July 13, 2018

Last month, we brought out more than 40 youth-in-care to educate, inspire, and guide them as they consider their future. For many, success doesn't come overnight, and it certainly doesn't come without hard work and dedication.

That's why we invited eight awesome panelists to our career expo to show our youth where staying dedicated and focused can get them.

Check out our recap video showcasing everyone who's made this impactful event possible!

June 29, 2018

These young people often have a higher likelihood of falling into unfortunate circumstances when they are forced to leave the system, like homelessness and unemployment, advocates say. To fill that gap, local nonprofit Chicago Youth Opportunities Initiative provides mentorship and development opportunities for people in foster care.

CYOI co-founders Brittiney Jones and Alayna Washington explain how the foster care system works in Illinois and how their initiative aims to help those in need.

December 04, 2017

"Some of the young people at the crowded drop-in center pulled pizza slices from boxes and gathered around a community dining room table. Others filtered in and out of a lounge where state workers would help them get ID cards.

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As many as 50 young people each day visit the Youth Empowered Society, which runs the YES Drop-In Center near Charles Village for teens and young adults living on the streets, to meet with case managers and lawyers, sign up for services, take workshops on mediation or money management or just relax in a safe space."

October 31, 2017

Brittiney Jones emancipated from her parents at 16 years old. “At the time, I struggled with financial literacy, confidence, speaking in public, and finding a mentor or role model to help guide me,” says Jones. However, my mom always stressed the importance of higher education, so I knew college was the best route. In college, I searched for a similar community of people but I noticed there weren’t many people who were like me. I also learned about 10% of former foster care youth will attend college, and only about 3% graduate from higher education institutions—I was one of them.”

May 12, 2017

Who is CYOI? Learn more about our mission and passion for the Chicago youth community from co-founders, Brittiney Jones and Alayna Washington. 

March 24, 2017

...That is what Chicago Youth Opportunities Initiative( CYOI) is doing for youth in Chicago. CYOI is a 501(c)3 non-profit founded by Brittiney Jones that provides ward of the state youth with educational and career resources through mentoring programs with diverse professionals in the city of Chicago. CYOI is here to change the statistics for youth 14-18.

February 10, 2017

Lawyers Lend-A-Hand to Youth Board of Directors has selected 13 mentoring and tutoring organizations to receive a 2017 grant award.

July 19, 2016

Brittiney Jones is not a stranger to life obstacles. In fact when life gave her lemons, she made the best lemonade out of it and ended up founding her own non-profit organization.

December 31, 2015

It’s 2016! It’s the beginning of the year. The beginning of a new journey for some and for others it’s just a continuation of the trail of greatness left  behind in 2015. We’re starting this year off strong with my first monthly feature of the year on Ms. Brittiney Jones of the Chicago Youth Initiative.

This week’s Millennial On A Mission not only resides in the best city in the whole wide world, (Chicago, of course) but she has been inspired by her own personal experiences to improve the lives of inner city youth through mentoring, professional development and career readiness.

In this episode, I interview Liu Jones, the Director of Mentoring for Chicago Youth Opportunities Initiative. An organization that holistically approaches the developmental and transferable skills of foster children across the city of Chicago. In our conversation, we discussed creating value for society, CYOI programming,  and how Millennials are more involved with engaging and changing the community now, more than ever.