Campaign Program Kick-off 

Mikva Challenge Suburban held its first major event - an Elections Program Kick Off - at the Des Plaines Community Center on October 12, 2009. Over 90 students from 8 suburban Chicago high schools and representatives from 5 Gubernatorial campaigns attended the event. Students participating in Mikva's Suburban pilot program will learn about the nuts and bolts of elections and campaign work. They will also volunteer for Republican and Democratic candidates competing in the Gubernatorial primary election in February and the general election in November 2010. Read more here.

Upcoming Events
The filing deadline for candidates to get on the ballot is November 2nd, and Mikva Challenge will hold candidate forums in late November and early December. These forums give our students the chance to ask the candidates questions about issues that are most affecting young people and their communities.  

Mikva's Project Soapbox program, which trains young people to become better public speakers, is now under way!  After learning how to prepare and deliver a speech, Chicago high school students are getting in front of the podium in their classrooms and taking a stand on an issue that is important to them.

Students are competing for a chance to qualify for the Project Soapbox Citywide Competition, which will be held at the Illinois Institute of Technology on November 19th.  Over 2,000 students will participate in the program this year, and we are expecting 100 students to compete in the final competition.

Project Soapbox is part of our Issues to Action program, which trains young people in the skills needed to become active leaders in their communities, and public speaking is one of those skills. Read more about Mikva's Issues to Action program here.

Out-of-School Time Council
In a partnership with the Chicago Department of Family & Support Services, we are in the process of creating a new citywide youth council to focus on Out-of-School Time. The Out-of-School Time Council will work closely with DFSS Commissioner, Mary Ellen Caron, to assess the quality of programs available to schools and advocate for increased state funding of OST programs.  

We are currently recruiting young adults to serve on our Out-of-School Time Council. If you are a young leader between the age of 18-22 who is interested in taking an active role in the future direction of out-of school time programs in the City of Chicago, we need you! Please click here to find out how to apply; also note that there is a small stipend granted to members for their work. Applications are being accepted until Monday, November 9, 2009.

Youth Safety Council
Jonathan Harvey and Shunnetta Brown from Mikva's Youth Safety Council are featured in a recent article by Tribune reporter, Kristin Mack. The article titled, "Jonathan Harvey: Violence is nothing young people should ever get used to," discusses the danger zones students have to pass through in order to get to and from schools. This issue of 'safe passage' is critical for Chicago high school students, and is one of the issues that the Youth Safety Council is currently working on.

We hope you'll consider making an end-of-year gift to support Mikva's youth civic leadership programs in 2010! You can always donate online through our website: www.mikvachallenge.org