In The Loop with CUPPA’s Research Centers – Fall 2025

In January, the Government Finance Research Center (GFRC) started a new project for Cook County’s Bureau of Asset Management to study infrastructure needs of municipal drinking water systems throughout the County to develop policy recommendations aimed at developing sustainable solutions for long-term viability. Throughout the study, particular attention is being paid to under-resourced communities on the County’s west and south sides and the role of the county in providing assistance to ensure lower-capacity communities are able to leverage available resources for investment, enhanced capacity, and system sustainability. This project complements other recent workundertaken by the GFRC examining water rate setting, payment policies and penalties, and equity and affordability of municipal water providers throughout Illinois.

Through a strategic partnership between the University of Illinois System and Cardiff University established in 2023, the GFRC welcomed its first international visiting scholar for a one-month residence at the beginning of this fall semester. Dr. Dennis De Widt, associate professor & founding director of PACCFINTAX, the Public Sector Accounting, Finance and Taxation Research Groupat the Cardiff Business School in the UK, is collaborating closely with GFRC director, Dr. Deborah A. Carroll, to advance joint research on local government finance and the fragmentation of U.S. capital investment by local governments. Dr. De Widt’s visit culminated in a workshop to share early insights from this ongoing project.

In August, the GFRC launched the much-anticipated Certified Public ManagerÒ (CPM) Program. Established in 1979 and accredited by the National Certified Public Manager® Consortium, the CPM is a leadership and management program to improve performance of public sector managers and organizational performance of state, local, tribal, and federal governments and nonprofit organizations. The CPM credential is earned in just 12 months through mastery of seven core leadership competencies, which are gained through 300 hours of online asynchronous study, combined with monthly in-person class sessions, and culminating in an applied capstone project benefitting participants’ employers. The GFRC delivers the only accredited CPM Program for Illinois! The next cohort begins in January 2026. Submit your application to reserve your spot today!

The Great Cities Institute (GCI) is proud to announce that on December 1, 2025, we will host the 30 Years of Impact event, marking three decades of research, collaboration, and engagement on urban challenges. Since its founding in 1995, when then-Governor Jim Edgar proclaimed December 1 as Great Cities Day in Illinois, GCI has connected academia, government, and community partners to address issues of housing, employment, education, and public health. This event is both a chance to reflect on GCI’s legacy and a moment to look ahead toward innovative, community-centered research. The program will take place at UIC Student Center East, with the program running from 2–5 p.m., followed by a reception from 5–7 p.m.

Recent research continues to demonstrate the scope and relevance of GCI’s mission. The Illinois Language Needs Assessment Report, prepared by Rob Paral, senior research specialist at GCI, for the Governor’s Office of New Americans, highlights over one million Illinois residents who speak English less than “very well.” Findings show the geographic and demographic diversity of Limited-English Proficient communities, the majority in Chicago but with sizable populations statewide. After years of decline, the LEP population is rising again, shaped by new migration from countries such as Venezuela and Ukraine. This comprehensive assessment will help guide policy, service delivery, and equitable resource allocation across Illinois.

The commitment to equity also extends to the cultural landscape. Creative Roots, Equitable Futures: Latino Arts in Chicago, authored by Katherine Faydash, editor and urban planner, and with support from Thea Crum, associate director of the Neighborhoods Initiative at GCI, examines the contributions of Latino arts organizations and the persistent underfunding they face. Although Latino communities represent nearly 30 percent of the city’s population and sustain more than 300 cultural organizations, they received just 4–6 percent of philanthropic arts funding between 2020 and 2022. Despite these inequities, Latino arts continue to generate significant economic and cultural impact, contributing to Illinois’ $36 billion arts economy and providing thousands of jobs. The report calls for proportionate and sustained investment, underscoring Latino arts as both a matter of cultural equity and economic vitality.

Economic disparities are equally visible in the labor market. A new data brief, authored by Matt Wilson, associate director of GCI leading Economic and Workforce Development, documents the persistence of racial and geographic gaps in youth joblessness and disconnection from school and work between 2019 and 2023. In Chicago, more than 78 percent of Black 16–19-year-olds were jobless in 2023, compared with 74.2 percent of Latino and 73.8 percent of White youth—rates exceeding national and state averages. These challenges are concentrated on the South, West, and Southeast Sides, where jobless rates among teens often exceed 80 percent. The brief emphasizes the urgent need for targeted employment and education programs, with evidence showing youth jobs programs improve readiness, reduce violence, and support long-term success.

