Gary Comer Youth Center

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

You're Invited on October 10th at 5:30pm for our Harvest Dinner featuring food grown on our youth-led farm by our Urban Agriculture interns and prepared by our Culinary Arts apprentices under the mentorship of distinguished Chicago chefs, including Michelin Star and James Beard Award Winners, Chef Beverly Kim and Chef Johnny Clark (Parachute), Chef Mychael Bonner (CMB Catering), Chef D'Andre Carter (Soul & Smoke), Chef Michael Ciapciak (Bang Bang Pies), Chef Tigist Reda (Demera), Chef Carlos Cruz (John’s Food and Wine), Chef Rafael Esparza (FAFO), Chef Javon Nicholas (Egg Rolls etc.), and more. By supporting our unique, mentorship-driven event, you are not only helping fund our programs, but providing vital cost-of-living stipends for our interns and apprentices while connecting them with top chefs and other leaders in the food service industry. To learn more and secure your tickets to our exclusive farm-to-fork culinary experience, please click link below. Space is limited and filling up fast. https://lnkd.in/g-HxHhtu If unable to attend, please consider purchasing tickets we can gift to family and community members or make a donation to provide the critical support our young people need.

We’re so proud of the personal paths our young people are forging with your support! Meet Liv Carter, one of our inspiring alumni. Raised on the South Side, Liv excelled in both our high school and young adult Urban Agriculture programs learning the values of discipline, patience, and hard work. She went on to the prestigious Computer Science program at University of Illinois, and after graduating with honors, returned to GCYC for an internship with SDI through our tech training partner Xchange Chicago. Liv’s focused committment led to a full-time offer at Northern Trust which she accepted! Drop a comment to celebrate Liv and our GCYC alumni on their journeys! #comercenter #youthemployment #GCYCalumni #comercrops #greenteens #xchangechicago Northern Trust University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign SDI Presence

Our summer campers loved exploring the natural beauty of Jackson Park and kayaking with Chicago Adventure Therapy on their peaceful lagoons together. For our young people, these experiences are so much more than just fun—they’re vital for improving mental health, boosting self-esteem, and building essential social skills. Getting out in nature and taking on new unique, challenges like these are key to their growth and well-being. Parents trust us to keep their children safe, engaged, and continually growing during the summer, and we’re proud to offer these enriching opportunities that make a real difference in their lives with support from donors and funders like Camp Out For Kids. #SummerCamp #CampGCYC #ChicagoAdventure #kayaking #ComerCenter

We were honored to welcome Mayor Brandon Johnson, Alderman Desmon Yancy, World Business Chicago President and CEO, Phil Clement and other local leaders to our campus for the kickoff of TechChicago Week.  Hosted and produced by P33 Chicago, our campus was selected to celebrate Xchange Chicago, the new $20 million training center launching January 2025 across the street from GCYC that will prepare the next generation of tech leaders from Greater Grand Crossing and beyond.  GCCP and GCYC Alumnus, Oluwaseyi Olaleye gave an inspiring speech as “Employee Number 1” of Xchange Chicago and announced that SDI Presence, an IT consultancy and managed services provider, will be the anchor tenant for their new 28,000 sq. ft. tech and IT delivery center.  Our first talented tech cohort of interns from our Youth Employment Program have begun working with and learning from Olu and the rest of the Xchange Chicago team. Special thanks to GCYC's Board Chair, Greg Mooney, for the vital investment and vibrancy they are bringing to our community. We couldn't agree more with Olu's statement, "The future is indeed bright because the best is yet to come!" #techchicago #futureleaders #comercampus #comercenter Read more about the event and related news coverage on Xchange Chicago’s website https://lnkd.in/gYZ2PG45

Our Farmer’s Market Kickoff was a rousing, rooster crowing success! Thank you to our partners, vendors, staff, and interns for making it a special celebration for our youth, their families, and our community members. Despite the rain, we made progress on our fence mural with the help of artist Blake Lenoir from Pigment International, NFP Our Comer Crops interns gave insightful, fun tours of the farm that included petting our chickens, picking produce, and more! Everyone loved the pizza from Goddess Good Food, the valuable resources from community providers, sweet treats from our Culinary Team and local baker, Angela. Swing by the farm every Tuesday (today!) and Friday 3-6p for fresh, organic produce and speciality items like our honey. Thank you for supporting our youth farmers while increasing food access and equity in our community! Never Stop Growing! #comercenter #comercampus #foodequity #youthfarm #urbanag #farmersmarke