Chicago Politics

My Chi. My Future. Safe Spaces End of Summer Celebration 8.13.25

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Description

Mayor Brandon Johnson attends the My Chi. My Future. Safe Spaces End of Summer Celebration.

Transcript

0:01 Good afternoon to our Commissioner, Commissioner Green, who I'll be introducing in a second. Good afternoon to Mayor Johnson, but most importantly, good afternoon, young people. Welcome to the Safe Spaces End of Summer Celebration for 2025. Please give yourselves a round of applause. My name is Maria Guzman Rocha, and I'm the Director of the Enrichment Portfolio at the Department of Family and Support Services,

0:32 and I oversee our My Shine, My Future community initiatives. including the Safe Spaces for Youth program. I'd like to briefly acknowledge our My Shine, My Future team, who you all have been working for for a few years. Tess Landon, our project manager. Where is Tess? Please give her a round of applause. Claire Myers, our youth services coordinator, who is about to have her hands full with two babies soon.

1:03 Congratulations. And the rest of our DFSS and mayor's office team, who this work would not be without. I do have the honor to present our recently appointed DFSS Commissioner, Angela Green, who will come up in a second. Commissioner Green brings extensive experience at every level of government and over 25 years of expertise in human services administration, most recently serving as regional administrator of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families.

1:37 There, she oversaw federal human service operations across six Midwestern states and 35 tribal nations. She also led ACF's Chicago office, including its efforts around human service, emergency planning, preparedness, and response. Previously, Commissioner Green served as Deputy Director of Practice Support for the Indiana Department of Child Services, playing a pivotal role in the modernization of Indiana's child welfare infrastructure and greatly enhancing usability of the case management system for staff. She also served as Vice President of the Children's Bureau,

2:09 where she was integral in the creation of Indiana's first community-based child abuse prevention initiative. Commissioner Green began her career in social work, working for the Boys and Girls Club of Indianapolis. She holds a Master of Social Work from Indiana University and is a Harvard Senior Fellow with Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. We're very excited to have Commissioner Green join us this afternoon and celebrate your work. Commissioner Green, welcome. Thank you, Maria, for the warm welcome, and to you youth.

2:43 Thank you for proving firsthand what is possible when we invest in you and community-based solutions. So hands up to you. Once again, my name is Angela Green, and I have the privilege of leading the team as commissioner for the Department of Family and Support Services with the City of Chicago. Now, do understand, I just joined four days ago. And I tell you, what a great way to start my role is being here with you.

3:15 You are at the heart of the work that we do. So thank you. MyShyMyFuture is a platform and programming initiative with the goal of connecting youth and every young person in Chicago to a variety of rich and engaging, safe, youth-centered, out-of-school experiences. But MyShyMyFuture is more than a platform. It's actually a promise. It's a promise to every young person in the city that you all deserve access to these opportunities.

3:48 And today's event is a powerful example of what happens when we trust young people, we trust you to lead, and we trust you to help create your own communities. The Safe Spaces Program employs over 220 youth to plan and host community kickback events throughout the year. Kickbacks provide a fun and safe space for youth ages 13 to 19 to spend time with their peers during evenings, weekends, and during the school breaks.

4:23 These events are planned by youth for youth, and the safe space youth employees have really shown up to make every event a successful one. You know, our young leaders wear many hats, from event planners to social media managers to DJs, some of y'all were grill masters and community organizers. But whether it was when you put on a basketball tournament, a luau, a pool party, a neighborhood cleanup, or a movie night, you've made sure that every kickback was something special.

4:58 To the young people we are honoring today, you are helping us shape a better way forward for Chicago. Your dedication, your leadership, your commitment to your communities gives me so much hope. And I'm proud to be here with you today. And I can't wait to learn more from you as I continue in this role. But before I close, I do want to take a moment to also thank that phenomenal DFSS team, the Youth Services Division, and the Mayor's Office of Education, Youth, and Human Services team.

5:34 And I also want to thank Home Run Inn for the pizza this evening, and Clue, as well as the Alliance 98 for designing and creating the T-shirts. But now, it is my distinct pleasure to introduce to you Mayor Brandon Johnson. Now, Mayor Johnson is one of the reasons I chose to come here. He is a true champion of young people, and his commitment to creating a city that uplifts and celebrates youth is extremely clear.

6:12 So thank you, Mayor Brandon, for being here, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve. Thank you, sir. Let's give him a hand. Yeah, I say, Commissioner Green, if you go that way, that might be your last day here. I don't know, but thank you, Commissioner, for your leadership, and you're off to an amazing start to the entire DFS team, and to all of the young people that are here today, good evening, congratulations, you all.

