THE DAILY ILLINI
MONDAY December 9, 2019
The independent student newspaper at the University of Illinois since 1871
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Vol. 149 Issue 29
Hygiene drive aids charity BY KIMBERLY BELSER STAFF WRITER
BRIAN BAUER THE DAILY ILLINI
Buildings line Green Street on Sunday. As a result of the growing housing market in C-U, students have speculated how rent prices will be affected.
High-rises impact supply, demand BY HEATHER ROBINSON STAFF WRITER
A new apartment called “The Dean” is currently under construction in the center of Campustown. With a surplus of apartments already available in Champaign, student living is expected to be impacted. According to the building permit, the estimated $50 million-valued project will be 17 stories tall with 320 units. The apartment projects completion by August 2020, just in time for movein week. Due to the oversupply of
housing, there remains a high rate of vacancy in local apartments, in which landlords have responded to by calling for decreased taxes. T.J. Blakeman, senior planner for economic development for the City of Champaign, said the project will certainly contribute to the overall property tax base. The city will receive a portion of that property tax, while all other taxing districts — schools, transit, parks, community college, public health, forest preserve and so on — receive the other share.
“Other benefits to the tax base include increased commercial activity in Campustown by the new residents living in proximity to Campustown businesses,” Blakeman said. “Additionally, a new Target will be located on the ground floor, so that will add a new component of retail to Campustown, and with it, the potential for new sales tax growth.” On social media, students have been discussing the possibility of lowered rents SEE HIGH-RISES | 3A
MARK CAPAPAS THE DAILY ILLINI
Construction for “The Dean” sits on the corner of Green and Sixth streets on Sunday.
Organizations around the University contributed their efforts to a Sanitary Products Drive, where hygiene products were collected to be donated to a local charity organization. “Join Women of Color as we make a difference by donating sanitary products to Courage Connection!” read a Twitter post by Women of Color. “All donations will be given to individuals in need around the community. We will have a representative from the Women’s Resources Center to talk with us about domestic violence.” Erin Smith, sophomore in LAS and president of Women of Color, said the drive was her idea, but everyone played a part. A flyer posted around social media indicated that organizations including UIUC MAPS, Reaching Across Classes, the African Cultural Association, Moda Bellissima, WORD, Iota Phi Theta Fraternity, Black Students for Revolution and Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Inc. participated in the drive. Smith said she came up with the idea to have the Sanitary Products Drive, getting connected to the resources, donating them, getting the speaker and “kind of organizing things from there.” “I wanted to host this event because Women of Color is really big on community service and giving back and uplifting women around the community, and I felt that supplying them with the supplies they would need for a naturally occurring thing would really help benefit them,” Smith said. Smith said the donated items will be going to Courage Connection, an organization which “provides housing and supportive services to individuals and families who are victims of domestic violence,” according to the Courage Connection website. A representative from the Women’s Resources Center also attended the event to give a presentation on domestic violence. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website, about one in four women and one in seven men have reported
Center for Disease Control reports on domestic violence One in five women and one in seven men have reported experiencing severe physical violence by a partner in their lifetime.
10% of women and 2% of men have experienced stalking by a partner.
About 41% of female intimate partner violence survivors and 14% of male IPV survivors experience some form of physical injury related to IPV.
CASSIDY BRANDT THE DAILY ILLINI
experiencing “severe physical violence by a partner during their lifetime.” She said she hopes the drive will “do a little bit” just by letting women know they do have support within the community, on- and offcampus, and if they ever need supplies, the University will always be here to help. Serena Mitchell, sophomore in ACES and publicity chair for RACSs, said the organization attended the drive to support Women of Color. “They’re trying to put on an event that helps women and girls and provide sanitary products, and then we’re going to be here for a presentation on domestic violence,
so we’re really just here for support and letting them know that we support the movement, that we support their (organization),” Mitchell said. She said Women of Color reached out to RACs and asked if they were interested in collaborating for the event. Mitchell said RACs thought it was for a good cause and provided a good message, so they wanted to be a part of it. “I always want to volunteer, I want to do anything I can to help out, especially being a part of a mentoring org, we try to set the example, and kind of just show people SEE HYGIENE | 3A
Startup weekend inspires Midwestern student entrepreneurs BY ETHAN SIMMONS SENIOR REPORTER
On March 23, 2017, Mark Van den Avont, junior in Engineering, broke his spine in a gymnastics accident. It was his parents’ anniversary. The mat he landed on was not sufficient to break his fall. Seven months later, Van den Avont founded HexNest, a startup aiming to create sports mats far safer than the foam standard. “It was a nightmare for other people around me, and the big thing was that foam didn’t keep me safe and doesn’t keep other people safe,” Van den Avont said during his presentation. Last month, Van den
Avont walked up to accept the $1,500 first prize at Forge Startup Weekend. Student entrepreneurs from 18 midwestern Universities attended the studentrun Forge Startup Weekend, put together by Illinois entrepreneurship organization Founders. Held Nov. 9 and 10 at TechNexus in Chicago, 47 student startup teams pitched their businesses to six venture capitalist judges, after two days of mentorship sessions and guest speaker panels. Brad Schnitzer, program manager at Chicago startup accelerator Techstar, served on the judge panel for Forge. Through the evaluation process, Schnitzer empha-
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sized the idea of finding the customer’s “pain point.” Schnitzer said HexNest had it down pat. “He is going to solve this problem regardless if this is a million-dollar, multimillion-dollar business because he has this pain and he doesn’t want it to happen again to somebody else,” Schnitzer said. “If there’s a big enough pain, people are going to pay for it.” Despite his recent string of success, HexNest’s founder is fixed on the future. “This has been a great weekend for us and is really energizing for what we’re doing,” Von den Avont said. “But we have a lot of goals for engineering right now — very ambitious goals — and we are recruiting for an underclassman to fill out our market research team.” Forge isn’t HexNest’s first go-around. HexNest won second place at last year’s Cozad New Venture Challenge, receiving $10,000 to jump-start their business. HexNest also made the 2018-19 cohort for iVenture Accelerator, a Gies Business function that gives consultation and resources to rising student startups. Ian Huntley handles the marketing side of HexNest.
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ETHAN SIMMONS THE DAILY ILLINI
A group of Midwestern students listen to a panel of venture capitalists at the Forge Startup Weekend. Mark Van den Avont, junior in Engineering, received first prize at the event.
Huntley, who earned his MBA from the University in May, said the HexNest team’s presentation skills have polished with time. “This time we wanted to come out the gate with a fresh new look, fresh new
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branding,” Huntley said. “Part of it was presenting ourselves to show that we’re evolving and we’re ready for that next step of growing.” HexNest impressed Schnitzer with their attention to detail. HexNest has
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headquarters in the basement of an Urbana office building and has done a great deal of customer discovery already, Schnitzer said. SEE STARTUP | 3A
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