The intersection of equity, economy, and policy was also at the center of GCI’s recent commentary and media features. In Crain’s Chicago Business, Director Teresa Córdova warned of the harmful consequences of heightened immigration crackdowns, critiquing profiteering by private detention companies and urging policies that reinvest in communities rather than detention facilities. A companion Crain’s feature quoted Córdova on the destabilizing effect of federal enforcement in Latino business corridors, where revenue losses of 20–50 percent threaten community anchors like Moreno’s Liquors in Little Village. With immigrant families contributing over $100 billion annually to Illinois’ GDP, these policies not only harm households but reverberate across supply chains, tax revenues, and neighborhood vitality.

The Institute for Policy and Civic Engagement (IPCE) continues its partnership for the second year with the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS) to support the Office of Firearms Violence Prevention unit, as it works to help prevent firearms violence in accordance with the Reimagine Public Safety Act. IPCE is working to support the office and the Firearm Violence Research Group. IDHS engages IPCE to facilitate and manage the academic research needs of the Office of Firearm Violence Prevention (OFVP).

IPCE hosted the 2025 Urban Forum “The Power of Community Engagement: Building Bridges for Shared Impact” on UIC’s campus. Dynamic leaders from the community, academia, busi­ness and government discussed important questions facing today’s cities that showcased best practices, explored engagement models, and inspired partner­ships that anchor institutions and communities to thrive together for a better future that benefits all. Over 300 community members, policymakers, researchers, and public intellectuals convened in-person. Video of the panels are available for viewing on the Urban Forum website.

Networks and Governance Lab (NGL) Blending theories and frameworks from political science, public administration, economics, and public policy with inferential methods from network science, the NGL seeks to model and understand how network structure, composition, and processes shape our collective capacity to solve public problems. Research in the lab spans the study of informal human networks within public organizations and local public service delivery networks to the formation of global city networks to confront transnational challenges.

ONGOING PROJECTS:

Public Service Networks

Local governments often collaborate through formal agreements to provide public services. NGL researchers study the creation, structure, and performance of these networks using a dataset of about 20,000 agreements archived by the state of Iowa since 1993. This research focuses on key service areas like economic development, emergency management, and law enforcement.

Tribal Reservation Adolescent Connections Study (TRACs)

This research, funding by an NIH R01 grant, focuses on the high rates of substance use among American Indian youth and its detrimental effects on their health. It highlights the significance of social networks in influencing behaviors related to substance use, suicide, and violence. By employing social network analysis and collaborating with community partners, the study aims to create culturally relevant interventions to reduce risks associated with substance use and health inequities.

Collective Action and Climate Change

This project examines climate-adaptive collective action in U.S. metropolitan areas, focusing on the challenges posed by climate change and the need for effective collaboration among organizations. It highlights how fragmented governance creates collective action dilemmas in areas like disaster recovery and clean energy transitions. Drawing from a national survey of local governments, this study aims to understand how organizational dynamics and external arrangements influence climate action efforts and shape regional partnerships over time.

Calculus of Collaboration

Local governments often consider partnerships to reduce costs, improve services, or access expertise. Yet research and media discussions usually focus only on finances or resident concerns, overlooking the broader factors officials weigh. Our study examines how mayors and city managers across the U.S. think about these opportunities. Using the Kelly Grid Methodology, we identify common dimensions they use when judging potential collaborations. Rather than tracking outcomes of specific cases, we highlight the decision-making criteria themselves, offering a more complete picture of how local governments evaluate partnerships and the complexities behind these choices.

Chicago Health Networks Research

Our team of researchers has identified over 65 health and wellness groups in Chicago and Cook County, involving more than 800 organizations. The study looks at how these networks adjust their resource strategies over time to better meet the changing health needs of the community.

Urban Transportation Center (UTC)  Study Reveals Rural Public Transit Yields a Multitude of Benefits

Throughout most of the United States, public transit is centered in high-density urban areas while also serving as a lifeline for many people in the less-populated rural parts of the nation. Regardless of urban or rural transit, transit systems are frequently perceived as a financial burden on the local economy rather than being a public investment, where the long-term value of busses and trains are assessed primarily in terms of ridership figures or the revenue generated through fares from system users. A lot of work has been done to present a full picture of the impact of transit, and many are focused on the urban systems. Rural transit systems that are funded through federal pass-through formula funds from the FTA and supported by individual state DOTs have not been understood very clearly.

