Chicago Literacy Alliance:: Developing a Shared Language of Change

There’s no dearth of nicknames for Chicago: The Windy City, The Second City, The City of Big Shoulders. One of its lesser known sobriquets can be seen in the city’s seal: Urbs in Horto. City in a Garden.

Our very own Urban Eden.

It is, however, anything but Edenic when it comes to the issue of literacy. At present:

-30% of adults have basic low literacy skills

-39% of Chicago’s public school students do not meet or exceed reading standards

– 61% of low-income households do not own any children’s books.*

And while Chicago has accomplished a great deal since its founding in 1833, the goal of being 100% literate remains an elusive, not to say an impossible, one.

What does it take, then, to make the third largest city in the United States 100% literate? A vision, certainly; as well as an unstinting commitment to provide the tools and resources for large-scale collaboration.

It also takes a common language.

“As we’re a literacy catalyst,” said Ken Bigger, executive director of the Chicago Literacy Alliance, “it’s difficult to overstate the value of developing shared language about social innovation among our members.”

GreenHouse partnered with the CLA to provide a group of its members with a crash course in Innovation Dynamics™, our systematic approach to rapid social innovation. It was the first in a series of proposed engagements to identify the social norms of illiteracy; and, with them, a host of unmet needs within the communities the CLA serves to help its members complete the grander project: a 100% literate Chicago.

“Our first workshop with GreenHouse provided that language and helped our members put it to use. The participant reviews were glowing. We’re quite literally looking to spread the word, and eager to empower more leaders in our sector with tools of change.”

In this respect, the CLA is playing an important part in the City of Chicago’s mission to “Build a New Chicago”; and it ensures that, along with the range of new works projects — everything from “transport to energy, from water mains to logistics” — there will be even more groves of freshly planted trees of knowledge growing throughout the City in a Garden.

If all goes well, it won’t be long before Chicago has another nickname: Urbem in Silva— City in a Forest.