EVANSTON, IL—Tensions were high at the Fleetwood-Jourdain Community Center on the third Thursday evening in January. In fact, tensions are usually high every third Thursday night of the month. With only one hour allotted to an ever-expanding agenda, Evanston’s 5th ward community meetings are burdened with the worry that when time runs out, not everyone’s voice will have been heard. This is a community that cares.

 

One of the issues that caused the most attendees to voice concerns was youth assistance. Families stood to testify to the importance of the programming provided by local non- profits.

 

“I need a safe place for my kids where they have guidance and support,” said one mother.

 

There was also anxiety surrounding the subject. When Seth Green, the president and CEO of the youth development agency, Youth Opportunity United (Y.O.U.), stood to discuss plans for their new building at 1811 Church St., the attendees did not greet him warmly. Many community members were distrustful, fearing that the up-and-coming organization was jeopardizing the survival of other, older programs. These programs, in the compact and historically progressive Evanston community, have deep, trusted roots.

 

The fear is not limited to community members. With recent cuts in funding from the state of Illinois, limited sources of funding locally, and similar clientele pools, relations between non-profits providing these services are strained as well.

 

With nearly one in eight Evanston residents living below the poverty line, and many of them centrally located in the second and fifth wards, there is a significant amount of need. Non-profits work to fill the space that Evanston’s income gap has created, however they often lack collaboration. Among many others providing youth assistance are Family Focus, McGaw YMCA, and Y.O.U.

 

Family Focus has been a pillar in the Evanston community for 40 years. Located in the old Foster School building—a previously segregated elementary school—Family Focus is a center for the Black community. Its services include early childhood development programs, family advocacy, conflict resolution, a high school mentoring group, and after school programming for children in grades three through eight.

 

“Family Focus is like the last vestige of the Black community, one of the few places we have left,” said Evanston Center director Collette Allen. “It has historical value that people feel strongly about.”

 

Being in the Foster School gives Family Focus the ability to rent out space for programming and host parenting classes, tutoring, and parties. This promotes a sense of community while fulfilling the organization's goal of assisting families.

 

“For a lot of the young people it is home,” said Allen. “It allows people to be with friends, to learn, to have security, and allows us to do things that the schools aren’t doing.”

 

Evanston’s McGaw YMCA supplements what children and teens receive in school by providing referred mentoring through Project SOAR; MetaMedia, a free, cutting-edge, digital media lab; Achievers, a newer support program aimed at college motivation; and others.

 

“To me, Project SOAR has the deepest impact, because we are able to follow these kids for four years in this one-on-one relationship, and I have seen lives change dramatically,” said Sue Sowle, YMCA’s director of residence and youth services.

 

Y.O.U. also hopes to have a deep impact. Although the organization began in 1971, it has more recently taken a significant role in the community, and specifically in the last five years. Y.O.U. is focused on elementary through high school-level programming, mostly after school. It works to “meet the emergent needs of young people and families” in low income areas by providing emotional and social support as well as encouraging achievement.

 

“Being focused on emergent needs means we are always there and always evolving as an organization,” said Emeric Mazibuko, a Y.O.U. staff member who specializes in street outreach and social/emotional development.

 

Like Family Focus and the YMCA, Y.O.U. has become a safe space for Evanston youth, a place where they can relax, feel at home, and receive support.

 

“My mom wanted me to go because it was a way to keep an eye on me,” said high school student Ezra Averyhart. “I continued going because it was like a family to me and I could express myself.”

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Unlike the other programs however, Y.O.U. does not have a building in which it can house programming. This will change with the building of its new center.

 

All of these organizations provide essential services. Evanston youth need safe spaces that encourage growth and achievement and provide the support they may not be receiving in school or at home. While there may be some crossover in terms of services, target demographics, and of course funding, none are redundant.

 

“New organizations come because there is need,” said Monique Brunson Jones, president and CEO of Evanston Community Foundation (ECF), a nonprofit aiming to support local organizations. “There's need coupled with the feeling that the population that they are looking to serve is not being served any place else.”