6:51 I am so incredibly proud of you all. Whether you are representing Roseland or Austin or Brighton Park or Little Village, who else was here today? Garfield Park, Englewood was here. Yeah, we got them all, I'm sure. Yeah, that's right. Way to shout it out. All of the distinct, incredible neighborhoods that make up the soul of Chicago, whether it's the west, south side, southeast, southwest, northwest side of Chicago, the collaborative approach that you all are taking to build a safer, more affordable city that sees you all.

7:34 sees you all in your best capacity, your hopes and aspirations, as well as your gifts and your talents. Thank you. I do want to thank again the Department of Family and Support Services Youth Services team, the Mayor's Office of Education, Youth, and Human Services, but I'm also grateful for my shine, my future, and the Safe Spaces participants, since the beginning of my administration,

8:07 I've made it very clear that until our children are well and whole, our city can't be. For you all to reach your full potential, we must provide you with the essential resources in order to experience the best part of your existence, and that's your natural, inquisitive desire to be curious, but also to open doors of opportunity, above all, ensure that we have safe spaces where you can gather and connect and you can dream together.

8:42 You know, one of the most difficult things, I believe, that young people endure and experience, it's not being able to be in safe spaces where you can come together and share with other young people to create opportunities and learn the importance of hard work. Now, there were a number of people who did not see the value of investing in young people. I am so proud that you are part of a continuum, a continuum of care,

9:14 where this summer you are a part of record-breaking investments. We hired 30,134 young people for summer jobs across the entire city of Chicago because investing in young people is an investment in our today and our tomorrow. And the safe spaces, the programs that you all are providing, it's not just about jobs, it's about the 220 young people from 14 different communities that are making life more meaningful for your peers.

9:47 Throughout the year, you all have planned, you've hosted events, and you've brought teens and families together. I heard that you all are working with young people from the ages of 13 to 18 and more. And so you do more than just provide safe spaces, but you strengthen our community, and you show our young people the full impact when our neighbors and our communities come together. So as I close, you all have worked so hard to create healthy events for the evenings, weekends, during school breaks.

10:24 These are the times in which spaces are needed the most. And that's why I'm honored to be with you all here tonight, to recognize and celebrate all of you in the Safe Space Youth Program that has employed people, developed mentors, It's helped strengthen our staff. It's brought community-based organizations together to see all the posters around and the way in which you have highlighted this great work. There's only one thing that I'm a little perturbed by, is that the number of groups that put together a fashion show and did not think to invite me, I am feeling a little way about that.

11:01 So I just want you to know that you are doing some amazing work. And I challenge you all, though, to continue this momentum, continue to empower and mentor and give our young people the tools that they need and the resources and opportunities that are needed to succeed. So again, a special shout-out to Safe Space Youth employees, and thank you for all of you who represent the soul of Chicago. So I want you all to have an incredible school year, whether you are a rising senior or you are in our community colleges in Chicago.

11:37 But the one thing that I want to leave you with, when you take all of these skills and these gifts and continue to refine your purpose, know that as Chicago has invested in you, Chicago will always be your home. And those of you who are planning on going off to college and leaving the city of Chicago, I want you to return here. We need your talent. We need your gifts. And I'm going to work tirelessly just as I'm creating spaces for you as young people.

12:07 I want to make sure that you all come back to the city of Chicago where you can afford to have your own place and have a good career right here in the city that raised you. God bless you all, and God bless the greatest city in the world, the city of Chicago. Thank you very much.

12:39 Hello, I'm Dr. Frankie Shipman-Amuwo, Managing Deputy Commissioner at the Department of Family and Support Services, and I'm here to talk about MyShi, MyFuture. MyShi, MyFuture is an initiative with the goal of connecting every young person in Chicago to rich, engaging, safe, and youth-centered out-of-school time experiences. There are three components to the MyShi, MyFuture initiative. First, a website and app where youth can connect with opportunities and jobs.

13:12 Second, citywide convenings and events for youth and the adults who care about them. And finally, community strategies that support opportunities for youth in target regions across the city. One of the MyShi, MyFuture community strategies that I'm most excited about is the Safe Spaces for Youth program. I've been a part of the Safe Spaces program for about, I'd like to say, three seasons now. I've been working with the Safe Space program for about two years.

13:44 I'm 18, and I work for SGA Youth and Family Services. Our program is about helping the youth and families come together as a community and just have fun. The Safe Spaces program funds community-based organizations across the city to hire youth employees who plan and host events for their peers. For these events, called kickbacks, youth are in charge of everything. They identify event themes and locations, plan and lead activities, hire food vendors and performers, lead outreach efforts.

14:20 staff the events. We employ about 30 youth throughout the year. They are responsible for hosting events and the whole planning process. I am there as a support to make sure that they are thinking of ways that we can support the community, make it better, and create fun safe spaces that the 16 to 24 year old community.

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