IMPACT ---Thoughts from Tina

http://www.heartlandalliance.org/research/

After a long day of rushing through the city of Chicago in the cold and rain we arrived at IMPACT. I think that just to be dry and warm at this point made most of us ecstatic. The women at IMPACT put together an awesome presentation for us. The issues of poverty and homelessness in the state of Illinois was the central focus of their presentation and they did a great job of illustrating how the research that they do directly affects the populations that they focus on. It was inspiring for me to see a primarily research facility be so ‘solution-driven’. I walked away from IMPACT dreaming of how amazing it would be to be employed in such a unique agency. I feel that every state needs an agency that works as hard as IMPACT to conduct meaningful research on social issues and that also works just as hard to get their powerful and eye-opening results to the public. They seemed to really advocate for the social issues that they researched through getting the news out to the public in order for action to be initiated on the micro, mezzo, and macro levels. Visiting IMPACT was my favorite activity that we did while in Chicago and it will leave an imprint on my ‘social work soul’ forever. J (And I will never stop dreaming of working there.)

Tina Guelda