Critical Ethnic Studies Research Guide: DePaul Community Resources

The DePaul Critical Ethnic Studies Program prepares students for advanced analysis of race and ethnicity in an urban and global context. It provides an interdisciplinary approach to the studies of systematic marginalization of racialized minorities. CES also looks at how racialized groups respond to and counter these forces through art, culture, political organization and other forms of social citizenship. The program uses an interdisciplinary social justice perspective to critique global and local configurations of power. CES emphasizes social justice and transformation while focusing on U.S. ethno-racial populations through an intersectional, transnational, and urban framework. Students apply critical theories to complex social and cultural issues.

The LAS Community- and Project-Based Learning Internship Scholarship supports student interns as they work on clearly-defined projects for non-profit, non-governmental, or governmental organizations. Project-based learning is an approach to education that allows students to apply their classroom experiences and learning to projects that address “real world problems.”

The goal of the Center for Community Health Equity (CCHE) is to improve community health outcomes and contribute to the elimination of health inequities in Chicago. A jointly run Center, co-founded by DePaul and Rush in 2015, its work is interdisciplinary – linking sociologists, geographers, and other social scientists with health care professionals. The collective share a desire to conduct meaningful research that contributes to social justice in our communities. Working closely with students and community partners, CCHE efforts come together around the idea that deliberate action based on data can change seemingly intractable problems.

OMSS offers a suite of programs and services that provide culturally relevant opportunities to participate, connect, learn and center the experiences of marginalized communities at DePaul. This contributes to personal and academic success, and increased satisfaction with the DePaul experience. The OMSS Identity-specific Cultural and Resource Centers strives to provide holistic support to DePaul students with intersecting [sociocultural] identities through fostering a sense of belonging, supporting academic success, and providing purposeful programming that strengthens students’ cultural and social development while deepening the understanding of these sociocultural realities in the entire DePaul community. Additionally, OMSS Identity-specific Cultural and Resource Centers provide a physical space of comfort and support for students at the heart of DePaul’s mission.

The Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH) drives a global movement to end street homelessness. IGH's vision is a world where everyone has a home that offers security, safety, autonomy, and opportunity. Founded in 2014, IGH is the first organization to focus on homelessness as a global phenomenon with an emphasis on those who are living on the street or in emergency shelters. It is a partnership between DePaul University (Chicago, USA), and Depaul International (London, UK), which provides direct services for people experiencing homelessness in the UK, Ireland, Ukraine, Slovakia, Croatia, USA, and France. The IGH staff and Advisory Committee work with a broad network of world-class advisors, experts, and organizations — balancing geographies, cultures, and skills. Homelessness is a complex issue, sitting at the intersection of public health, housing affordability, domestic violence, mental illness, substance misuse, urbanization, racial and gender discrimination, infrastructure, and unemployment. The interplay between these elements is expressed in a host of ways depending upon local context. Levels of homelessness rise and fall dependent on shifts in, and changes to, any one of the elements.