Schedule

Speaker publications will be available for purchase and speakers will be available for book signing throughout the day Service Fair will be open throughout the day in the Expo Hall

Dacia Chrzanowski, Executive Director, School Street Arts Movement, Chicago, IL

 

Dacia Chrzanowski is the Project Coordinator for the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University. In addition to overseeing the day-to-day operations of the Institute, she works closely with renowned community development experts, John L. McKnight and Dr. John (Jody) Kretzmann, to challenge the traditional approach to solving urban problems, which focuses service providers and funding agencies on the needs and deficiencies of neighborhoods. In her role with the ABCD Institute, she has both organized and conducted workshops and seminars to demonstrate that community assets, the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, the resources of public, private and non-profit institutions, and the physical and economic resources of local places are key building blocks in sustainable urban and rural community revitalization efforts. Dacia is also currently serving as a Graduate Teaching Assistant to Dr. Jody Kretzmann for his Introduction to Community Development (SESP 202) course at Northwestern University.

In addition to the work she performs for the ABCD Institute, Dacia also serves her community as the part-time Executive Director of a small non-profit organization located in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. This organization, the School Street Arts Movement, uses the power of dance, theater, and art therapy to dispel myths surrounding HIV/AIDS and helps high-risk youths make healthy choices regarding their bodies and futures. The School Street Arts Movement partners with other CBOs and agencies, including Chicago Communities in Schools (CCIS), to work with the Chicago Public Schools in an effort to reach out to those youths with the most need for this type of programming, which uses the arts to convey life saving information about HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. Additionally, Dacia serves as Chair of the Coalition for Adolescent Risk Reduction (CARR), a networking organization of 200+ youth-oriented social service organizations that conducts monthly seminars featuring speakers on youth-related risk issues, and is sponsored by the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH).

In her spare time, Dacia offers administrative and consulting services to Consultants for Community Resources, which was founded by Michael Marcus, former head of basic human needs funding for the Chicago Community Trust. Together, they conduct workshops, work sessions and visioning conferences to assist with asset based strategic planning, policy analysis, grant writing, improving foundation relations, establishing endowments, and strengthening organizational structure.