The Southwest Youth Collaborative was formed in 1992 as part of the Chicago Community Trust’s Children, Youth and Families Initiative. It is a community-based network of youth and community development organizations serving African Americans, Arab Americans, Asian Americans, European Americans, Native American and Latino children, youth and families living in the West Englewood, Chicago Lawn, Gage Park, West Lawn and West Elsdon neighborhoods.

Since beginning its work in 1992, the Southwest Youth Collaboration has created a network of services with community oversight and made a difference in the quality of life for children, youth and families in the Southwest side of Chicago. Our youth and family centers have provided low income and working parents and guardian’s opportunities for positive youth development. We serve thousands of youth yearly, either through our sports programs of soccer, basketball, and karate or through our after school tutoring, recreation, University of Hip Hop and our leadership development institute, youth employment and Scholarship programs. Furthermore, through our advocacy work we have gained victories in the area of summer jobs for youth, juvenile justice advocacy, and the Right to Learn Campaign around Zero Tolerance policies and school suspensions.

The Southwest Youth Collaborative (SWYC) strives to represent the community through various venues. This includes the Board of Directors—the governing body of our organization. We are proud to have both youth and adults representing the geographical areas of our communities, in addition to representing our racial and ethnic residents. We provide an array of services for youth and families, and have created partnerships with communities, community organizations, religious institutions, businesses, police, universities, schools, parks and other institutions to enhance the delivery of services to youth and families. Furthermore, we believe organizing our community residents to have a voice and impact on social policy affecting children, youth and families is fundamental to our mission.