky to
have members that commit to Urban Initiatives through
fundraising, volunteering, and increasing awareness about our
programs.
meet reighne
Reighne is a sophomore at
Whitney Young High School and is
an incredibly engaged Student
Board member. She's participated
in our Future Leaders Fellowship
and did tremendous work during
the 2018 coat drive. Urban
Initiatives is so thankful to have
such a dynamic young leader on
the Student Board.
student board
The Student Board is a group of dedicated high school
students that fundraise and volunteer for Urban Initiatives.
This group executes campaigns like the annual coat drive and
equipment drive. Their efforts make our programs stronger
and we are so lucky to have such incredible young people on
the Urban Initaitives team.

financial overview
Assets
Cash: $1,111,550
Grants Receivable: $41,000
Program Services Receivable: $176,001
Prepaid Expenses: $2,350
Security Deposits: $1,167
Total Assets: $1,332,068
Liabilities
Accounts Payable: $16,116
Accrued Expenses: $40,757
Total Liabilities: $56,873
Revenue
Donations and Grants: $2,483,313
Program Service Fees: $1,347,318
Events: $644,047
Other: $5,015
Total Revenue: $4,504,868
Expenses
Program Services: $3,831,434
Management and General: $462,541
Fundraising: $156,854
Total Expenses: $4,450,829

you're invited
work to play cup | june 1st | 10am-2pm | midway plaisance
The Work to Play Cup is the capstone event of our program year that celebrates the dedication and hard work of our participants.
With over 1,300 youth participants, the Work to Play Cup is our largest programming event of the year and features small sided
soccer, recess games and activities, an awards ceremony, and a dance party. It’s a celebration that unifies stakeholders from
across Chicago- including teachers, parents, students, community leaders, and volunteers- in the spirit of supporting Chicago’s
youth.