Youth Services

• Club Learn

  Club Learn is a comprehensive, strength-based, child and youth development program that provides an increasing array of services designed to guide children ages 6 to 12 away from the pervasive gang, delinquency, and drug environment in this community.  The program achieves these goals by fostering positive personal and social attitudes and increasing their academic, recreational, athletic, and life skills. Club Learn provides a safe and caring setting for children to be creative, do their homework, make friends, and grow.

• Teen Connection

  Teen Connection is the Pilsen community’s first comprehensive, college preparatory program for underserved junior high and high school students. The program develops the skills young people need to get into college and to succeed once there. We focus on the academic and critical thinking skills as well as the development of a world view and love of civic engagement that will allow our students to compete in all areas of a college campus. The initial goal is to enable our youths to develop the grades and portfolio necessary to gain admittance to a college or university.  Our eventual goal is to help our kids develop all the skills they need to stay in college and graduate.

  The program is designed to develop future Latino leadership, which can effectively serve its community while contributing its talents to the larger society. Along with participating in trips outside their neighborhood and city, community service hours, and a summer enrichment program, each teen forms relationships with tutor/mentors from a broad variety of backgrounds. Many of these tutors are themselves college students who explain what college life is really like.  

• Primero La Ciencia
  
  Primero La Ciencia is a nationally recognized urban environmental science camp serving 40 middle school students.  In partnership with the Chicago Botanic Garden, students and their families explore environmental science and ecology through hands-on, field based research.