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Organizations obtain funding through gifts and grants. For example, Family Focus obtains 85 percent of their youth program budget from the contributions of the local government (37 percent), private foundations such as ECF (41 percent), and contributions from individuals (7 percent). In 2014 the expenditures for its nine Chicago-area centers totaled $10.94 million. Y.O.U., whose 2015 expenses totaled $3.29 million, also relies on private contributions and foundations, however the majority of their budget comes from federal grants.

 

The more people an organization reaches, the higher the likelihood of receiving funding. With a set number of grants given, a set number of wealthy donors willing to contribute, and a small community, even partnerships and cooperation can be tense.

 

In Evanston’s case with its beloved programs, newcomers who have the potential to receive the same grants can be viewed as threatening.

 

“[Evanston residents] don’t want anything to jeopardize Family Focus,” Allen said. “There are generations of families who went to the after school programs, it is truly part of the community.”

 

Because of this, the community perceives a sense of forced choice, according to Jones.

 

“You don't want to pitch the community into choosing, and I don't think the community wants to choose,” said Jones. “If they know that Y.O.U. is coming into their community, it should be in benefit to Family Focus.”

 

Y.O.U., as a newcomer of sorts, is less engrained in the community. With a very white staff—only one of five management employees are Black—the organization can be seen as an outsider to the issues within the Black community.

 

“People see it as a white savior platform,” said Y.O.U. staff member Hayden Dinges. “Bottom line is, why should this community trust an organization that may not understand the needs of the community?”

 

As Y.O.U. works to gain the trust of the community, there continues to be issues of teamwork among all youth service agencies. Currently, there is some collaboration, for example Y.O.U. is partnered with the YMCA for certain types of programing, however many believe there needs to be more.

 

“It would be really great if people could join forces and build partnerships and collaborations before they attempt to push someone else out of the funding,” said Jones.

 

Some recognize that as whole, nonprofits should evaluate needs that aren’t being attended to yet and work together to address them.

 

“Why is this not streamlined?” said Dinges, an AmeriCorps Y.O.U.th Serve Member. “Everyone has a similar vision, but we need to work together to get to the end goal.”

 

“It’s sort of silent,” said Sowle. “Everyone does their thing, they talk to each other, but is there a community wide consensus on what we should be focusing on and how we should coordinate?”

 

For example, Dinges, feels there needs to be greater assistance for high school graduates. With so many organizations serving youth 0-18—and so few serving young adults— graduates can be left in the dust. He hopes Y.O.U. can better achieve its mission of helping high school students in order to alleviate some of the post-grad problems.

 

Sowle finds this in YMCA programs as well.

 

“Even in our Achievers program we were sort of guilty of that,” she said. “Our vision was let’s get the kids into college. And one of the things we know now, because we’ve been educated, is that you can get them into college, but you have to get them out of college.”

 

Problems like these are where community-wide collaboration could make a difference. A citywide initiative, called Cradle to Career, follows this line of thinking. Proposed as “a collective impact effort by local organizations, schools, businesses and the faith community to make a lasting difference in the lives of children, youth and families,”Cradle to Career could be the answer to the uneasiness and tension.

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Cradle to Career and its 38 partners, including Family Focus, the YMCA, Y.O.U., and ECF, will evaluate community needs and create a plan to address them that minimizes competition between organizations.

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Having selected Sheila Marie Merry—a long time nonprofit employee in the youth andfamily sector—as the executive director, Cradle to Career is beginning to move forward with its goal that “by the age of 23, all Evanston young adults will be on the path to leading productive lives.”

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Jones, along with many other partners, is hopeful that the initiative can alleviate tension. It will increase the effectiveness of youth services on broader scale while assisting organizations as they define their role in the community and distinguish what they do from others. Less crossover in services will hopefully lead to less direct crossover in the pursuit of funding.

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“Cradle to Career is the route to go,” said Jones. “It's in a space where funds are limited and ideas are creative and innovative. It's just going to have to be the new normal for us to get to where we need to get. Evanston is too small to not work together.”

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