From Talk to Action: Solving Chicago's Toughest Youth Program Challenge With Community Leadership

Here's the hard truth: Chicago has no shortage of people talking about youth problems. We've got reports, studies, and statistics coming out of our ears. But when it comes to actually doing something meaningful about it? That's where most organizations hit a wall.

The biggest challenge facing youth development programs today isn't funding (though that's tough), and it's not even the scale of the problems we're dealing with. It's the massive gap between identifying what needs to be done and actually making it happen in real communities, with real kids, facing real challenges every single day.

At True Believers Community Connections, we've learned that community leadership: not top-down mandates or one-size-fits-all programs: is the key to turning good intentions into lasting change.

The Talk vs. Action Problem

Let's be real about what we're dealing with in Chicago. Recent data shows that 94% of our youth identify mental health as a major problem they're facing. Nearly two-thirds of young people witness violence regularly, and 41% of Chicago Public Schools students were chronically absent in 2024. One in four youth under 18 live in poverty.

These aren't just numbers: they're the daily reality for the kids walking through our doors.

But here's what happens in most organizations: They see these statistics, write a grant proposal, maybe get some funding, then design a program based on what they think should work. The problem? They're creating solutions in conference rooms instead of in the communities where these challenges actually play out.

Why Community Leadership Changes Everything

Community leadership flips this script entirely. Instead of outsiders coming in with pre-packaged solutions, it puts the people who live and work in these neighborhoods: including the young people themselves: in the driver's seat.

When Marcus, a 16-year-old from Englewood, tells us that traditional therapy doesn't work for him because "they don't get where I'm coming from," we don't dismiss that. We use it as intel to design something better. When Ms. Johnson, who's been teaching in Southside schools for 20 years, says the real issue isn't just mental health resources but helping kids feel safe enough to use them, we listen.

That's community leadership in action: using the expertise that already exists in neighborhoods to solve problems more effectively than any outside expert could.

How True Believers Turns Talk Into Action

Step 1: Start With Listening, Not Lecturing

Too many programs begin with "Here's what you need." We start with "What's actually happening here?" Our approach involves spending months in communities before launching any program, conducting listening sessions with youth, families, educators, and community members.

Last year, we thought we understood the mental health crisis facing Southside youth. Turns out, we were only seeing part of the picture. Through community conversations, we discovered that while kids needed mental health support, they were more likely to seek help if it came bundled with practical resources their families needed: like job training for parents or after-school programs that actually fit working family schedules.

Step 2: Train Local Champions, Don't Import Experts

Instead of bringing in specialists from outside the community, we identify and train people who are already trusted voices in these neighborhoods. This might be a coach who kids respect, a church leader families trust, or even young adults who've successfully navigated similar challenges.

These local champions understand the culture, speak the language, and have relationships that can't be replicated by even the most well-meaning outside organization.

Step 3: Design Solutions That Actually Fit Real Life

Community leadership means designing programs around how families actually live, not how we think they should live. If parents work multiple jobs and can't make 3 PM meetings, we find ways to connect with them where they are. If kids are dealing with food insecurity at home, addressing that becomes part of addressing their mental health.

Our programs integrate wraparound services because community members told us that's what works. A young person can't focus on college prep if they're worried about their family getting evicted.

Real Results From Real Communities

This approach produces outcomes that look different from traditional metrics, but they're more meaningful. Instead of just tracking attendance numbers, we're seeing:

• Youth who become advocates in their own communities

• Families who develop networks of mutual support that extend beyond our programs

• Local leaders who can replicate successful strategies in other neighborhoods

• Sustainable change that continues even when outside funding fluctuates

One of our community leaders, Shanice, started as a program participant five years ago. Today, she's training other young adults to facilitate peer support groups, and those groups are now being replicated in three other neighborhoods: not because we expanded there, but because community members requested training to start their own.

The Leadership Development Difference

What makes community leadership so powerful is that it builds capacity that stays in the neighborhood. When we train local residents to facilitate programs, provide crisis support, or advocate for policy changes, we're creating sustainable infrastructure for change.

This is different from programs that parachute in for a few hours a week then disappear. Community-led initiatives become part of the fabric of neighborhoods because they're run by people who live there, whose kids go to school there, who have a stake in long-term success.

Overcoming the Biggest Barriers

The shift from talk to action isn't easy. It requires organizations to give up some control, trust community wisdom even when it contradicts expert opinions, and measure success differently.

It also means being honest about what we don't know. As an organization led by Dr. Carol Collum, we've learned that our role isn't to be the experts on what communities need: it's to be excellent at supporting communities to implement their own solutions.

This approach challenges traditional power dynamics in youth development work, and not everyone is comfortable with that. But the results speak for themselves.

Moving Forward Together

The conversation about Chicago's youth challenges will continue. The reports will keep coming, the meetings will keep happening, and well-meaning people will keep talking about what needs to be done.

But for those of us committed to actually solving these problems, the path forward is clear: Trust communities to lead, support their solutions, and measure success by how much positive change stays in neighborhoods after programs end.

At True Believers Community Connections, we're not just another organization working with youth: we're a community-driven force for change that recognizes the expertise, resilience, and solutions that already exist in Chicago's neighborhoods.

The biggest youth development challenge isn't figuring out what needs to be done. It's having the courage to let communities lead the way in doing it.

Ready to see community leadership in action? Visit our programs page to learn how you can get involved, or check out our upcoming events to connect with other community leaders who are turning talk into action right here in Chicago.