Highlighting America’s 100 Best Communities for Young People
The 100 Best Communities for Young People competition honors outstanding efforts on behalf of young people by multiple sectors of communities. In cities, suburbs, small towns and counties across the country, this annual competition is leading communities to assess their efforts, work more effectively together for young people, and share best practices. Each week one of the 2007 100 Best Communities will be highlighted in the America’s Promise Bulletin and on our web site.
Chicago, Illinois
By Christopher Epps
The “Windy City” as it is often called, is located in northeastern Illinois adjacent to Lake Michigan. Named the best sports city in the United States by Sporting News in 2006, Chicago is home to 15 sports teams including the Cubs, Bulls, and Bears. Visitors and residents of this 100 Best community enjoy luxury shopping along the Magnificent Mile and dine at thousands of restaurants. One of the many “tastes of Chicago” is its infamous, deep dish pizza.
In addition to offering great excitement and entertainment, the city hosts several intellectual forums including two of the country’s top research universities, the University of Chicago and Northwestern University, and two major daily newspapers, the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times. The Loop, the historical center of downtown, is a major convention hub, housing the second largest central business district in the United States.
Chicago is also one of the nation’s most populated urban areas. As the largest city in the Midwest, the city also has a large number of issues affecting its youth—including a rising poverty rate, consistently higher than that of the state of Illinois.
The city’s leaders believe that providing social and educational services is only half the battle; strengthening the family unit, fostering partnerships and nurturing support systems are also key in promoting community-wide change. By providing programs in these areas, the city has seen positive results for children in the community.
Through collaborative efforts among various organizations, the city has increased immunization rates and decreased teen pregnancies, infant mortality, low birth weight, and abuse and neglect. The city’s revitalization efforts have provided children with access to new libraries and schools which directly correlates with access to quality education and out-of-school activities. These efforts have yielded improved reading and math performance, a great decline in youth engaging in high-risk behaviors and an increase in students’ assuming leadership responsibilities.
Other city-wide initiatives that led to this city’s selection as one of 100 Best include:
Chicago Workforce Board Youth Council helps develop career skills and competencies, supports positive adult-youth experiences, and enhances community relationships. The council implemented a career preparation model which focuses on general exposure programs, apprenticeships and paid internships. In addition, the model incorporates a “ladder of opportunity” which pairs vocational training and job-related responsibility with academic achievement.
Consortium to Lower Obesity in Chicago Children
(CLOCC). This nationally recognized prevention program aims to prevent childhood obesity by involving researchers, public health practitioners, the community and many others. In 2004-2005, the program spearheaded the development of a childhood obesity consensus agenda which, as a result, made Illinois the first state in the nation to develop a pediatric health surveillance system.
Don’t Write Me Off Campaign
: Through a collaboration of foster care agencies, two nonprofits and a local television station, this campaign’s goal was to increase recruitment of adult volunteers in foster care—supporting the positive development of some of the city’s most vulnerable young people. To date, agencies have reported a 10 percent increase in volunteers and the campaign hotline receives more than 80 calls monthly.