A new program spearheaded by Multicultural Student Affairs will work to connect Northwestern students with Chicago communities through a series of trips to different neighborhoods in the city, according to a Facebook post by MSA.

The program, called the MSA Excursion Series, will take place over two weeks and will help students analyze the role common spaces play in facilitating shared conceptions of cultural identity, according to the post. The program will include two weekend excursions, during which dastudents have the opportunity to connect with community groups such as AfriCaribe and the Division Street Business Development Association.

Aaron Golding, assistant director to MSA, said in the post that while building a reciprocal relationship between Chicago communities and Northwestern students is hard to do in just two weeks, he hopes the program will help students begin to form relationships with larger Chicago issues and learn how “allyship and activism can honor a neighborhood’s history.”

“We had this idea of what does it look like to be in support of a community that is experiencing gentrification or lack of investment from the city of Chicago,” Golding said in the post. “We wanted to created opportunities for authentic and reciprocal experiences that didn’t feel like we were helicoptering in and then leaving.”

The program features a number of different components: According to the post, participants will venture to areas like Paseo Boricua and engage in a teach-in, among completing other activities.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @pranav_baskar