Youth and Education                      

Access Living recognizes that today's youth with disabilities are tomorrow's disability rights leaders.  The Youth and Education Team's mission is to develop new leaders in the Disability Rights movement who:

*take pride in themselves and their accomplishments;

*find options and meaningful choices to live, learn and work in their communities;

*develop self-advocacy skills to fight discrimination; and 

*develop skills and opportunities to have a voice in decisions that affect them.  

Some direct services provided by the Youth and Education Team include: 

• Youth Access Project.  This new project reaches out to young people with disabilities of transition age (13-30).  The Youth Leadership Coordinator coordinates self-advocacy sessions at schools bases on materials developed through Access Living's Youth Leadership Projects.  Topics include disability history, housing, voting, marriage rights and accessing community services. The goal is to empower youth with real skills they will need to make life choices.  

• Access Living is offering a new session of the YIELDD the Power! Youth Leadership project, geared toward young people with disabilities ages 16-24.  The project will run on Thursdays from 4 to 6:30 pm starting March 6 through June 26.  There will be an orientation on March 1 from 11:30 to 1:30 that both parents and youth can attend.  This project is FREE and located at Access Living, 115 W. Chicago Avenue. 
   
  The goal of this workshop is to empower youth to advocate for themselves in real life, and also to teach skills to make change in our community.  Past graduates of this workshop have become both successful self-advocates and systems advocates.  Participants experience increased self-esteem over the course of this workshop because of bonding with other youth and being empowered to take action on their own issues.
  
  
   
  To learn more about YIELDD online, visit http://www.alyouthinfo.org/YIELDD_the_Power!.html. 
   

• Advance Youth Leadership Power (AYLP).  Youth leaders ages 16-30 join AYLP to make a difference.  Members work on campaigns to change our communities.  Our latest campaign is to save the special education budget in the Chicago Public Schools.  AYLP has weekly meetings at Access Living.  

• The Empowered Fe Fe's, a support group of young women with disabilities who meet once a month to discuss issues related to sexuality; relationships and self-esteem.

• The Transitions to Independence Program, which works one-on-one with high school age youth who have disabilities to teach them independent living skills.

• D.U.D.E.S - Disabilities United Through Determination, Education and Strength.  Once a month, young men with disabilities ages 17-30 get together to talk about stuff that's on their minds.  To learn more, contact Devon Whitmore at Access Living.  

• Education Policy - Our work to ensure public schools offer equal opportunity to students with disabilities. 

In August of 2007, Access Living's Youth and Education Team, with funding support from the Administration of Developmental Disabilities, opened the Youth Center, a project specifically geared toward young Chicagoans with disabilities.  

The new Youth Center:  

• Informs youth and our supports on Chicago area advocacy resources,

• Connects young Chicagoans with disabilities tips on how to advocate for yourself and gives roads to national disability rights,

• Provides advice and stories about real-world disability experience to young people,

• Gives youth the low-down on happenings in Chicago,

• Tells our visitors about Access Living youth programs

• Plus, shares information on grassroots organizing for the rights of youth with disabilities

You can visit the center at:  http://www.alyouthinfo.org/