Category Archives: Community

October Issue Back Cover

FRIDAY FORUM + CONVERSATION CAFÉ Fall 2024 Series Please join the University YMCA and Diversity & Social Justice Education for our Fall 2024 Friday Forum + Conversation Café series. We will hear from community leaders tackling our most pressing public … Continue reading

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Remembering Irfan Ahmad

Longtime Urbana resident Irfan Ahmad passed away on May 2 due to complications from a chronic lung condition. He was 66. Ahmad immigrated from Pakistan in 1989 to pursue his graduate education in agricultural engineering at the University of Illinois. … Continue reading

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IMC Holds a Second Public Safety Forum

On March 24, the UCIMC hosted a second public safety forum focused on alternative responses to traditional law enforcement. The forum was organized in accordance with calls from Urbana residents and elected officials for a study of alternatives to traditional … Continue reading

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Canada Goose Population Control: Homeowner Associations Become Experts—Print Version

See the full version of this article here. Spring is a good time to consider the giant Canada goose and methods of population control that are legal and humane. Canada geese (Branta canadensis maxima), like all waterfowl, are protected at … Continue reading

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Canada Goose Population Control: Homeowner Associations Become Experts—Long Version

Spring is a good time to consider the giant Canada goose and methods of population control that are legal and humane. March is breeding time. Male and female breeding pairs separate from the flock and become very protective of their … Continue reading

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As Police Budget Swells, Safety Forum Articulates a Different Vision

Crime is going down in Urbana, but you wouldn’t know it from looking at Urbana’s police budget. After a $2.25 million increase in the police budget in the last two years—largely for salary increases and bonuses—Urbana leadership is pushing to … Continue reading

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Remembering Jim Holiman, Local Activist Mentor: Rest In Power

Before there were cell phones, or the internet or Zoom, campus activism in C-U was alive and well. Posters and word of mouth brought people of conscience together for strategy sessions and social justice cultural events at the Illinois Disciples … Continue reading

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Winter Issue Back Cover

Spring Semester Friday Forum Schedule Friday Forum is in its 98th year at the University YMCA! In recent partnership with Conversation Café, the program is a weekly forum to learn about and discuss pressing public concerns while enjoying free lunch from the Y … Continue reading

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Community of Urbana-Champaign Cooperative Housing to Reduce the Post-Pandemic Youth Housing Divide

Housing cooperatives have a long history in the US. In university towns like C-U, those laboratories of young people assume new importance in the post-pandemic city. Escaping the logic of a typical landlord-tenant agreement, members self-manage and maintain the houses … Continue reading

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Who’s Your Family?

Having just survived the winter holidays, the stressors and supports brought about by family could not be more present in our minds. However, for some of us in the American workforce, even the discussion of our loved ones at home … Continue reading

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Remembering David Monk

David Monk, 91, died on December 2, 2022. For a detailed account of his life and accomplishments, refer to the News-Gazette article published on July 13, 2022, soon after he went into hospice care. It is not easy to summarize … Continue reading

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Sola Gratia Farm Grows Good in CU

Here in Central Illinois, we’re surrounded by prime farmland—miles and miles of crops, primarily corn and soy, growing on some of the most fertile soil in the world. And yet, approximately one in seven adults and one in five children … Continue reading

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Kathryn J. Oberdeck (January 18, 1958–June 8, 2022)

Kathy was a passionate fighter against all forms of inequality. She combined an unwavering commitment to the highest intellectual standards with a selfless dedication to community and family. She was a prolific historian of poor and working-class people, particularly their … Continue reading

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Juneteenth 2022 at Randolph Street Garden

Seitu Ken Jones, a multidisciplinary artist who believes in the power of public art to link the past and present, spent 2020–21 as a visiting artist at the UIUC Center for Advanced Study. He returned this past June to work … Continue reading

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The Public i: Countering Hegemonic Mass Media Narratives

I have always wondered how the Public i, which operates under one of the few Independent Media Centers (IMCs) that still exist in the United States—the UCIMC—has been sustainable for two decades despite the growing dissolutions of Indymedia centers worldwide. … Continue reading

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The Congolese Community of Champaign County

We are the Congolese Community of Champaign County. The estimated number of Congolese living in Champaign County is more than 6,000 persons. Our mission is to support each other and help our children learn about the country, as well as … Continue reading

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A Conversation with Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files

The Public i recently talked to Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files Please tell our readers a little about yourself. “I am a wife, mother, and registered nurse. I currently work in mental health and addiction services. I enjoy reading, writing … Continue reading

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The Nest Postpartum Support

Five years ago, my world turned upside down after the birth of our first son. What should have been the happiest day of our lives turned into one crisis after another, a transfer to a hospital two hours away, and … Continue reading

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The Ubuntu Project and the Need for a Progressive Shift in Policing

Ubuntu is a term that originated with the Zulu people and roughly translates to “humanity” in English. The term emerged as a political concept following apartheid’s disintegration in South Africa. Now a collective of local community members, scholars, clergy, and … Continue reading

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Supporting Women, Girls and Families: An Interview with Stephanie Cockrell

Women are praised for being pillars of strength in their families and communities, but this same strength might lead them to be overlooked when designing services to meet the needs of a community. Women also need therapeutic activities that help … Continue reading

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