Sample Invitation Letter
"I am writing to invite you into a process which I think holds great promise for our city. Imagine Chicago is about to begin its first series of Chicago conversations, in which we hope you will participate. The intent is to get Chicagoans thinking and talking with each other, across generations, about their Chicago stories and hopes, in a way which inspires collaborative action.
Picture Ma and Pa Streeter’s makeshift wooden shack where the Hancock building now stands. Think of those whose dreams for Chicago became reality. Aaron Montgomery Ward, who fought hard to keep the lakefront clear of any building or obstacle that would make it inaccessible to citizens... the designers of the Columbian Exposition of 1893, who wanted to showcase this city’s pride, power, and hope for the future... Jane Addams, who saw the possibility of building urban community and including those who had been left out... Nancy Jefferson, who helped people make and claim their place in the city... What a long way we have come because of many people’s visions for, and commitment to, the future of the city of Chicago.
What are your own hopes for this city? What are you in the process of helping to create? What are your thoughts about the city as you walk along the lakefront or listen to the Symphony? What has been the high point of your life in Chicago and why? What do you plan to do to make the city better than it already is? What do you want to leave for the next generation of citizens?
We are especially hopeful that you, who have been a keeper of the city’s promise, will share your Chicago visions and experiences with a young person who is eager to listen to and learn from your experience. Your doing so will encourage and inspire those who are committing themselves to this volunteer civic process, grounded in hope and personal accountability.
I will call in a few days to seek a 45 minute appointment for a young adult to engage you in a conversation about Chicago. We hope you will have time to share your images and ideas with us."
Imagine Chicago
Intergenerational Interview Questions
(1993-1994)
1. How long have you lived in Chicago? In this community?
a. What first brought your family here?
b. What is it like for you to live in this community?
2. When you think about the whole city of Chicago, what particular places, people or images represent the city to you?
3. Thinking back over your Chicago memories, what have been real high points for you as a citizen of this city?
4. Why did these experiences mean so much to you?
5. How would you describe the quality of life in Chicago today?
6. What changes in the city would you most like to see?
a. What do you imagine your own role might be in helping to make this happen?
b. Who could work with you?
7. Close your eyes and imagine Chicago as you most want it to be in a generation from now. What is it like? What do you see and hear? What are you proudest of having accomplished?
8. As you think back over this conversations, what images stand out for you as capturing your hopes for this city’s future?
9. What do you think would be an effective process for getting people across the city talking and working together on behalf of Chicago’s future? Whom would you want to draw into Chicago conversation?
Be patient toward all that is unresolved in your heart...
Try to love the questions themselves...
Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given because you would not be able to live them -
and the point is to live everything.
Live the questions now.
Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answers.
- Rainer Maria Rilke