Urban policy wonks with an idea for changing Chicago, this may be the time to start finalizing that proposal. Yesterday, the University of Chicago's Urban Labs program announced its first Innovation Challenege will be focusing on its hometown, with winning proposals in the running for up to $1 million to use over two years. The new organization is seeking ideas that address issues of energy and the environment, health, and poverty, with a due date of May 1 for submissions.
Funded by a $10 million donation from the Pritzker Foundation, the introduction of the health, energy and environment, and poverty labs build upon the school's succesful lab model, which has already been applied to crime and education issues. The promise of the labs, according to the Univeristy, is to bring more evidence-based research and testing to perennial big city issues and help fuel new policy ideas.
·University of Chicago expanding labs to tackle urban issues [Tribune]
·University of Chicago Announces Urban Labs Challenge [Next City]
·Urban Labs Innovation Challenge to focus on Chicago [University of Chicago]
·Previous University of Chicago coverage [Curbed Chicago]
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