Lift as You Climb board members include DePaul University faculty, staff, and students. Dr. Joseph Gardner helped start this initiative in early 2017 with colleagues Dr. Rebecca Michel, Dr. Thomas Noel, and College of Education doctoral students and staff.
Each Lift group worked with a professional advisor–a community leader with expertise in each groups’ project (literacy, community/criminal justice, and higher education). The 2017-2018 professional advisors came from organizations and institutions such as Chicago Public Schools, the Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute and the City Colleges of Chicago.
For the 2018-2019 academic year, Lift as You Climb collaborated with community organizations on Chicago’s south side, working with a non-profit social service agency and a public school in sustained efforts to address issues of literacy, parenting, and police/community relations.