PETER BENKENDORF,  FOUNDER
Peter Benkendorf has spent the past 33 years fostering imagination, connectivity and action. A highly conceptual thinker, catalyst and implementer, his experience spans brand development, product development, marketing, and civic engagement in the corporate, advertising, consulting, and community sectors.

In 1992, Benkendorf founded the non-profit organization Involvement Advocacy (under which the Collaboratory operates) in Chicago to help citizens develop opportunities fundamental to addressing systemic community needs. Inspired by two tragic shootings, Involvement Advocacy’s first initiative, “Sister Neighborhoods,” which received national recognition, brought together residents of the north shore suburb of Winnetka and the infamous public housing community of Cabrini-Green, much to the dismay of nearly everyone. A number of exchanges and programs took place, however the one project that took hold from this unusual collaboration was the establishment of the resident-run Voices of Cabrini, which for its four years of publication was the only community newspaper in Chicago public housing.

Through Voices of Cabrini, which received national recognition for highlighting the positive activities taking place in the community, residents were trained in writing and interviewing techniques, project management, desktop publishing and advertising sales. A number of people working on the paper were able to gain full- or part-time employment and the paper was self-supporting over its four-years of publication. However, at a higher level, hundreds of people of all ages from throughout the community who had never been heard took advantage of an opportunity to share something important and begin to make a difference.

After relocating to Dayton, Ohio in late 2008, Benkendorf returned to his urban roots that gave rise to Involvement Advocacy. In addition to relocating Blue Sky, an international summer artist residency and youth collaborative, Involvement Advocacy has originated more than a dozen initiatives, including the Ten Living Cities symposium in 2009, the TECH-ARTS Collaboration, “Dayton, Ohio: You Are Here!” an insurgent civic pride campaign, 3rd Sundays at Front Street, a monthly eclectic outdoor market catalyzing retail and residential activity on East Third Street, the Dayton Sewing Collaborative, and the Community of Well-Being Initiative in partnership with Gallup, Inc. and the Rickter Scale.