Latest Updates for UC Smiles

UC Smiles is boosting!

As of April 11, more than $23,000 turns into UC Smiles since Nov.1st, 2012

Now, we have 77 business stores that accept UC Smiles!

Welcome News UC Smiles Local Stores

Circles Boutique
Le Shoppe
Express Print Center
Art Theater
Bent Bean Chocolatier

UC Smiles Cooking Event (April 20th, Sat. 2013)

If you are interested in exploring Indian food, attend the UC Smiles cooking event on April 20th (2PM-5PM). We will be learning how to prepare various dishes that you can cook in your own kitchen. The participation fee is just 10 Smiles. We look forward to seeing you!

Registration: ucsmilesforyou@gmail.com

Focal Point Research Symposium (May 10, Fri. 11AM)

Place: Suite 2000, Social Work Building, 1010 W. Nevada, Urbana, IL 61801

Contact: Seon Mi Kim (kim517@illinois.edu, 217-390-71

We invite you to a symposium in order to discuss the research outcomes and to share your experiences of the UC Smiles movement in the Urbana Champaign community.

Thank you so much—we look forward to your participation

Focal Point Research Team of UC Smiles

When: May 10th (Friday) 11am-1pm
Venue: Suite 2000, Social Work Building (1010 W. Nevada, IL 61801).

Symposium Agenda

Presentation:
- Implications of major local currency movements in the U.S., U.K., and Canada for the UC Smiles project
o Seon Mi Kim (Ph. D Candidate, School of Social Work, UIUC)
- Results of the evaluation of the UC Smiles pilot project
o Chi-Fang Wu (Associate professor, School of Social Work, UIUC)
o Seonhee Jeong (Assistant Professor, Business, Wittenberg University)
Discussion moderated by Benjamin Lough (Assistant Professor, School of Social Work, UIUC)

UC Smiles News on ABC News, WCID CH 15

UC Smiles Brings Local $ To Local Economy

(click the above link to see the Top story of UC Smiles)

A CHALLENGE!

Let's see if we can get pictures of the posters for the kids to see. If you take the bus and can take pictures, send them to us via e-mail or post them on our facebook pages. There are a total of 91 posters on the MTD buses. We will make copies of there and take them to the school.

UC Smiles: The Perfect Gift

With the holiday shopping season in full swing what better present to give than UC Smiles! Rather than buying a gift card that can only be used at one place or purchasing some generic item at the big box stores, UC Smiles make the perfect gift for friends and family and can be used at over 50 stores and restaurants. They'll be able to find tons of unique local items, food, and services guaranteed to satisfy everyone's interests. By giving someone UC Smiles not only are you making them happy, you're also strenghthening the local community. By shopping locally with Smile you're helping boost the economy of the UC community, reducing your carbon footprint, and fostering the collaborative community culture.

Let people know that these will make fantastic gifts—-better than gift certificates because now they are able to be used at more than 72 stores, and many of those stores offer nice discounts when using UC Smiles! Business owners, any of you can also sell Smiles you have to customers. You can advertise or just wait for customers to ask. Please keep track of Smiles you sell. Please check out the growing list of business members here.

Your participation can bring more Smiles to our community!

Bringing More Smiles to UC: Smiles have been printed

UC Smiles have been printed--$97,000 worth! Many people have already obtained their own Smiles at our opening party at the IMC last weekend, and if you missed that, Smiles can be obtained regularly at both International Galleries and Strawberry Fields.

Smiles went into circulation on November 1st (2012), and we hope to see more and more smiles throughout the Urbana-Champaign community!

Left: UC Smiles Directors Tracy Satterthwaite and Seonmi Kim take newly printed Smiles to saftey deposit boxes at the bank.
Right: Newly printed smiles, printed by Dixon Graphics.