Youth Summit
The Youth Summit was a recommendation brought forth by the City Staff Youth Team through the Youth Engagement Initiative that was approved by the City Council.
We utilized a wide range of strategies to encourage participation in the Summit including:
•Flyer distribution to Alderman, youth programs, youth service providers and the high school
•Daily announcements at the high school the week leading up to the Summit.
•Utilized youth social networking websites for publicity
•ETHS newspaper article
•Highlights article
•Press release and coverage in the Evanston Review and Roundtable
•Direct recruitment at the high school
STATUS
Approximately 60-70 Evanston teens, 20 Northwestern students, 15 or so adult volunteers and representatives from PEER Services, Y.O.U, Family Focus, BEHIV, Oakton Community College, Community Defender, YMCA, Youth Job Center, Boocoo, Connections for the Homeless, District 202 and the Evanston Police Youth Division participated in the Evanston Youth Summit. Participants each chose one topic to discuss throughout the day led by an “expert” facilitator from the community. During the fall, Ms. McCorkle, five ETHS students and two Northwestern students devised and distributed over 1000 surveys at the high school to discover the top issues youth want to discuss at the Summit. The ten topics that emerged from the survey included: Gang Alternatives, Sexual Education, Drug, Alcohol and Tobacco Awareness, Youth and Jobs, Racial Segregation and Diversity, Teen Social Center, Community Safety and Police Relations and the Education System.
Participants enjoyed a free breakfast and lunch, listened to keynote speaker Ra Joy, Executive Director of the Illinois Arts Alliance, participated in interactivity games and icebreakers, had chances to win raffle prizes that were donated by local Evanston business, participated in an interactive mural and enjoyed the performances of two local youth groups from the high school at the conclusion of the event.
During the small group work facilitators led discussions related to their topics and asked participants to share their experiences concerning the topic and to brainstorm possible solutions to such topics. Participants engaged in discussion around such questions as:
What are some of your thoughts about Evanston’s diversity? What are the positive aspects? What are the negative aspects?
Why do think young people join gangs? Do gangs affect girls and boys the same?
Do you think the issues of gangs and gang violence is fueled/ glorified by the media, popular music, and movies?
Is there a racial divide in Evanston? Why do you think this exists? Is it a bad or good thing or both?
What are some of the challenges and barriers with getting into college today?
How early do think students need to start preparing for college?
What are the community safety concerns and challenges at the high school and in Evanston?
How do you think young people perceive the police in Evanston?
What are some of the drug and alcohol related challenges for young people?
Are there different expectations for certain students? Why or why not?
What are some of the factors outside of school that make students successful? Do you think students who participate in outside activities do better in school?
Do you think one teen center for young people would be a good idea? Or do you think individual programs throughout the city would better serve youth?
Do you feel comfortable talking about issues of Sexual Education with your friends? Your parents? Other adults?
Based on the challenges and issues we discussed, what is our “realistic” dream for Evanston in dealing with gangs and gang alternatives?
How can we, as young people, make these things happen?
What assets do we have in the community to make this happen?
At the conclusion of the Summit, each group had the opportunity to share with the entire Summit the ideas and solutions that they came up with as a group. A summary of each group’s input can be found at the end of this document.
Participants filled out an evaluation and an asset inventory at the end of the Summit. Based on the overall feedback from the evaluations, participants viewed the Summit extremely favorably. The Summit received an overall 4.6/5 rating and every person who filled out a survey indicated that the Summit was a worthwhile experience that should be done next year.
