About the Nonprofit
Visit Our Website
The mission of Youth Guidance is “to create and implement school-based programs that enable children to overcome obstacles, focus on their education, and ultimately, to succeed in school and in life.” Founded in Chicago in 1924, today Youth Guidance is a leading provider of evidence-based programs among more than 17,700 students in school districts around the country, including Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Kansas City, Dallas, Greater Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C. In Chicago, we serve more than 14,800 students across 165 Chicago public schools, including students living in some of the city’s most disinvested neighborhoods.
Youth Guidance envisions a successful future for all students, and we are present in schools to render programs which proactively engage students in the learning process and programs which maximize youths’ lifelong potentials by empowering students to graduate high school and to identify postsecondary pathways they would like to pursue.
Our vision at Youth Guidance is for youth to develop a mindset of resiliency along with the necessary skillset to break intergenerational cycles of poverty. As an organization, we are striving to realize this vision through our Counseling & Prevention program (which includes BAM and WOW); Community & Afterschool, Parent & Family Engagement, and Career Readiness & Success (including @Work and Project Prepare Blue).
