Greetings: Week of Jan. 16

This week on CU-CitizenAccess.org, a website and social network devoted to coverage and discussion of social and economic issues within Central Illinois:

Blog: Changing neighborhoods

The social architecture of neighborhoods plays an equally important role in quality of life as does physical architecture, one expert says.

Yet neighborhoods everywhere are undergoing changes both socially and physically as more and more families move away from their homes due to foreclosure and the economy converts once owner-occupied areas into transitional ones.

Over the next few months, CU-CitizenAccess.org is exploring housing in Champaign and Vermilion counties. To share your thoughts on your neighborhood, email us at hello@cu-citizenaccess.org or visit SkyChalk to find your neighborhood and write something about it.

Have you seen ... ?

News-Gazette: Changes in poverty and how schools are affected

Changes in poverty mean new challenges for school districts, local officials said, because students who live in poverty face obstacles like lack of medical and dental care. They may also move around more, have obligations to watch younger siblings after school and may not have access to homework help or a quiet place to study after school.

UI professor tackles obesity, diabetes in immigrant communities

Obesity is hitting Latino children in the United States harder than any other demographic, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Angela Wiley, a professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, is trying to curb that trend in immigrant communities living in Illinois. She heads the Up Amigos project, which looks at how biological, social, and environmental factors affect rates of obesity and diabetes. Illinois Public Radio's Rachel Otwell talks with Wiley about her research.

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