Youth Climate Justice Summit

Accelerate Climate Solutions is excited to participate in the upcoming Chicago Youth Climate Justice Summit (YCJS) in one week! 

YCJS is a youth-led, day-long gathering focused on climate justice and climate change solutions. These summits have been held all over the country to empower, connect, and educate high school students from a variety of backgrounds to take meaningful action in their schools and communities. This will be the first summit in Illinois.

Creating Climate Action Plans for a school, neighborhood or community will be central to the summit and students will leave with actionable next steps. YCJS has been created and led by youth with adult support and will have information specially addressing local needs. 

Andrea, an Accelerate Climate Solutions intern and YCJS youth leader, has been working on plans for the summit since last winter. In fact, she won second place in the Annual BLAST Competition in April for her leadership activities in planning the summit.

“Climate change is such a large issue to tackle, it can leave people feeling helpless. But helplessness is only a feeling. The reality is that there are more ways than you can even imagine to make a difference,” Andrea said. “This summit will provide students and schools with the tools and resources to make that difference. Even more importantly, it will create a community of people across the Chicagoland area with the same goals and vision.”

Sound amazing?  It will be! 

The summit is open to all high school-aged students in greater Chicagoland. Registered schools will bring 5 students and 1-2 teachers each, reaching nearly 100 area students, including students from Naperville and Aurora. Check out the website for details. 

YCJS is hosted by It’s Our Future, the youth program of Seven Generations Ahead, in partnership with several local organizations, notably DePaul University's Egan Office and Accelerate Climate Solutions. The summit is inspired by the Wild Center, which has helped to plan over 200 such summits across the US. 

What can students expect from the day?

• A keynote address from a sustainability professionals that covers “Chicago Climate Justice 101” so that all attendees have a shared baseline of information.

• Breakouts. Including hands-on workshops and empowering roundtable discussions about climate justice, solutions, advocacy skills, and climate action planning. Accelerate Climate Solutions’ partnership with Solomon Islands students will be featured in the Global Perspectives session!

• Arts throughout the day, including a fun finale.