Spirit of Youth Award Winner—Edward Wiertel, Jr.

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CYC announces its 2014 Spirit of Youth Award winner, CYC’s 2010-12 Board chair, Ed Wiertel. Ed has been a CYC board member for 10 years, and served in various leadership roles on the Board of Directors. He is passionately committed and his leadership embodies CYC’s mission, vision, pillars and values. The Spirit of Youth Award is CYC’s highest honor; and is awarded annually to acknowledge those who have demonstrated a commitment to the children of CYC and the greater Chicago community.

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EY Steps Up for Kids Once Again

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EY-DePaul-recruitment EY recently held a recruitment event at DePaul University that also offered DePaul students the opportunity to participate in a community engagement activity benefiting Chicago Youth Centers (CYC).  For the past 57 years, CYC has provided assistance to youth in underserved Chicago communities, including offering children the opportunity to attend summer camp. At the recruitment event, DePaul students packed camp necessities into duffle bags that will be presented to 120 children attending s Camp Rosenthal this summer.

“CYC is one of the few youth organizations in Chicago to still have a fully operational camp as part of our mission,” said Charlie Pikul, Assurance Business Development Executive and CYC corporate board member. “We believe getting our children away from the city and providing activities that help develop important skills for success is life-changing.”

Charlie and Scott Merrow, CYC Senior Vice President of Program Development and Operations, spoke on behalf of the organization at the event. Special thanks to Katy Elliott and Molly Cook for helping to coordinate the community engagement activity.Ernst & Young

Experian

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Thank you once again to the Experian Team! On Thursday, February 27th, Experian Employees, Paulan Maravilla and David Shubert, dropped off a whole car-load of wonderful brand-new board games, school supplies and sporting equipment.  These donations were distributed among CYC Centers- Elliott Donnelley Youth Center,  Fellowship House, Rebecca Crown and ABC/Polk Bros, Camp Rosenthal, CYC-21st Century Programs and the ESI Program.  CYC thanks Experian and CYC Board Members Judy Macior and Rick Erwin for their ongoing support, their stellar corporate citizenship,  and for making such a difference for CYC Kids!

Polk Bros Foundation

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Polk Bros Foundation grant generously supports Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) programs and growth.  CYC is grateful to have the generous support of the Polk Bros Foundation.  The foundation has been a funding partner to CYC for a number of years; and their support has had a significant impact on our ability to grow both our impact and our outcomes.  We are extremely proud to have this support which allows us to continue to increase CYC’s capacity to help put kids on a strong path to success and impact generational cycles of poverty and violence.  

The Foundation’s Mission

The Polk Bros. Foundation seeks to improve the quality of life for the people of Chicago. We partner with local nonprofit organizations that work to reduce the impact of poverty and provide area residents with better access to quality education, preventive health care and basic human services. Through our grantmaking, we strive to make Chicago a place where all people have the opportunity to reach their full potential.

Believe in Kids Dinner

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About the Believe in KidsDinner

The theme for this year’s Believe in Kids Dinner is Empowering Generations. The Honorary Chairs are Prue and Frank Beidler and Jay Beidler and his wife Deborah Witzburg. The Beidler Family represents two generations of one family dedicated to Chicago Youth Centers (CYC), and service to this community. Our dinner is the centerpiece of CYC’s fundraising events.

Held on Wednesday, April 23rd in the ballroom of the Standard Club, the evening will begin at 6:00 p.m. with a cocktail reception and the program and dinner at 7:00 p.m. This year’s program will feature Wes Moore as the keynote speaker. Mr. Moore is the critically acclaimed author of The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates. For more information about the dinner or to become a sponsor, please contact Vakarie Christian,Vakarie.christian@chicagoyouthcenters.org, or 312-913-1700 Ext. 424 If you cannot attend the event but would like to show your support, click here to make a donation to CYC.

The event features a Silent Auction. The auction will include vacations, sporting packages and more. It will also feature a unique opportunity to directly support our Program Wish List that includes: sending kids to camp, providing program supplies and helping to support the greatest needs of our kids and centers.

About Our Speaker

Wes Moore is an American success story and a born leader—but he wasn't always on the path to achievement. Raised in a single-parent household in Baltimore with his sisters, Moore was drawn toward trouble as a child, enough so that his mother eventually enrolled him in a Pennsylvania military school. This single, determined choice effectively changed the course of her son's life.
Click here for a preview of Mr. Moore speaking.

About your Investment in CYC

Support for the Believe in Kids dinner will have a meaningful impact on programs at our seven community centers and Camp Rosenthal in Dowagiac, MI. More than 85% of every dollar raised at the dinner directly benefits our kids, families and communities.

About Chicago Youth Centers

Our Mission: Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) invests in youth in underserved communities in Chicago to help them discover and realize their full potential.
Our Vision: CYC helps develop successful kids in Chicago’s underserved communities by helping them break out of the generational cycles of poverty and violence.
Our Pillars: Our strategic pillars are founded on the core principals of surrounding kids with the social capital they need to be successful—safe spaces, family engagement and community engagementand providing them with the skills they need to be successful—knowledge, access, involvement, choices.
1. Match our programming to the true needs of our kids and communities
2. Provide a coordinated continuum of support and programming.
3. Build 21st Century life and learning skills
4. Engage and train parents to support their transitions at critical social/emotional and academic transitions
5. Continuously measure and improve our outcomes
Our Values: To be Fiscally Sound, Maintain the Highest Standard of Ethics, Chicago Centric, Prevention Focused and Develop effective and meaningful Partnerships & Collaborations.

About the Audience

Approximately 400 corporate, civic and community leaders attend this event annually.

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Bank of America Chicago Marathon

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[soliloquy id="1856"]The Bank of America Chicago Marathon was held on Sunday, October 13. CareerBuilder, supported by CYC Board member Brian Donahue, sponsored a team of 23 runners who participated in the marathon and had a goal of raising $30,000 for CYC. Kelly Cass, was the first place finished among the women. Her time of 4:24:22 led her to an overall place of 18,517 in the race and 6,218 among the female runners! Among the men, Scott Laumann completed the course in 2:54:07! He came in 512 overall and 460 among the men. Kelly and Scott and all of the runners deserve a big round of applause for their hard work! The event was a tremendous success and the CareerBuilder team was successful in their goals of completing the marathon and in raising much needed funds for CYC!