jeremy lahoud is leaving chicago to take a job in los angeles at the end of june. a lebanese-american, he has been an activist and a youth organizer on the southwest side of chicago for over 10 years.

jeremy's contributions to forwarding the struggles of oppressed nationality youth in chicago cannot ever be overstated. through the work of generation y, the youth organizing wing of the southwest youth collaborative, jeremy and the hundreds of high school youth (mostly low-income black, latino, and arab) that he has helped become leaders have been at the forefront of local and national battles for racial and social justice (that work is described below).

he has played an important role with his work for many years on the board of the arab american action network (aaan) as well--as board secretary the last two years, and helping to develop the aaan's own community organizing work and initiatives.

outside of his accomplishments with generation y, he has also played a major leadership role specifically with arab american and arab immigrant youth on the southwest side, helping to establish the first after-school program exclusively for arab youth in chicago, and leading in the development of training curriculum for young arab organizers at the aaan through the arab youth leadership academy.

jeremy, i think, would say that his political
consciousness was developed through his experiences with african and african-american students in college, and with the palestinian community in chicago. he took those experiences and built a youth organizing institution that has been a model to revolutionary organizers, young and old, throughout the country.

and he's been a close and trusted friend of mine ever since i came to the aaan five years ago. please join us in saying goodbye to this special individual, someone whom all organizers and activists in chicago will miss dearly.

hatem abudayyeh
executive director,
arab american action network

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RESISTANCE AS A NECESSITY:
Celebrating the History and Advancing the Movements of Generation Y

WHEN?
Friday, June 25th, 2004, 6-10pm

WHERE?
St. Rita's Parish, 6243 South Fairfield, Chicago, IL 60629

WHAT?
Spoken word, music and dance performances, art
displays, appetizers, raffle prizes and more.

WHY?
--> To honor the youth organizing work of Generation Y, a project of Southwest Youth Collaborative.

--> To bid farewell to Southwest Youth Collaborative's Lead Organizer, Jeremy Lahoud.

--> To benefit and advance the work of Southwest Youth Collaborative.

HOW?
--> General Admission Tickets are $50 per person, $150 for families, or $500 for a table of 10.

--> Community Tickets are $5 for youth, $10 for
adults, or $25 for families

--> Please also considering purchasing an ad in our program book--as a tribute to youth organizing, Generation Y, Jeremy Lahoud, or the work of SWYC.

--> Contact Megan Handley, 773.392.8886,
megan (at) rockaids.org to put an ad in the program book, or with any questions.

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Timeline of Southwest Youth Collaborative Youth
Organizing Achievements

1992:
Southwest Youth Collaborative founded in Chicago Lawn, West Englewood, West Lawn, Gage Park, and West Elsdon. Community-based Board of Directors is elected to represent different community areas and ethnic groups. It is also decided that half of the board will be under the age of 18.

1994:
Youth board members of SWYC form the Youth Empowerment Network to help foster youth leadership and activism.

1995:
Youth Empowerment Network begins working with the
Children & Family Justice Center at NU Law School to offer street law classes to youth after police
brutalizes a youth member.

1996:
Generation Y is founded as a youth activist
organization by members of the SWYC board, youth
leaders of various programs, and young adult
staff. Generation Y members join Kids Not Criminals, a citywide alliance opposed to the criminalization of youth.

1997:
Community Justice Initiative formed as a citywide
coalition of youth and policy organizations around the criminalization of youth. Hubbard high school students and Generation Y members start the University of Hip Hop.

1999:
Generation Y launches its first successful local youth organizing campaign around summer jobs cuts. The Jobs for Youth Campaign helps prevent the City of Chicago from eliminating nearly 15,000 summer jobs and brings more job opportunities to southwest side youth.
Youth organizers from the Community Justice Initiative organize a Youth Summit on the 100th anniversary of the juvenile court. The Youth Summit, attended by more than 700 youth and adult allies, helps to launch the Youth First campaign in 2000. Teenage women and female staff of the SWYC create SOUL (Sisters Organized for
United Leadership), a young women's empowerment
program.

2000:
The citywide Youth First Campaign is launched,
focusing on ending the criminalization of youth and increasing the amount of money in the City of Chicago budget allocated for positive youth programs. Generation Y launches the Right to Learn Campaign, which exposes the racially-biased use of suspensions and expulsions in the Chicago Public School system.

2001:
The Youth First Campaign helps to increase the City of Chicago's budget for youth by $2.5 million. The Right to Learn Campaign helps to put pressure on CPS to increase the number of peer juries to 25 high schools.

2002:
Generation Y launches the Higher Learning Campaign, which seeks to increase college preparation and higher education opportunities for low-income students of color. The Youth First Campaign shifts to focus on citywide education issues and education funding reform.

2003:
The Higher Learning Campaign convinces the Board of Education to launch the AVID (Advancement Via
Individual Determination) Program in eight high
schools, to help students in the academic middle to take academically rigorous courses and attend
four-year colleges and universities.

2004:
Generation Y launches the Still We Rise Campaign
focused on racial profiling, police brutality, and
undocumented immigrant rights. The campaign builds
alliances with the Justice Coalition of Greater
Chicago, around police accountability, and with
the United Food and Commercial Workers, around
undocumented immigrant and workers' rights.