In this Social Impact Lab, students work in small groups on consulting projects that are curated to address various economic development needs and opportunities on the South Side. By exploring Chicago’s rich and complex social, economic, and political history, we in turn work with leading institutions to shape their strategies for how to advance local economies particularly with a lens towards generating wealth in the Black community. The Social Impact Lab seeks to give students opportunities to work with clients in a strategy consulting context while leveraging the Southside as a context for understanding systemic inequalities and the need for multi-sector and community participation in generating impactful strategies.
Each week, we bring in guest speakers who can contextualize and animate conversations about economic development in Chicago’s Southside and provide real-world insights into the challenges and opportunities that they see and are addressing. In addition, each week students are given time to work on their client projects culminating in the final capstone in which students will present their findings and recommendations for the clients during the final week. Given the vast and complicated nature of addressing economic development and wealth creation, we bring guest speakers who bring various perspectives that are important: entrepreneurs, elected officials, venture capitalists, leaders at anchor institutions, artists, and philanthropists, among them.
Clients for the Winter 2026 section will be announced in the Autumn 2025 quarter.
Applications are due Friday, November 15 at noon. Interested students can apply here.