A recent study from the Urban Transportation Center, Return on Investment for Rural Demand-Response Transit in Illinois, identified potential external benefits of rural public transit options to state DOTs.  The research study extracts the benefits and costs attributable to the state DOTs by including workforce participation, healthcare access, and local economic activity in the areas where the transit systems operate.  The research team, led by UTC Director Dr. P.S. Sriraj, conducted an extensive literature review to create a conceptual framework for the benefits accrued by rural transit. With this knowledge, the team developed a conceptual model to link the various impacts/benefits and costs, translated that into a mathematical formulation, and applied it in various case studies from rural Illinois.  Customer satisfaction survey data from individual transit systems and census demographic data were used to operationalize the conceptual model. Then, an analysis and the findings were presented in the report. The analysis revealed that the benefits of rural transit exceeded the state’s financial contribution, generating nearly $4 for every one dollar spent by the state in the best-case scenario.

The Nathalie P. Voorhees Center for Neighborhood and Community Improvement (Voorhees Center) is a dynamic resource center and a community development research and technical assistance unit in CUPPA that engages residents, leaders, and policymakers seeking effective strategies for advancing community. The Center is guided by the mission to improve quality of life and works in collaboration with faculty and graduate students in developing grounded research to support the revitalization of communities. The center engages with stakeholders at various levels, and its engagement with community partners empowers organizations with knowledge and information to advocate for policies and promote development efforts.

The Voorhees Center works on a variety of projects ranging from green economic development to homelessness; studies conducted in the past year include:

City of Chicago Point in Time Homeless Count, 2025 surveys unsheltered and sheltered homeless people at one moment in time to produce a picture of homelessness in Chicago in 2025.

The Green Economy in the Transportation and Logistics Sector in Northeast Illinois maps out transportation and logistics assets in the Chicago Region, and identifies economic opportunities and modernization needs to advance energy efficiency and green economy goals.

Untapped Talent and Opportunities in the Green Economy in the Chicago Region explores and maps out the locations of untapped talent groups. It compares them to the locations of Green Economy firms and outlines strategies for connecting untapped talent to the Green Economy occupations.

Brownfield Redevelopment and Green Economy Expansion in Cook County and the Calumet Regioncategorizes and maps brownfields, assesses suitability for select Green Economy uses, summarizes processes, and documents resources available for cleanup and redevelopment.

Economic Impact Analysis of NASA on the US, Fifty States, and D.C., assesses the economic impacts of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the agency’s Moon to Mars (M2M) campaign, and investments in climate change research and technology for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023.

City of Chicago Homeless Point-in-Time Count 2024, surveys unsheltered and sheltered homeless persons in. A major increase in the number of asylum seekers experiencing homelessness was documented in 2024.

Economic Impact Analysis of McCormick Place on Chicago and Illinois assesses the economic impact of the largest Convention Center in the region on the State of Illinois and the City of Chicago; McCormick Center houses convention and meeting areas, two large hotels, a sports arena, and draws exhibitors, conference participants, and visitors from all over the world.

Assessment of the Workforce in the Casting, Forging, and Energy Storage Sectors in the ILDMC Region compiles workforce data and information; provides insight into working conditions, required skills, technology trends; and maps out distribution of skills training resources in the ILDMC region.

Gentrification Index developed by the Voorhees Center in 2014 was also updated in early 2025.

The following studies are underway:

Chicago Plan for Transformation at year 25: “Where are they now?” assesses ‘The Plan for Transformation (PFT)’ and surveys its progress between 2000 and 2025; it also examines the ‘Choice Neighborhood Initiative’ in Woodlawn as a possible model for mixed-income development.

Chicago Point-in-Time (PIT) Homeless Count (2026): The 2026 Chicago PIT count is in progress – data is being compiled and analyzed, and annual report will be produced in the summer/fall of 2026.

Economic Impact Analysis of Spending by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): Projected for completion in the summer of 2026, this study will assess the impact of 2025 NASA spending on the nation, the fifty states, and the District of Colombia.