Plans underway for student dormitory in Pilsen area
By Michael
Comstock
Plans have begun for the LaCasa student dormitory project for college
students in the Pilsen neighborhood. The project, scheduled to open in
August 2008, will be located in an old convent near St. Adalbert's Church,
at 1628 W. 27th St.
The dorm is part of the Resurrection Project's "quality of life plan, which
encompasses the surrounding three or four blocks where we are looking to do
similar projects in terms of creating new vital space in the community that
has been lacking for a long time," said Julián Lazalde, project organizer
for LaCasa.
The Resurrection Project is a community organization founded by six area Roman Catholic churches with predominantly Mexican-American congregations with a mission of healthy community development based on faith and values. It now has 12 member parishes.
LaCasa will include a dormitory for about 60 occupants. Some will be single occupancy rooms, but most will be double occupancy.
Mayor Richard M. Daley last year called for more dormitories for college students around the city, similar to the University Center in the South Loop in which students from three universities reside.
LaCasa will be more
than a dormitory, however. "As part of the La Casa project, we are looking
to have a drop-in resource center to be housed most likely in the basement
with a separate entry for community residents," said Lazalde.
The drop-in resource center will include a computer lab, library, and study
space. "We will also have tutoring services offered to not just the students
in LaCasa, but also to elementary and high school students in the area,"
said Lazalde. "We want to make it as open as possible to community
residents, so this isn't just a building for 60 lucky people."
Students staying at LaCasa predominantly will come form the three communities the Resurrection Project focuses on: Pilsen, Little Village, and Back of the Yards. "However," Lazalde added, "that isn't to say we aren't open to the aspect of having students from outside those three communities living in LaCasa.
"We have to recognize that places like Cicero, Berwyn, and some of the outlining communities are starting to have a large increase in Latino population. So that is something the program is going to be taking a look at, to see how much space we can afford for students" who are not from the area, he said.
As for partnerships with local colleges and universities, talks have only been preliminary at this point. "Now with the work that the program team is doing, we feel we are in a better position to continue with those conversations and solidify who will be university partners with us," said Lazalde.
There is yet to be a set price for the price of a dorm room for an academic year, but Lazalde hopes it could be around $3,000, about half the estimated cost of a dorm room in Chicago.
The estimated cost of this project is set to be around $4.5- $5 million. In October of last year, Governor Rod Blagojevich announced a $3.4 million grant for the Resurrection Project to restore and convert LaCasa into a dormitory.
"Through the organizing efforts the previous organizer started, Alicia Rodriguez, she worked with our education organizing team to get the first original capital grant application to the state," said Lazalde. He then joined on and took over her duties, working with the education organizing team and presenting the issue to the State Representative Edward Acevedo (D-2nd) and the Illinois General Assembly Legislative Latino Caucus.
"The Resurrection
Project has an impressive record of service and reform in the Latino
community," Acevedo said. "The LaCasa dormitory grant is an important
investment in the neighborhood's future and in the future of Latino higher
education."
The Resurrection Project will need to fund about $1.5 million more through
private donations or from banks.
Construction is planned to begin in June or July of this year, and architect
Jack Marchie is working on the plans. "We want students ready and living
here for the first days of classes for the fall semester of '08," said
Lazalde.
The LaCasa Project may just be the first of its kind in the country. "As far
as we know, from my research, there is nothing specifically like this," said
Lazalde. "Everyone I have asked said there has never been anything on this
scale like this."
