Voices of Our Children
We strive to inspire and empower youth through a human rights–based curriculum. We collaborate with Chicago Public Schools to teach scholars about human rights versus civil rights and guide them in completing a human rights project.
Our scholars create projects across various mediums, including art, poetry, essays, letters, presentations, speeches, music, and info graphics. We use these human rights projects to contribute to Voices of Our Children reports submitted to various United Nations bodies.
Genesis of Voices of Our Children
Marilen Corres, a Chicago Public Schools (CPS) High School History teacher inspired by the international work of Women’s All Points Bulletin, WAPB, invited Crista Noel, one of its Founders, to share her experiences at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland with her Africana and Latinx students ages 15 to 17 years old.
While meeting for coffee, the team brainstormed having the students submit a report to the United Nations for the August 2022 review of the United States on their adherence to the CERD treaty eliminating racial discrimination.
The impetus was to highlight the children’s talent and instill in them that their voices were critical dialogue for the world to hear, as well as calm any fears of the United Nations while introducing them to Human Rights.
With surprising enthusiasm, the students presented compelling letters, essays, a video and rap, slide deck presentations, infographics, poems, and art pieces on diverse topics that “touched their hearts.”
Realizing the need for a resolution, the team presented their idea to Good Kids Mad City (GKMC), a local Black and Brown youth-led organization united to fight violence in Chicago, because by happenstance, they were presenting their Peacebook ordinance to Chicago’s City Council. The Peacebook is a measure created by GKMC in 2018 that would create peacekeepers, violence interrupters, mediators, circle-keepers, and restorative justice practitioners to eradicate intracommunal violence on Chicago’s South and West sides.
Mrs. Sims, the principal at Bogan High School, who has always been supportive of these types of endeavors called upon the assistance of Bogan’s Local School Council, and the project was born.