the hometown of Judge Abner Mikva and his wife Zoe Mikva, with the idea of opening up democratic spaces for youth living in under resourced neighborhoods and politically “insignificant” communities. Today, we bring programs and curriculum to young people across the state of Illinois.
Impacts in Illinois
Mikva Challenge IL provides in-school services to 185 middle and high school teachers in Chicago, Aurora & the Northwest suburbs, impacting over 10,200 youth annually.
2,500+ youth from across 70 schools created 100 unique community action projects that brings solutions to local issues.
Through our Citywide Youth Councils, 110 youth directly impacted major city institutions.
We engaged 185 teachers with high quality curriculum, events, and professional development opportunities.
Elections in Action program recruits and places more than 2,200 high school juniors and seniors as student election judges.
Mikva has two Chapters that serve as our model sites and innovation hubs. Our partner sites provide Mikva curricula, training, and strategic supports to school districts around the country.
Mikva for me woke that part of me that society tried to keep quiet and it gave me back that confidence…. It gave me that awareness to say, ‘hey just because you’re a student doesn’t mean you’re not entitled to having a voice.
Programs
We support educators and young people across the country with engaging curriculum and programming that helps youth develop skills and removes barriers to be involved community leaders.
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