Center for Metropolitan Chicago Initiatives (CMCI)

1820 S. Leavitt St., 2nd Floor, Chicago, IL 60608
Telephone: 312-432-4791
Fax: 312-432-4795

The Center for Metropolitan Chicago Initiatives
The mission of the Center for Metropolitan Chicago Initiatives of the Institute for Latino Studies is to aid in the development of socially just communities by conducting policy-relevant research, cultivating partnerships, and expanding knowledge of Chicagoland's Latinos. Pastoral work in the Pilsen and Little Village communities is an integral part of this mission.

CMCI advances this mission in three ways:

1. Regionally, by impacting public policy to provide critical information on the Chicago area Latino community;
2. Locally, by providing outreach and technical assistance through its unique university/community partnership in Berwyn and Cicero; and
3. Through parish life, by providing leadership development and technical assistance to a parish in Pilsen, one of Chicago’s predominately Mexican communities.

The common thread to each of these endeavors is building and strengthening community capacity and promoting understanding of the Chicago area Latino community. This work is also consistent with ILS’s overall goals of research, education and outreach.

Latinos in Chicago
Throughout the Midwest Latino population growth has prompted dramatic changes in families, neighborhoods, and institutions. Almost 1.7 million Latinos live in the Chicago metropolitan area. One in five Chicagoland residents is Latino and over half live in suburban areas. In response to this ongoing transformation in 2000 the Institute launched CMCI, funded by a grant from the MacNeal Health Foundation (now the Arthur Foundation), to identify needs within the Chicago-area Latino community and to attract resources and attention to the assets that this community presents. Further project funding has been provided by the Arthur Foundation, the Chicago Community Trust, the Joyce Foundation, and others.

Publications
A list of CMCI publications can be viewed here.