The Illinois Youth Summit is a semester-long program of the Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago (CRFC) devoted to giving students an informed voice in decisions about current public policy issues that affect them. The Summit provides an opportunity for students to explore and discuss these issues as participants in our democratic society. Approximately 1,000 students participate each spring in Northern Illinois.

Student representatives from participating high schools meet and select three issues that they believe are important to understand and address. Based on their decisions, CRFC creates an interactive student curriculum. A critical form of participation in the Summit is discussion, and the curriculum is designed to foster these vital conversations and to help students explore, discuss and take a position on the Summit issues. In their classes, students study and assess three focus issues; survey other students about the issues; write a position paper on one or more of the issues; and conduct a service project to teach one or more of these issues to other students.

Student delegates from each school meet with state and federal policymakers to share their thoughts and experiences on these issues at a culminating Summit. Delegates then report back to their classes.

The Illinois Youth Summit helps students:

• Analyze the facts and discuss different viewpoints relating to the focus issues;
• Practice discussing and deliberating current public policy issues;
• Conduct an educational service project in their community based on a Summit issue;
• Develop with other students a short position paper on one or more of the focus issues;
• Become actively involved in the culminating Youth Summit, either as a delegate or in helping to prepare a class delegation; and
• Share learning from the Summit with other students.

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