I N I T I AT I V E SS P R I N G 2 0 1 3

Dear Colleagues:

It is my belief that one of the strongest attributes of the ICA, its staff, and colleagues is our ability

to be adaptable in ever – changing times. In our current reality, ICA finds itself in a familiar but genuinely different situation than ever before. 2012, the year of our 50th Anniversary, was one the most vibrant and engaging years in ICA’s long history. Staff, colleagues, and donors invested a great deal of time, energy, and monetary support to make it all happen. Through our Resilient Communities program, ICA has become a pivotal player in the sustainability movement in Chicago, and has positioned itself to become one nationally, as well. Through our Service Learning program we have engaged over 300 college students in meaningful, life altering work focused on bridging the gap between social and environmental justice. Through our International Initiatives program, we have continued to support our colleagues globally, and we’ve expanded our Learning Basket Program to double the age range of the population it serves. Our GreenRise Learning Laboratory Program has put 4750 front and center in the movement towards energy reduction, and it is providing a model for other older buildings both locally and nationally. Most of this was accomplished within new dynamic programs that were just in their second year of operations. As I say, it was an incredible year.

April Archives Sojourn Page 2 Plan for the Future Page 4Leaders of the Future Page 3

ICA GreenRise, formerly known as as the Kemper Insurance and Mutual Insurance Building has signed it’s name into history after receiving landmark status on March 13, 2013 by the City Council. The historic building has served as the center for the ICA throughout the years, and has been used in a multitude of ways - one of the most significant being its time as ICA’s International Training Headquarters and residential facility.The building has been a pivotal feature of ICA’s success and offered a space for ICA to expand its community development efforts worldwide. Currently, the building tenants include over 15 different nonprofit organizations, an intentional community, and two floors used for ICA programming. Along with historical landmark status, this year, ICA GreenRise has been invited to join Retrofit Chicago. The kickoff event took place on March 19, 2013 at the Shedd Aquarium. At the event, Chicago Mayor

Rahm Emanuel remarked that, “Retrofit Chicago Commercial Buildings Initiative is about combining economic strength and environmental excellence”, a motto that ICA GreenRise is working towards embodying. ICA GreenRise is the first

non-profit, and one of the two buildings outside the downtown loop area that will cut their energy use by at least 20% over the next five years. Building staff and volunteers are also working towards the implementation of a Bioshaft®

system, a pilot project that would work on purifying and re-using black water from two toilets (through soil and mycelium), and create a green wall in the Lumumba room as a by-product. You can learn more about all of these items by visiting our website at www.ica-usa.org. In addition to these tangible energy reduction goals ICA staff is working on using ICA methods in promoting a shift towards ‘green culture’ throughout the building.

LANDMARK BUILDING

DESIGNATION FOR ICA GREENRISE UPTOWN

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in the U.S.A.

ToP® GATHERINGA SUCCESS

WHAT WILL YOU FIND IN THE ARCHIVES?

More than 55 ToP® facilitators and trainers converged in Durham, North Carolina, for the 19th Annual Gathering with the overall theme of “Making A Difference Together!” Over the three days of interchange, education and deliberation, participants had the opportunity to immerse themselves in 16 different sessions. Highlights included: a visit to the Duke-Durham Neighborhood partnership project site; early morning book studies; a Sunday night celebrative dinner complete with ToP® hats, the recognition of two new ToP® USA Champions and six newly minted Certified ToP® Facilitators. Fun and folly was enjoyed by all in honoring those who performed “Over the ToP®,” and those who were shifting out from “Under ToP®” as they rotated off the ToP® Network board. This year’s meeting focused on various facets of ToP® methods, structures, and directions providing an opportunity to hear how the ToP® methods have been significantly incorporated in the life and work of several organizations. Participants learned how the Iowa Public Health Department, with 47 ToP® trained staff, and the National Association of City and County Health Organizations are both using ToP® methods extensively to facilitate community input into health initiatives and policy development. Five participants from the University of South Carolina, Arnold School of Public Health, described their efforts in building a toolkit of ToP® facilitation tools for use in Community Health Assessments and Community Health Improvement Plans in that state. Following a brief business meeting, electing a new board and describing the new website, the group developed strategic directions and action plans focused around four major arenas: Expanding Member Services, Proclaiming ToP® Impact and Credibility, Creating Relevant Learning for Communities of Practice, and Developing Vibrant Financial Models. Six new Certified ToP® Facilitators joined the Network members. Mary Flanagan, ToP® Network president said “We are proud to recognize this professional accomplishment of our members. We look forward to using our Network website as a hub for sharing among a CTF community of learning.”

