Our City’s youth have acutely felt the tremendous social impact of the COVID-19 crisis. With classes, sports and music events, graduation ceremonies, and summer programs canceled, teens and young adults missed many milestones they would typically enjoy in the spring and summer months. Moreover, many teens lost critical employment opportunities, as businesses temporarily closed their doors in compliance with stay at home orders.

Recognizing the crisis’ impact on the well-being of young Chicagoans—as well as the well-known social-emotional benefits of community service—the City of Chicago wanted to engage young people in the response to COVID-19. In May, the Department of Family and Support Services set out to create the Chicago Youth Service Corps, a subprogram of One Summer Chicago, to employ people aged 16-24 in remote, COVID-19 crisis response and community service related activities. With a goal of launching in early July, the City had less than two months to conceptualize, plan, and start the program.

Given this accelerated timeline, Civic Consulting Alliance and our pro bono partner Slalom stepped up to help plan and implement the Corps. Over the course of ten weeks, the Slalom and Civic Consulting Alliance team provided support critical to a successful and timely launch of the program:

• Stakeholder management – Facilitating collaboration between the Department of Family and Support Services and other City agencies and partners
• Overall project management – Creating a timeline, tracking and managing progress
• Product design – Building a unique experience with elements that could be transferred to other youth programs in the future

“This summer was a uniquely important moment to define the future of Chicago, and how the young people of our city can find their place to grow and lead within it. Slalom was proud to jump in and help young Chicagoans connect to our neighbors, our city, and with each other to build a better future together.”

—Chris Kelly, a Slalom consultant who led the initiative

As a result of these efforts, the Corps employed over 2,000 participants for six weeks between July and August. The Corps supported a variety of projects, including serving as social distance ambassadors, building a youth-led COVID-19 public information campaign, making wellbeing phone calls to older residents, and crafting cloth face masks. Beyond the opportunity to serve their neighborhood and their city, the Corps provided participants a cohesive community-building and learning experience— through activities like team meetings with structured time for reflection, a virtual capstone project showcase on August 11th, and a graduation event on August 13th where they could celebrate their achievements. The Corps was such a success that the City is considering how to do a second cohort in summer 2021, or potentially a year-round model, building off of a detailed ‘Program Playbook’ created by Slalom and the lessons learned this year.

“We are so grateful to Civic Consulting Alliance and Slalom for making the Chicago Youth Service Corps possible in such a short period of time. Chicago’s young people are incredibly civic-minded, and this program gave our youth a way to give back, while creating space for celebration and community — which are vital to all people’s health and happiness.”

—Lisa Morrison Butler, Commissioner, Department of Family & Support Services