Youth are synonymous with violence and in need of saving without their input as they are too emotionally unstable to provoke meaningful change. Schools are experiencing record highs in violence levels. Communities are becoming riffed and estranged making safety a number one concern for parents and students in communities all over the city.
Vision:
BOLD Chicago Institute believes young people have the talent, energy, and enthusiasm to work together as leaders for the common good. BOLD Chicago identifies and trains young people across the city of Chicago to transform themselves and their environments for the common good.
Mission Statement:
B.O.L.D Chicago develops young leaders with the capacity to organize ideas, people, and resources to create positive change to their schools, communities and in their environments.
About Us
BOLD (Building Opportunities for Leadership Development) Chicago Institute is a 10-year old youth leadership development organization.
BOLD Chicago works with public schools and community organizations to develop leadership skills in young people to empower them to be active and engaged civic leaders. These young leaders develop civic action projects that enable students to develop important knowledge about their environment and leadership skills to address critical issues facing the world. These projects have been the cornerstone of BOLD Chicago’s work for the past ten years.
Student leadership development has gained renewed currency in Chicago and around the country in recent years. It is no longer unusual, for example, for leaders in Chicago Public Schools to talk about the importance of youth voice in the decision making process around institutional changes that impact young people.
As leadership development thinking and practical initiatives have emerged and matured over the past decade, schools have begun to recognize the value of leadership training for students. However, schools do not have the capacity to provide consistent leadership training and ongoing opportunities for student-initiated action that addresses authentic school and community issues. The time is right for a non-profit organization with a solid history, strong instructional strategies and materials, and connections to organizations and institutions across the city to re-emerge. That organization is BOLD Chicago Institute.
