Illinois Youth Summit on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion
On April 22-24, 2022 representatives of the Statewide and Regional Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (IDCFS) Youth Advisory Boards (YAB) gathered in Gurnee, Illinois for a conference on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Be Strong Families’ EDI (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion) Manager, Alyssa Del Angel, kicked off the event by familiarizing the youth leaders with key definitions and facilitating a self-reflective activity around “identity”—encouraging youth to love all parts of themselves while exploring the negative and positive aspects of how one’s identity can be perceived by others. Alyssa provided a basic understanding of micro-aggressions before soliciting examples from youth and coaching on how to manage situations.
Following this, Dr. Shanta Robinson, assistant professor at the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, led two deep-dive workshops: the first on Navigating Challenging Conversations. This session provided participants with tools and techniques to positively engage in tough conversations around EDI, inequity, justice—including those involving subtle or overt racism, able-ism, sexism, or homophobia. Her second was a futuristic workshop called The Equitable Society. In this session, Dr. Robinson engaged participants in visioning what it would be like to live in a society where everyone had full access to resources to promote prosperity and success.
As a result of this conference and the information shared, participating youth leaders now have a deeper understanding of EDI as well as tools to support their work as an effective advisory board.
Illinois YAB was created by statute to give youth ages 14-21 in the care of IDCFS the opportunity to provide feedback on service delivery, programs, and policies that affect them, toward ensuring that all youth are optimally cared for and supported regardless of race, color, sex, national origin, ancestry, language, handicap/disability, or religion. Illinois YAB is committed to youth empowerment, development, leadership, and achievement. Recently, as an extension of the Illinois YAB, Youth Advisory Affinity Groups were formed to give voice to the equity, diversity, and inclusion issues that Illinois youth in care experience and to provide space for youth to learn about and embrace differences so that they will become inclusive leaders.
Since 2017, Be Strong Families has had the privilege of contracting with IDCFS to serve as adult partners with the youth leaders, coordinating and administering activities of the Illinois YAB.