Newsletter Resources
Introduction
The following are rotating resources that have been featured in the DCC Newsletter for students, staff, faculty, and community members.
To subscribe to the DCC Newsletter, please fill out this form! For any questions, please contact the DCC at dcc@uic.edu or call (312) 355-7050.
Time Sensitive Resources and Opportunities
These resources have deadlines and/or specific relevant important dates coming up!
Mon, Dec 8 and Weds, Dec 10
Keep your family warm this winter!
Stop by to pick up free winter coats and accessories for children of UIC parenting students — available while supplies last.
🎁 Giveaway Pickup for Families:
📅 December 8 & 10
🕙 10:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.
📍Location:
Women’s Leadership and Resource Center
1700 Student Services Building
1200 W. Harrison
VOLUNTEERS WANTED:
If you would like to volunteer, please sign up today!
For questions, contact: Melinda Young mmcghe2@uic.edu
Groups Start: Sunday, Nov 16 - Online
Fireweed Collective Groups are virtual spaces where folks can connect, and offer mutual aid with others who share similar life experiences and struggles.
Groups run for a month. They meet once a week online for 60 to 90 minutes. All support groups are sliding scale and are peer-led with the support of Fireweed Collective members.
Groups available include: QTPOC Support Space, Healing Verses: A Healing Justice Approach to Collective Poetry Crafting for POC Folks, Spooned Out & Plugged In, etc.
For further information on each group available & to register, check out the Fireweed Collective website!
Ongoing Resources and Opportunities
Centers for Cultural Understanding and Social Change (CCUSC)
As the fall semester progresses and many of you and your families are being impacted by the actions of ICE and their abductions, the DCC and all of CCUSC want to underline our ongoing support to you all. Remember that there are multiple pillars on campus to help you stay resolute in completing your studies. As you continue to fight the good fight, know that you are not alone in the urgency you are feeling. Our spaces are open to study, gather in community, and check-in with staff. We are here to support your academic success through the end of the semester and beyond. We will continue to find courage in our solidarity and community, fight injustice, and build spaces of love and care.
Other Resources & Departments
Emergency Funding and Grants
- UIC Office of the Dean of Students: Basic Needs Insecurity Resources
- U&I Care Emergency Fund
- Dean of Students Basic Needs Assistance Form
- Graduate College Emergency Grant
- College of Nursing Emergency Fund
- Jane Addams College of Social Work Student Emergency Fund
- *as of 11/13/25, we have been told that this fund has been suspended due to lack of funds, with pending reopening in the future.
- United Faculty Emergency FAST Fund
- For questions, contact uicuf.fastfund@gmail.com
Food Resources
Disability Inclusive KYR Information
The DCC wants to be sure that we all know that people with medical conditions and disabilities have a right to accommodations, communication access, and appropriate medical care when interacting with law enforcement or being detained. Please help amplify these resources!
- Disability Rights California KYR Accommodations Card: This KYR website has great examples of possible accommodations and a printable card for people to carry with them. We have copies on the DCC lobby table!
- Chicago area activists have created a detailed slide deck about rights relevant to people with disabilities and offer the same printable card as Disability Rights California for people to use. Their slide deck includes local resources as well.
Food Assistance Resources
Explore the full list of resources of on and off campus resources, food search tools, cultural and neighborhood food pantries, and mental health services!
The full PDF is available to view here: go.uic.edu/foodAssistance
Know Your Rights Resources
Know Your Rights Cards for people with disabilities from Access Living in English and Spanish
Access Living and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) has created cards specifically for people with disabilities in English and in Spanish. Get prepared and keep safe, with physical disabilities, mental health disabilities, sensory disabilities, neurodivergence, and nonverbal access needs in mind!
Immigrant Legal Resource Center, Red Cards / Tarjetas Rojas Printable in 16 languages
All people in the United States, regardless of immigration status, have certain rights and protections under the U.S. Constitution. The ILRC’s Red Cards help people assert their rights and defend themselves in many situations, such as when ICE agents go to a home.
Chicago Immigration Defense Resources and Training Guide
A collection of Know Your Rights resources including ICE Encounters & Raids, Family Preparedness, Worker’s Rights, KYR Trainings, Resources, and Citizenship Classes. Versión en español disponible.
Research Study: Paid Interview Opportunity
Are you an adult with a disability? Have you applied to Social Security benefits?
Would you like to participate in a research study about experiences with applying and receiving benefits? The purpose of this study is to understand these experiences and how social security policies have impacted you.
Eligibility: Must be 18-65 years old and have applied for Social Security Disability and/or Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Compensation: $45 for a 1-2 hour audio/video recorded Zoom interview
To see if you are eligible and indicate interest in interviewing, click here! For questions, email smalon4@uic.edu!
Autoimmune Action & Advocacy at UIC: Anonymous Survey and/or Interview!
Autoimmune Action & Advocacy (AAA) is working towards an initiative to add sharps disposal containers in commonly used bathrooms on and around campus. This would provide meaningful accessibility for the UIC community, as private injection and disposal spaces have been identified by community members as being especially important accessibility targets.
They are asking for feedback through a quick anonymous 5-minute survey, linked here. For individuals who would like to participate in a confidential interview about their experiences and perspectives, AAA is able to provide $25!
ICIRR Family Support Network Hotline Internship
The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) has an undergraduate internship opportunity with their Family Support Network Hotline! This internship offers students the chance to make a real impact by helping connect immigrant families to critical services, such as: Legal Assistance, Healthcare Referrals, Public Benefits, and Citizenship and DACA workshops.
Internship Details:
- Location: Hybrid/Remote (with option to work from downtown office)
- Hours: 10-25 hours per week (flexible scheduling)
- Compensation: Unpaid; College credit may be available
- Languages: The hotline operates in English and Spanish daily, with support in 8 additional languages on weekdays
- Availability: The hotline runs 7 days a week from 6am-9pm. Shifts are flexible.
For full internship details and further information, see the listing here.
Applications and inquiries can be directed to fsn@icirr.org to Xochitl Esparza.
Disability Justice in Nursing Education and Practice
Are you a multiply marginalized disabled nurse, nursing student, nurse educator, or nurse adjacent person? Are you committed to disability justice-focused political education, scholarship, organizing, art-making, mutual aid, and activism in nursing?
DNNSC is a nursing disability justice scholar-activist organization that focuses on disability justice political education, scholarship development, systems reimagination, subversive art-making, community-building, and mutual aid. We believe in the interconnectedness of material oppressions (ableism, racism, classism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, Islamophobia, ageism, fatphobia, etc.) and the power in cross-movement solidarity (disability justice working in partnership with justice movements that work toward Black liberation, Palestinian liberation, police and carceral abolition, reparations, fat liberation, queer and trans liberation, reproductive justice, indigenous sovereignty, climate justice, long covid justice, and immigration justice) through critical reflections on white supremacy, colonialism, and capitalism. We will engage in the works of critical disability scholars and disability justice activists including Akemi Nishida, Jasbir Puar, Margaret Price, Alison Kafer, Alice Wong, and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarsinha, among others.
If you are interested in joining the collective, please fill out this interest form!
For any questions, please reach out to DisabledNurse.NSC@gmail.com!
UIC Department of Rehabilitation Services
UIC is strengthening our connection with Illinois Department of Human Rehabilitation Services (DHS/DRS), and there are now DRS Counselors dedicated specifically to serving UIC students!