Youth Job Center Of Evanston

Youth Job Center envisions a future where all young people have the support to build a meaningful career and fulfill their potential, and for the last 37 years the agency has worked to make that vision a reality. Youth Job Center provides work-readiness training, personalized career advising, job placement, and support to over 2,000 youth and young adults (ages 14-25) per year across Evanston, Chicago, and Cook County.

Youth Job Center has been a leading provider of employment-related services for youth in Evanston and Chicago, serving more than 20,000 young people during our more than 35-year history. YJC was founded on the belief that youth and young adults are an undeveloped community asset-a valuable, untapped source of energy, talent, and productivity.

The mission of Youth Job Center is, "Success for young people - in the workplace and in life." We envision a future where all young people have the support to build a meaningful career and fulfill their potential, and for the last 36 years we have worked to make that vision a reality. As an agency, Youth Job Center is dedicated to addressing the societal issue of Opportunity Youth, or young people ages 16-25 who are disconnected from work and school.YJC addresses this issue by providing programs that are preventative as well as responsive, working to prevent youth from becoming disconnected while simultaneously working with youth who are already disconnected.

We're excited to share with you YJC's Strategic Plan, which our board just reviewed, revised, and re-adopted. Since the plan's approval in 2017, YJC's staff and Board of Directors have conducted an annual review, looking at accomplishments and revisiting the goals set, often arriving at the decision that the plan's goals were still the right ones and that the plan continued to point us in the right direction.