Asset-Based Community Development Institute

Dacia Chrzanowski

Project Coordinator, ABCD, School of Education & Social Policy

Annenberg Hall
2120 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-0001
Phone: (847) 491-8711

Biography

Dacia Chrzanowski, a 2005 graduate of the Master of Public Administration program at the Illinois Institute of Technology, is a Founding Partner of CommUniversity, a social entrepreneurial consulting firm that specializes in customized learning and development experiences for community based groups and institutions, neighborhood schools, parents and students. Areas of expertise include asset mapping and community capacity research, community building workshop and seminar production, community-based student motivation program development, individualized consultations on student achievement, resource mapping, and collaborative partnering.

Dacia is also the Project Manager for the Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) Institute at Northwestern University. In addition to overseeing the administrative operations of the Institute, she works closely with renowned community development experts, John L. McKnight and Dr. John (Jody) Kretzmann, to challenge the traditional approach to solving urban problems, which focuses service providers and funding agencies on the needs and deficiencies of neighborhoods. In her role with the ABCD Institute, she has facilitated over a dozen workshops and conducted a number of research projects to demonstrate that community assets, the skills of local residents, the power of local associations, the resources of public, private and non-profit institutions, and the physical and economic resources of local places are key building blocks in sustainable urban and rural community revitalization efforts. Dacia also serves as a Graduate Teaching Assistant to Dr. Kretzmann, Introduction to Community Development (SESP 202).

Previously Dacia served her community as the Executive Director of a small non-profit organization, the School Street Arts Movement, which uses the power of dance, theater, and art therapy to dispel myths surrounding HIV/AIDS and helps high-risk youths make healthy choices regarding their bodies and futures. In addition to supervising the day-to-day operations, she provided leadership and direction to the staff, volunteers and program participants of School Street, and increased and diversified funding sources, including an over 150% increase of funding from new and first-time funders during FY07. During her tenure as Executive Director, Dacia also served as Chairwoman of the Coalition for Adolescent Risk Reduction (CARR), a networking organization of over 200 youth-oriented social service organizations.

In 2007, Dacia participated as a Fellow in the “Step in the Right Direction” program hosted by An-Najah National University, Nablus, West Bank. There, she worked on therapeutic arts projects with children living in the Askr Refugee Camp. Having previously studied French, German and Spanish, she has also completed two semesters of Elementary Arabic at Northwestern and hopes to return to the West Bank in a professional capacity someday.

Currently, Dacia lives in Chicago, with her two rescued animals; Romeo, an abused pit-bull mix, and a gorgeous Domestic Long Hair cat named Cyrano.

Last Updated: 2009-05-05 11:02:16