Youth Policymaking Councils Make Recommendations to City, CPS Officials

The Mikva youth policymaking councils on Teen Health and Youth Safety made their public policy recommendations to Mary Ellen Caron, the Commissioner of the Chicago Department of Children and Youth Services (at right), and other City officials on August 15 at the Garfield Park Conservatory.

Both councils have been working intensively over the summer to craft concrete recommendations that they hope will improve city policies on health and safety issues that significantly impact youth.  The Teen Health Council pitched recommendations that focused, among other things, on anger and stress management for students and how to encourage better nutrition among city teens.  The Youth Safety Council recommended implementing system-wide conflict mediation training for high school teachers and improving student-police relationships by inviting school safety officers to participate in positive after school activities.

Mikva's Education Council has also spent the summer developing a new list of policy recommendations for Chicago Public Schools officials on how to improve student-teacher relationships.  They will present their work to all CPS high school principals on August 26 and will lead their third annual CPS security guard training on August 29.

To read the council reports on Teen Health, Youth Safety and Education, click here.