Impact
Chicago Dialogue Project
Problem Statement
The 2017 US Presidential election centered race and religion as defining and dividing forces in American society. With that backdrop, our Hub used 2017 to develop the Chicago Dialogue Project, an initiative designed to create awareness, spark dialogue, and promote education about some of the most pertinent issues impacting Chicago youth.
Target Group
Youth in Chicago
Proposed Solution
Create awareness, spark dialogue, and promote education about some of the most pertinent issues impacting Chicago youth through facilitated dialogues & resource guides.
Hub Activities
A yearlong series of facilitated discussions engaged Chicago teens on some of the most complex and divisive issues impacting their day-to-day, with conversations touching on community-police relations, immigration, and Islamophobia.
That's why we developed resource guides aimed at giving attendees a simple starting point. These resource guides were useful for students who want to learn about a topic and how to take action to improve their communities. Topics covered in resource guides were Community-Police Relations and Immigration.
Short & Long-Term Goals/Results
Our goal was to empower young people to open up about how these issues impact them and eventually work alongside peers to develop actionable steps to address and remedy these issues. While hosting conversations was important, we believed that our work wouldn't be complete if we didn't equip and inspire young people to take immediate action. Results: facilitated yearlong series of discussions & developed two resource guides.
Available Metrics
# of students engaged; events hosted; resource guides created
Collaborators
Northwestern Academy (at Northwestern University); Chicago Public Schools
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