The Global Archives Sojourn Project recently finished the April Sojourn, which lasted two weeks, and drew 20 people from around the nation! Sojourners spent their time working on what is called the ‘Tip of the Iceberg,’ creating online entrances to the archives focusing on just a part of what ICA has done, and bringing a particular collection into the present for future users. These ‘Tips’ will be available online soon. Sojourners also worked with past audio/visual assets, the chronological history of the ICA, and began systematically documenting all books written by staff and colleagues. Volunteers will continue remotely working on the ‘Tips’ until the next Archive Sojourn in September. If you are interested in learning more about this, or perhaps picking a collection of interest to you, or joining the September sojourn please email mphilbrook@ica-usa.org for more info.

Did You Know… The ICA community kitchen greenhouse is fertilized by a worm farm and is growing kale, romaine lettuce, bok choy and spinach?

Continued From Page 1 Our success has repositioned us and rendered a new reality. Last year, the time, energy and resources that we spent were immense, and although we have seen a return on investment in terms of public recognition and the involvement of individuals and organizations supporting our work, we are still catching-up financially. All of our programming areas are steadily moving toward financial viability, but given their newness, it will be a while before they arrive. In the meantime, we have had to find new ways of doing our work. To this effect, I want to inform you that ICA-USA no longer has a separate department dedicated to resource development. Instead, these tasks will be more fully integrated into the operations of each programming area. We are extremely grateful to the hard work and dedication of the development staff, Karen Sims, Plamena Panyatova, and Tom Wray, and wish them the best on their adventures to come. Although the closing of the department was not an easy decision, it is one that I believe will allow our organization to grow and flourish for the foreseeable future, and will ultimately position us better to become a self-sustaining institution. It is in this context that I invite and request your support, in whatever way possible for the next year. I am utterly convinced that ICA is in an incredible position to further cultivate meaningful change, and your support in this endeavor is invaluable.

Sincerely,

Terry D. Bergdall, PhDPresident and CEO

in the U.S.A.

SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES THRIVE

ENABLING LEADERS FOR THE FUTURE

As part of it’s Resilient Communities Program, ICA has been bringing together community leaders from the south, north, and west sides of Chicago, and asking them to envision the sustainable futures of their communities. Their visions will help shape Phase III of the Accelerating Green Initiatives in Chicago’s 77 Community Areas (Accelerate 77) Project. On February 9th, community leaders gathered at Chicago State University on the south side of Chicago. Attendees included community organizations from across the south side, as well as groups from other regions of the city interested in collaborating on south side projects. A variety of approaches to sustainability were represented; groups like Fishin’ Buddies, which offers fishing and conservation

programs for youth, worked with the community gardeners of the Green Lots Project to determine the characteristics of a sustainable south side. ICA facilitators worked with the group to organize their visions into categories, and work areas around ‘Engaging and Preparing Youth for a Sustainable Future’, or ‘Community-based Agriculture’ were created. Attendees formed teams based on their interest are and established concrete next steps that they could partner on in the next 6 months. Eager to meet again, community leaders took the lead and volunteered to host the next planning meeting, set to take place on a community farm in the Morgan Park community. On February 21st, north side collaborators met at the ICA Greenrise building and took part in a similar visioning workshop, with equally exciting results. Groups like Funder Hut, a community-based fundraising tool, found shared values with organizations like LETS GO Chicago, which brings youth onto community gardening projects. The groups next meeting will be hosted at the Waters School, which features a garden plot for each of its classrooms. On March 14th, west side organizations

Did You Know …Terry Bergdall and Seva Gandhi were presenters at Oklahoma City University’s “Justice for All: Systemic Approaches for Social Justice” conference?

