VOYCE
SPONSOR: Elisha Hall
Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) is a citywide youth organizing initiative created to address the high dropout rate and low college enrollment rate for Chicago Public Schools (CPS) students. VOYCE’s leadership includes student organizers from seven community-based organizations and 12 CPS high schools committed to create lasting change.
Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE) is a youth-led organizing collaborative comprised of students from 7 community organizations and 12 Chicago Public High Schools working in concert with them, including:
- Albany Park Neighborhood Council | Roosevelt, Mather, and Von Steuben High Schools
- Brighton Park Neighborhood Council | Kelly High School
- Organization of the NorthEast | Senn High School and Uplift Community High School
- Kenwood Oakland Community Organization | Dyett Academy and Kenwood Academy High Schools
- Logan Square Neighborhood Association | North Grand and Kelvyn Park High Schools
- Target Area Development Corporation | Perspectives Tech High School
- Southwest Organizing Project | Gage Park High School
VOYCE builds on these community based organizations’ histories of organizing both parents and students around school reform issues such as creating a policy change granting in-state tuition for undocumented students, securing the construction of new schools to relieve overcrowding, developing schools as community learning centers, and more.