IMAN Youth Council - History

The IMAN Youth Council (IYC) began in late 2007 out of a summer-long research and needs-assessment program entitled Blue Prints. During the Blue Prints internship, twelve youth organized around issues such as violence, drug abuse and teen pregnancy. Among the twelve individuals, some interns felt particularly passionate about carrying out the same work that was done during the program in a more formalized setting. Therefore, we came up with the IMAN Youth Council, also known as IYC. As a Council, we are involved in leadership workshops, mentor programs, criminal justice reform, immigration reform, human rights conferences and educational issues. Overall, our mission is to provide a space to discuss the various problems and difficulties youth face on the Southwest Side of Chicago, and find ways to creatively tackle these issues as individuals and together as a Council. In addition to this, the Council was created as a way to harbor strong relationships, and engage ourselves in various projects – from Arts & Culture to Project Restore – together in order to build an everlasting youth-lead foundation that can serve as an agent of change for a better tomorrow. 

IMAN Youth Council - Mission

The IMAN Youth Council (IYC) and its members play many different roles and accomplish many different tasks in IMAN.  In addition to being an active member of the IMAN organization as a whole, each Youth Council member has the responsibility to reach out and set an example for the youth that come or will come through IMAN’s doors.  Our funding, which comes from an organization named the Cricket Island Foundation, supports our efforts to incorporate and involve youth in the IMAN organization, and in aiding other youth.  Due to the fact that the fact that no one is young forever, everyone in the Youth Council will have to eventually leave.  So the Youth Council, along with other programs established at IMAN, must continually train a certain number of youth to enter the IYC, in order to replace members leaving the council.  This will, if the tradition is continued, create a functioning and lasting Youth Council.  The Youth Council’s role, in addition to programming specific to the youth, is, also, to provide a youth perspective and youth incorporative approach to many of the ideas, initiatives and events within IMAN.  Finally, another function of the Youth Council is to simply ensure a youth presence within the IMAN organization and community, which is critical because of the great importance of the youth presence within any community.