Since the inception of the program in June 2011, ICA’s service learning team has been extremely busy - engaging over 350 students in meaningful projects and curricula. The success of the accelerate77 project and several other ICA projects was made possible through the engagement and dedication of these students. Recently, ICA partnered with INSEEC Grand Ecole, (INSEEC) a consortium of 15 Paris based universities, and led a 6 week course on social entrepreneurship. The premise of the course was that you must understand what is happening in the world around you in order to create a business or strategy to combat social issues. The class focused on looking at injustice through a systemic lens, and understanding the role systems play in social change. Over 36 students participated in the course, and many students noted it was the first time they had experienced a ‘learning community’, and such ‘hands on’ material. The consortium

has now asked ICA to host graduate level students in the fall, for a 6 week course diving deeper into social construction as a means to understand social entrepreneurship. In addition to the work with INSEEC, this semester seven students from the Univer¬sity of Illinois at Chicago worked on their senior capstone projects in the College of Urban Plan-ning and Public Affairs, at the ICA. One project team concentrated on practical steps to help ICA move forward with the creation of a ‘green culture’ within the GreenRise Uptown building. Using ICA methods from the global archives and insights from the social process triangles, they created a set of tangible steps ICA staff and building tenants can take to create a more sustainability-minded culture at the ICA. The second team spent their time trying to under-stand all the nuances of the existing city-wide policy and how it will effect ICA’s implementa-tion of the cutting-edge Bioshaft® project. (The

Bioshaft® project looks the clean and reuse the black water from two toilets in the building, and create a green wall through the process.) The students created a substantial 50 page report with policy concerns, and ideas and recommen-dations on how to work around them. As ICA moves into the summer of 2013, programming staff are looking forward to all the volunteers and students that will become part of their team.

and leaders met at the Garfield Park Conservatory. Notable guests included Alderman Deborah Graham, a representative from the local newspaper, Austin Talks, and a blogger from Chicago Public Radio. Links to the article and blog can be found at www.accelerate77.net. The event drew over 45 individuals representing over 20 organizations. It was a successful meeting, and much like the meetings that proceeded it in other areas of the city, organizations were eager to continue the conversation and move to action steps – and decided to set up subsequent meetings. Accelerate77 is due to convene and facilitate a meeting on the southwest side this month, thus receiving input from each of Chicago’s 77 community areas. Feedback from the gatherings was quite positive. A south side attendee remarked: ‘I liked the diverse talent in this room and the different careers we are coming from and that will be valuable if we harness them. I see shared values but also a collection of one voice.’ North side attendees had similar feelings: ‘I was looking for a niche where I fit in, and I find it so interesting that something I have a passion for can be a part of something so much bigger -- it was surprising to find you’re not in the world by yourself.’

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GOING GREEN In an effort to reduce our footprint, ICA will be sending out the Initiatives electronically to those who are able to access the internet. If you would like to receive our newsletter via email, please send an email to Seva Gandhi at sgandhi@ica-usa.org along with your current mailing address.

FOR THE FUTURE? Don’t delay making plans for your future! Planning is easy when you use the new online Wills Planner available on the ICA website. The Wills Planner helps you organize your estate planning information before meeting with your attorney. You can even share your secure account information online to help your attorney complete the plan. To get started, visit ICA’s planned giving website today and click on “Plan Your Will” to create an account. (www.ica-usa.org/donate/planned giving) Ken and Ruth Gilbert joined the Institute of Cultural Affairs’ Legacy

Society in 2012 when they included the Institute in their wills. If you are thinking of becoming a member of the Legacy Society, simply notify Seva Gandhi of your bequest plans at 773-769-6363 x 312. Special Notice. The IRA Charitable Rollover is back again in 2013. Direct gifts to ICA from you IRA can: 1. Be an easy and convenient way to make a gift from one of your major assets; 2. Be excluded from your gross income; and 3. Count toward your required minimum distribution. For your gift to qualify for benefits under the extension you must be 70½ or older at the time of your gift and the transfer must go directly from your IRA to the Institute.

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