Every year we like to send our youth back to school prepared – mentally, emotionally, and with a backpack of essentials! For the sixth year in a row, volunteers from Winston and Strawn joined us and Back2School Illinois to build 300 back to school kits for our youth – doubling their amount of kits lasts… Read more »
ViewIn honor of our 150th anniversary, UCAN and Zack Schrantz, our President/CEO, is celebrating amazing employees, youth and volunteers with a special UCAN 150th President’s Coin to honor them for their spirit, service and teamwork to ensure that we achieve our vision and mission. Zack wanted to highlight some of our amazing UCAN family for… Read more »
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Since 2013, the Diermeier Future Leaders Now Program (DFLN) has celebrated the DFLN Institute’s graduates along with UCAN’s ‘Youth of the Month’ winners at a summer bash attended each year by staff and youth from various programs.
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Not only is it our 150th anniversary, but this year marked 20 years of the Youth Leadership Awards! We always wonder if can get better, but every year our Youth Leadership Awards raises the bar. We appreciate those who attended and our fantastic sponsors who contributed to this inspiring event that raised over $900,000 for UCAN’s… Read more »
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In this series, youth poised to be Chicago’s future leaders (UCAN program participants and recent alumni) interview current Chicago leaders in their fields of interest. Finance, the future of Chicago, and how young people from any background can find a career. In this episode of our interview series, Yusuf Aljabri, a UCAN participant and aspiring… Read more »
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Things that turn 150 years old in 2019: The Periodic Table Professional baseball UCAN! We happen to think UCAN is as innovative and original as our 150 year-old compatriots. But how does one innovatively celebrate such a milestone? We kicked off our celebrations exactly 150 days prior to our birthday with the launch of a… Read more »
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“Today we are celebrating Dr. King while also coming out to support our community,” said Nadine Toussaint, a student at UIC.
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At the very core of UCAN is youth development. It’s the underlying constant within each program, and of the tools used to support their development, mentoring remains one of the strongest and most effective. “Mentor” can mean someone who you look up to or someone you aspire to be. It can be someone who pushes… Read more »
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UCAN offers services that focus on mental health, from traditional therapy to expressive acting and art programs, but healing is at common theme in our programming. UCAN Survive is a new program funded via a ICJIA (Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority)/VOCA (Victims of Crime Act) grant that is dedicated to healing and supporting victims or… Read more »
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