Like this award's honored namesake, Robert ?Bob? E. Rashkin is an oral and written wordsmith, a local historian, and ?a prominent son? of the City of Kankakee. Over the years he has worked creatively and diligently to bring the public humanities to Kankakee's diverse community. In 1999, he co-founded a program called the ?Living & Learning Lecture Series? at the Kankakee Area YMCA. Today the series offers nine high-quality public humanities programs to local audiences, free of charge. Each program endeavors to enrich understanding, reflection, and discussion of history and culture?local and beyond?among the wide economic, scholastic, ethnic, and geographic communities that the City of Kankakee and the Kankakee Area YMCA embrace. During the first of his 3 years as chair of the series, Mr. Rashkin pulled together a varied group of individuals to serve on the planning committee. He prepared press releases for local radio stations and newspapers and invited the editors to send a reporter to cover the presentation. For each program, he designed and printed up to five hundred flyers and mailed or hand-delivered them to local businesses, churches, and other organizations?any venue with the medium to post them. What's more, he arranged for a volunteer to video each program, got copies to the two local cable stations, and convinced them to air the presentations on a regular basis. Mr. Rashkin is a well-educated, well-traveled, and well-informed man. But most of all he is well-intentioned. He has a heartwarming desire to share the scope of his knowledge and adventures with the young and young-at-heart.
Select Illinois Humanities Council programs are now available for listening or download at Chicago Public Media (WBEZ) as a part of Chicago Amplified, a web-based audio library of diverse public events recorded throughout the Chicago region.
