Gary Comer Youth Center

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To everyone who joined us for “Preserving Our History”, we thank you! This program would not have been possible without our partners, incredible panelist speakers, and the community — each of you made this day an unforgettable one! Let’s continue to uplift each other, celebrate, and preserve the histories of our culture, families, and beyond. Proof of our existence matters. Happy Black History Month!?? A special thank you to — University of Chicago Library Black Metropolis Research Consortium Semicolon Bookstore The DuSable Museum Power 92 Chicago Boost Mobile BLK MKT Vintage (Kiyanna and Jay Handy) South Side Community Art Center (Jada-Amina Harvey and LaMar Gayles) Dilla Vic Mensa Niehla Ollie of Homegirl's Hummus Planks & Pistils Kite Hill Foods Lesser Evil Snacks Simple Mills

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We're so excited to announce our upcoming Black History Month program, "Preserving Our History", set to take place on Monday, February 17th, from 12:00-4:00PM at Gary Comer Youth Center! We'll have meaningful interactive activities, including digitization services and "Archivist in a Box", brought to you by the?University of Chicago Library?and?Black Metropolis Research Consortium (BMRC), along with shadow-box making and family portraits, all designed to honor and preserve personal and community stories. We encourage attendees to bring up to 10 important documents and/or photos they'd like to digitally preserve, and come with family memorabilia to include in their shadow-boxes. You'll be able to explore a curated pop-up bookstore by Semicolon Bookstore, and engage with history through exhibits featuring rare memorabilia from the archives of?BLK MKT Vintage,?South Side Community Art Center, and?The DuSable Museum. "Preserving Our History" will be hosted by?Dilla, Chicago Historian, and feature a powerful and thought-provoking panel discussion with guest speakers exploring why preserving Black culture and history is essential for shaping the future. Panelists include musician, actor and philanthropist,?Vic Mensa, Kiyanna and Jay Handy of?BLK MKT Vintage, and Jada-Amina and LaMar Gayles of?South Side Community Art Center. Free childcare and meals for your little ones will be provided. Join us for a memorable day and RSVP here! Limited tickets available. https://lnkd.in/epZDHJbZ

The GCYC TRiO Team hosted a Career Speaker Series Event featuring six dynamic speakers from various industries including health, legal, construction, engineering, arts, and IT. They shared valuable insights and inspirational stories about their career journeys to a full room of GCYC high school members. After the informative panel discussion, our youth networked with our professional guests to gain further insight about their career journeys and skills required for their success. We’re grateful to our panelists for sharing their motivational post-secondary stories. Thank you to Dr. Dawn Milhouse, Executive Director at Milhouse Charities, Annette Diggs Psychiatric Nurse at Lake Shore Mental Health Services, Steve During, Senior Project Manager at HBK Engineering, Kiana Isom, Serial Entrepreneur, Ashley Varnado, Assistant Public Defender with the Law Office of the Cook County Public Defender, and our very own Franklyn Taylor, Manager of Technology at Gary Comer Youth Center.? Milhouse Engineering and Construction, Inc. HBK Contracting Company W.L.L Cook County Government #speakerseries #triostudents #comercampus #comercenter #careerexploration

We're so proud of our Culinary Arts Apprentices and Urban Ag Interns (Comer Crops Crew) for delivering an extraordinary culinary experience at our inaugural Harvest Dinner featuring ingredients grown on our youth-led farm. Thank to our generous donors and sponsors for supporting our unique, hands-on learning initiatives including Mesirow Adesys Stifel Financial Corp. AllianceBernstein Norcon and others! We are truly grateful to our remarkable Chef Mentors who collaborated with our youth employees at their restaurants during multiple learning sessions to create and present their exceptional dishes. They are inspiring the next generation of leaders and making a lasting impact on their lives and career journeys. Thank you Chef Rafa Esparza (FAFO), Chef Constance Simms-Kincaid (Mabes), Chef D'Andre Carter (Soul & Smoke), Chef Michael Ciapciak (Bang Bang Pies), Chef Javon Nicholas (Egg Rolls etc.), Chef Mychael Bonner (CMB Catering, Chef Christian Hunter (Atelier), and more! Please share this post, signup for our newsletter and consider making a donation to help support our young people.?https://lnkd.in/gcn5zv-p Here is a recap video produced with help from Jada, a GCYC Alumnus who is now our social media coordinator and Warren, one of the talented teens in our Urban Ag program. His fellow "Green Teens" greeted our guests, gave tours of our rooftop garden, and shared their personal experiences. We'll be sharing photos soon! #comercenter #youthfarm #youngchefs #benefitevent

Our urban ag interns and culinary apprentices have been hard at work on their gourmet dishes for Harvest Dinner. Here they are perfecting the sweet and sour and chili pepper sauces for their handmade dumplings with Chef Javon Nicholas using fresh ingredients from our youth-led farm. If you can’t make it to our exclusive farm-to-fork experience, please consider making a donation. Your thoughtful gift will make a significant impact on the talented young people who will be showcasing their culinary creations under the caring mentorship of our distinguished chef partners. https://lnkd.in/g-HxHhtu

Four of Green Teens spoke about their experiences with urban agriculture and how AgriFood companies can better engage with young people at the Illinois AgriFood Workforce Summit. During the student panel they shared wisdom about how most students need hands-on experience with agriculture to see it as a viable career path and suggested that more AgriFood companies offer job shadowing experiences and internships to students from communities like ours. It was amazing to meet so many people interested in hearing from our youth including Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton Thank you Illinois Agrifood for hosting this enriching career exploration experience! #youthledfarm #urbanagriculture #comercenter #comercampus #agrifood

Our Urban Ag interns and Culinary Arts apprentices have been learning from and collaborating with our awesome mentor chefs on the exciting dishes they will be crafting and serving to special guests of our exclusive Farm-to-Fork Harvest Dinner on October 10th. There are limited tickets available. If you can’t make it, please consider a donation to provide cost of living stipends to our inspiring, dedicated youth employees! https://lnkd.in/g-HxHhtu. Thank you to all the amazing mentor chefs and restaurant teams who are generously gifting their precious time and talent including James Beard Award Winner, Constance Simms-Kincaid (5 Loaves Eatery), Chef Mychael Bonner (CMB Catering), Chef D'Andre Carter (Soul & Smoke), Chef Michael Ciapciak (Bang Bang Pies), Chef Rafael Esparza (FAFO), Chef Javon Nicholas (Egg Rolls etc.) and more. As well as in-kind donations from Cream Wine, Goddess Good Food, Brown Sugar Bakery and the wonderful dining experiences for our auction from Maxwells Trading, Lula Cafe, Anelya, Demera, Parachute HiFi and The Study at UChicago