Chicago Youth Centers Collection
Descriptive Summary
- Title
- Chicago Youth Centers Collection
- Identifier
- BMRC.CYC.CHI_YOUTH_CENTER
- Repository
- Chicago Youth Centers
- Language
- English
- Size
- 30.0 Linear feet
- Dates
- 1956-2010
Acknowledgements and Access
This collection was part of the BMRC Survey Initiative, 2009-2011. For current information about the collection and its status, please contact the Chicago Youth Centers.
Historical note
Chicago Youth Centers (CYC) is Chicago's largest independent, locally based, multi-site youth services organization. It was founded in 1956 by two visionaries, Chicago businessmen Elliott Donnelley and Sidney Epstein, who wanted young people living in poverty to have an alternative to the streets. CYC was born out of three boys' clubs that had fallen on hard times. With the merger of the American Boys Commonwealth Club and the Boys Brotherhood Republic in North Lawndale together with the South Side Boys Club (later renamed the Elliott Donnelley Youth Center) in Bronzeville, a new city-wide agency was formed. Chicago Youth Centers. From the very beginning, girls were admitted to all programs, a first in the city.
Scope and Contents note
The collection consists mostly of meeting minutes of the board, film, photographs and other artifacts and documentation about the organizations activities over the past 50 years.
Processing Information note
This collection was surveyed as part of the Black Metropolis Research Consortium's Survey Initiative on 2010 March 16 by Bergis Jules and Andrew Steadham.