End of Summer 2020 Newsleter
Chicago Desi Youth Rising End of Summer Recap
Devon Relief Fund
In April, the CDYR collective decided to shift our annual overnight youth retreat to a virtual format in response to COVID-19. This allowed us to focus our remaining funds and energy on mutual aid efforts to help meet our community’s immediate needs. With West Ridge experiencing high rates of COVID-19, and many working-class families struggling due to closures of small businesses and restaurants, the CDYR collective launched the Devon Relief Fund. We raised almost $35,000 and were able to provide direct financial aid to 66 families, prioritizing undocumented applicants and families with youth.
In July, in response to the national uprisings around racial justice, CDYR youth led an intergenerational dialogue for South Asian parents, uncles, and aunties around understanding the #BlackLivesMatter movement, and the South Asian community's role. CDYR youth discussed topics including systemic racism, the racial positioning of South Asians in the United States, anti-Blackness, and what the calls for defunding the police mean. If you would like to partner with CDYR to bring this virtual teach-in to your organization, business, or religious institution, please contact us at chicagodesiyouthrising@gmail.com.
2020 Summer Retreat
In early August, we kicked off our 2020 cohort with a virtual leadership retreat! Our 2020 cohort consists of 20 amazing young 15-21 year olds from across the Chicagoland area, and a few elsewhere in the country! We spend the weekend building community, discussing our own experiences contextualized in systems of privilege and oppression, deepening our relationships, and learning from amazing community leaders. We learned about police and prison abolition, and the links between anti-Black and anti-immigrant sentiments from Benji Hart; Sharmin Hussein from Equality Labs led us in a workshop around Caste, anti-Muslim racism and anti-Blackness in South Asia and the diaspora; and Nash Alam facilitated a workshop around digital organizing and social movements. We are excited to be reconvening with our 2020 cohort during the 2020-2021 school year!
#CopsOutCPS
This summer, CDYR joined the #CopsOutCPS coalition and worked with Pilsen Alliance Youth committee to move Sendhil Revuluri, a Chicago Board of Education Member who is part of both of our communities, to vote to end the contract between CPS and CPD. We wrote him an open letter, met with Revuluri, and held a solidarity block party pressuring him to support #CopsOutCPS, where we cherished the opportunity to come together with our Latine family in an afternoon of solidarity, rage, and joy, that reminded us that we keep us safe! While we are extremely disappointed that the Board voted to renew the contract with CPD on August 26th, we are grateful for the leadership, vision, and wins from Black and brown youth across the city who have been leading this work for years. CDYR remains committed to supporting youth leaders fighting for police free schools.
This summer, CDYR transitioned our fiscal sponsorship to Apna Ghar. We are endlessly grateful to our fiscal sponsor and mentor of many years, Chicago Freedom School, for helping us grow and learn as a collective. We're excited to keep showing up for and with CFS, and we’re looking forward to exploring new directions for growth as an organization with Apna Ghar’s support.
If you would like to make a donation to help sustain our work, please do so here!
