Loyola University, in collaboration with the University of Illinois at Chicago, the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, proposes a planning project for an effort to broaden participation in computing among students in the densely populated Chicago metropolitan area. Proposed activities will focus on a coordinated effort at high school outreach: extensive metro-wide outreach to high schools growing out of a rich network of connections among college and high school students, faculty, and staff that includes an emphasis on interdisciplinary work as well as exposure to varied career paths, and community-building activities. Proposed activities are designed not only to cultivate a larger, stronger, and more diverse corps of computing professionals but also one that is more outward-looking and more service-oriented. This project is seen as the first step in building a larger Alliance.
