Youth Network Council / Illinois Collaboration on Youth: Statement of Purpose

The ILLINOIS COLLABORATION ON YOUTH (ICOY), a statewide membership organization, advocates on behalf of young people and their families, and provides support for organizations and individuals that serve them within their communities.

The ILLINOIS COLLABORATION ON YOUTH was founded in 1979 as a program of the Youth Network Council. Through ICOY, a variety of opportunities and supports are provided to youth service organizations, young people, and families throughout Illinois. Many of these programs involve service brokerage with other local youth agencies.

The purposes of ILLINOIS COLLABORATION ON YOUTH are exclusively charitable, educational and civic, including but not limited to the following:

to provide information and education by means of seminars, forums, publications, and on-line communication to individuals and organizations that serve young people and their families at the local level.
to offer technical assistance and other supports to elected representatives and government agencies regarding the planning, establishment, funding, operation and evaluation of opportunities and supports for young people and there families.
to provide information, technical assistance and other supports regarding youth policy to interested parties.

The mission of Illinois Collaboration on Youth (ICOY) is to advocate for the development and enhancement of the quality of services available to young people and their families at the community level. ICOY is a membership organization comprised of and representing agencies, throughout the state of Illinois that provide services at the community level to young people and their families. ICOY functions as a network on behalf of all local youth serving agencies, as an adjunct to provide support, which would otherwise not be available at the local level. ICOY effects positive changes on those systems which affect the quality of live for young people and their families through the dissemination of information on federal and state legislative policy and program initiatives regarding youth and youth services, provision of professional training, technical assistance and advocacy on behalf of young people and those programs that service them at the community level.

Programs

Policy Board, Training Advisory Group, and Providers' Task Force - Statewide forums for the discussion of legislative and programmatic youth issues.
Publications - E-messages, State Office Report, and State Office Alert.
ILLINOIS Toll-Free Information Number - 1-800-252-8045

Guiding Principles

As a coalition of community-based youth service agencies committed to the improvement of the quality of life for young people, the ILLINOIS COLLABORATION ON YOUTH believes that young people are capable of making responsible decisions affecting their lives and will be supported their efforts to effectively participate in affecting those institutions and systems that influence their lives.

ICOY supports services to youth and families which are of high quality, equally accessible to all, non-stigmatizing, and community based.
ICOY supports services to youth provided in the least restrictive and least coercive manner possible.
ICOY supports youth and youth worker participation on all public and private youth services oversight, advisory, and decision making groups.
ICOY supports policies and programs for youth which are oriented toward prevention and youth development.
ICOY supports youth service policies and practices oriented toward affirmative action and are nondiscriminatory.
ICOY supports programs and services developed and operated by youth.
ICOY supports salary parity for youth workers comparable to that of other human services providers.
ICOY supports the development of a youth services standardization and accreditation process.

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No solicitations of contributions to the corporation are made and no gifts, bequest or devise to the corporation are accepted upon any condition or limitation which, in the opinion of the corporation, may cause the corporation to lose any exempt status which it may obtain from the payment of Federal income taxes.