There is more to Northeastern Illinois than what you see at 5500 N. St. Louis, the site of the main campus. There are two satellite campuses of Northeastern, each with its own history and community of learners.
The first is the Jacob H. Carruthers Center for Inner City Studies (CCICS), CCICS’ mission was described by CCICS director Dr. Conrad Worrill in the April 2007 edition of Que Ondee Sola (QOS) as “the center sees it self as the wathchdog of African American culture and history. Located at 700 E. Oakwood, near Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood. CCICS is home to about 500 NEIU students and offers resources and even space for events to many community-based organizations, including offices for the Chicago Defender to organize the Bud Billiken Parade.
Dr. Worrill has been a long time activist, he is the chairman of the Black United Front has been working as a leader in the African American reparations movement, and helped organize the 1995 Million Man March on Washington DC. He has even been to Cuba and met Cuban President Fidel Castro in one of the last public meetings before Castro’s recent ill health. As a younger man Worrill worked as one of Mayor Harold Washington’s street organizers according to the QOS article. Herold Washington was Chicago’s first African American mayor. Worrill’s sense of mission and activism permeates CCICS.
CCICS is home to the inner city studies programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. This program is an interdisciplinary major that focuses on urban history, racism and the sociology of the inner city. There are also general education classes taught in addition to the inner city studies curriculum.
El Centro (EC) is located three miles south of the main campus at 3119 N. Pulaski in the Avondale neighborhood. NEIU is a federally recognized Latino Serving institution and El Centro is the university’s outreach center for the Latino community. EC orients community residents to higher education and provides academic resources through the university, including registration, advising, and other student services.
EC’s building is owned by the ASPRIA alternative high school, who offer classes in the daytime while classes for EC are in the same space at night. EC and ASPIRIA have a close working relationship. ASPIRA students can take college level course work through the partnership between ASPRIRA and EC.
A lack of parking has been an issue in recent years at El Centro. ASPIRIA has acquired two lots which it is preparing and re-zoning for student use.
Last year hot food was offered for the first time when the Latino Catering Company was contracted by El Centro to provide hot meals at the satellite campus. CCICS does not currently have hot food options on its campus.
The courses offered at EC include general education courses that fulfill university requirements, as well as other humanities courses.
Both campuses have grown exponentially in recent years and are community centers with inviting atmospheres.
For more information about CCICS, call (773) 268-7500 and for El Centro, call (773) 442-4080.
News Editor Tom Robb contributed to this report.