Chicago Citywide Youth Agenda

A citywide partnership to strengthen how Chicago supports children, youth, and young adults

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Chicago is a city of tremendous strengths and enduring challenges. It is home to world-class cultural institutions, leading universities, and a strong economic base in finance, manufacturing, transportation, and technology.

It also has a deep network of people and organizations working to help young people thrive. Across the city, public agencies, community organizations, schools, service providers, advocates, families, and young people themselves are already doing important work. At the same time, entrenched segregation, concentrated poverty, and health disparities continue to shape the lives of many children and families.

The challenge now is to connect this work more effectively. With support from the AIR Opportunity Fund, AIR is partnering with the City of Chicago to help build a shared citywide agenda for children, youth, and young adults. The goal is to better understand what young people need, strengthen coordination across the people and systems that serve them, and make support easier to navigate and more responsive to communities.

The work is citywide, with particular attention to Chicago’s West Side. AIR will provide research, data analysis, community engagement, and practical tools that can help City leaders and partners make decisions together. Over time, this work will help build a clearer picture of what resources already exist, where gaps remain, and how Chicago can strengthen support for young people and families.