Membership Works

Exciting Accomplishments: Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY)

This past year, ICOY:

established the Juvenile Justice Mental Health Initiative (JJMHI) for 22 ICOY members throughout the state, under a $1.2 million federal appropriation, and has been rigorously evaluating this effort;
initiated and aggressively pursued several strategies to advocate for continued funding for JJMHI efforts, including public and private funding, as well as investigating the use of Medicaid funds to underwrite much of the continued enhanced mental health services by youth agencies;
presented Public Statements to the Coordinating Council on Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention and the Federal Advisory Committee On Juvenile Justice, reporting on selected preliminary JJMHI findings pertaining to mental health and youth services;
coordinated the third year of a federal grant for Mentoring Children of Prisoners, brokered to ICOY member organizations;
offered widely attended training and technical assistance for staff of ICOY member agencies, enabling them to comply with mandates from state agencies and expand their capacity to serve youth and families in the most challenging circumstances;
represented the policy and advocacy interests of Illinois youth service organizations at the state and national levels;
embarked on plans to celebrate the 25th year of Comprehensive Community-Based Youth Services (CCBYS) in Illinois, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services;
successfully advocated for the passage of legislation that greatly minimizes the detention of truants, ensuring that Illinois is in compliance to receive its full complement of federal formula funds.

BENEFITS OF MEMBERSHIP

Becoming a New Member or Renewing NOW gives you:

unlimited consultation with ICOY staff in the Chicago and Springfield offices, to assist with your state youth programming, funding, and government relations needs;
opportunities to be included in cross-community competitive federal grant submissions;
invitations to legislative receptions and organized personal meetings with your state legislators, federal representatives, and key appointed government staff;
structured opportunities to participate in developing the statewide ICOY youth agenda;
personalized assistance in advocating to the state to address your community’s needs.

If you are not a member, take a serious look at the value that ICOY membership can bring to you, your organization, and the young people and families in your community. Join ICOY today, and then begin to immediately take advantage of ICOY’s unique membership benefits.

Membership forms are attached on the link, below. Should you have any questions or need any additional information, please contact the Administrative Office at 312-704-1257.

We look forward to continuing our important work together in 2008!

Respectfully.

Daniel R. Ventura, Chair J. Harry Wells, Chair
ICOY Board of Directors ICOY Policy Board

ICOY Membership Solicitation Letter

Membership Form (PDF)