The Way we Work

ESLARP is a program of sustained engagement with distressed urban areas through service learning and action research.

Together with residents and community organizations in severely distressed areas, faculty and students from across the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign work on highly tangible and visible projects that address immediate and long-term needs.

Since 1987, this program of mutual learning and assistance has been an important part of the growing neighborhood revitalization movement in East St. Louis, Alorton, Brooklyn, Centreville and Washington Park, Illinois. Aided by the University’s instructional, research, and public service resources, ESLARP is producing results in communities where residents are mobilizing to address pressing social, economic, and environmental problems.