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Real victories on young adult issues.

The power of young people telling their own stories has proven an advantage in winning real political victories in Illinois.

UPDATE: Victory on health coverage for young adults.

In the largest single-day expansion of access to health care in the State of Illinois, the legislation extending the age young adults can remain covered on their parents’ health care plans was extended. PACT leaders wrote a bill with this legislation back in 2005 (introduced buy Representative Julie Hamos). As a result of the hard work of PACT’s young adult leaders over the last four years to see this bill become law, 300,000 young adults now will have another option – an option that offers stability, affordability and quality – when selecting health insurance. We congratulare our sister organization, United Power for Action and Justice who worked with us on this campaign as concerned parents of young adult children as well as the public officials who championed our issue throughout the last few years. Especially, Governor Blagojevich, Representatives Hamos, Coulson, Nekritz and Mulligan, and Senators Kotowski and Collins. There is always more work to be done – this win certainly doesn’t guarantee health insurance for all young adults. Our work will continue!

• More Health Care PACT leaders negotiated a deal between a local agency and the City Colleges of Chicago to provide health referral services to more than 120,000 students.
• $42 Million in restored college financial aid funding at the state level, for low- and middle-income students. PACT leaders organized field trips to the state capital and eventually got a public meeting with the Governor to win his commitment to restore $38 million that had been cut just 2 years prior.
• Legislative victories. PACT leaders united from Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and Hindu faiths (with the help of young Sudanese refugees) to add their voice to two successful campaigns on Pay Day Loan Reform and divestment from Sudan.
• Young Adult-Led Trainings for Police Officers. PACT leaders have begun youth-police dialogues in 6 of the most violent police districts in the city. This fall, we are piloting a program for local youth and young adults to train officers on the community resources available to young people and how they can show young adults more respect.
• Voter Turnout. This fall, PACT is turning out 14,560 young adult voters for the upcoming Gubernatorial election, as a way to get a commitment from both major candidates to work with its leaders after the election on our agenda.

A training ground for future organizers and activists.

Through a tried and true combination of training, action, leadership, and mentoring, PACT is educating a generation of young leaders (5,227 have been through at least one of our trainings) in Chicago. In addition, 12 of our top leaders have become professionals in the non-profit sector as organizers or in related social justice fields.

Cross-cultural communication.

The only requirement for a new PACT leader is that he or she be willing to work with folks across different race and class backgrounds. Right now, there are very few opportunities available to young adults – especially outside of the liberal college atmosphere – where cooperation is not only encouraged or discussed, but fundamentally required. It is written into the PACT constitution that no new campaign will be formed without leadership from 3 of its Caucuses and approval of all eleven. The Christians Caucus (predominantly Evangelicals) and the LBGT Caucus were two of the primary leaders of PACT’s youth homelessness campaign. The Voter Power strategy was authored by a young Muslim, a conservative Jew, and a leader who subscribes to no religion. The Education Funding Reform team is led by North Suburban whites, South Side blacks, and Latinos. These collaborations, and the opportunities for education and transformation that they engender, are the norm for the organization.

Slow change to the public debate.

More than most groups in society, there are few mouthpieces for serious youth and young adult influence in government. Public officials know to call a union to learn what teachers or janitors think. They call the Chamber of Commerce to find out what businesses think… but decisions affecting young adults do not get made by us, or with our input, because we do not organize and demand to be heard. Through over 250 meetings with public officials on a wide range of issues, we are beginning to change the political culture in Chicago. Officials like Sen. Jacqueline Collins, Rep. Julie Hamos, CPS Director Arne Duncan, and Ald. Manuel Flores know to call us on young adult issues.

• WHO WE ARE
• > WHAT WE ARE DOING