Alderman Jesse L. Fuentes (26th) convened a subject matter hearing on June 24, 2026, with a deliberate purpose: to amplify the voices most conspicuously absent from debates about youth gatherings in Chicago — the young people themselves.
Fuentes, chair of the City Council’s Subcommittee on Youth Employment, framed the hearing as fundamentally different from previous discussions that had focused on policing and punishment.
“The closest to the problems are the closest to the solutions,” he said, signaling that solutions would emerge from youth testimony, not from aldermanic assumptions.
The committee had received written input from residents and made clear that the hearing would inform future legislative and budgetary decisions. Fuentes rejected incarceration as a policy response, citing decades of evidence that such approaches have deepened inequality rather than solved problems.
“We cannot simply incarcerate young people. This tactic has been tried and has led to the school-to-prison pipeline and mass incarceration of Black and brown children,” Fuentes said. “Today, I look forward to our committee listening and asking solution-driven questions.”
What followed was testimony that complicated the dominant narrative of chaos and criminality surrounding youth gatherings on the South and West sides and downtown.
When investment works
Demarion Spann, a recent Collins Academy graduate heading to Morehouse College, spoke about the transformative power of intentional community investment. Growing up in North Lawndale with limited opportunities for belonging and participation, Spann described how structured youth programs change trajectories.
“Young people like myself are growing up in a moment where opportunities to belong, to participate, and to be heard are still too limited,” Spann said. “But when we do have spaces, real intentional spaces, everything does change.”
Spann pointed to My Block, My Hood, My City’s annual Downtown Day as evidence that large youth gatherings can be both safe and economically productive. The organization brings nearly 1,000 teenagers downtown each year—with zero incidents.
“On average at Downtown Day, we pour more than $56,000 into downtown businesses, proving that when you invest in youth, you’re also investing in the entire city of Chicago,” Spann said.
Spann directly challenged aldermen who have opposed youth gatherings or proposed punitive measures. He called out Alderman Monique Scott’s support for a proposed ordinance that would fine parents $1,000 if their teen attended a youth gathering.
“Parents barely can keep their head above water right now with all these bills and all these taxes that’s coming their way,” Spann said. Instead of punishment, Spann called for a City Council that treats young people as partners in building the city rather than problems to manage.
The case for safe spaces
Multiple youth testified about the absence of accessible, free spaces in their neighborhoods—and what that absence creates.
Romya Simone, a youth leader in Garfield Park, described how paid youth programs provide more than activities; they offer identity, voice, and healing. When such spaces close, young people disconnect from their communities.
“When young people attend youth gatherings or attend a teen trend, it is not to bring harm or to bring danger to the city, but instead, we want to find a place where we feel safe, where we can have fun, and we can be ourselves,” Simone said.
Fabian Walker, 19, from South Shore, was blunt about the vacuum in his neighborhood. “In the South Shore neighborhood, there’s no free spaces or safe spaces for kids to chill or be theyself or party. They took all the free spaces from us and they expect us not to go to the beach or go downtown. But there’s nowhere for us to connect.”
Walker also defended parents against blame, noting that many are working multiple jobs to provide for their families.
Deja Williams, a recent Hyde Park Academy graduate, framed the issue simply: young people want what everyone else wants — somewhere to go, people to spend time with, and a sense of belonging in their city. They offered a concrete proposal: if the city invested $1 million in her neighborhood, she would allocate it toward community centers, job opportunities, mentorship, and mental health resources.
“We’re not asking for a special treatment,” Williams said. “We ask for opportunities. And we’re asking for safe spaces to spend time. Resources that support our growth. And invest in our city. When young people give us support and opportunities, we can thrive.”
Evidence from the field
Jamal Cole, founder of My Block, My Hood, My City, provided both anecdotal and economic evidence that investment works. Downtown Day gives each youth $50 and a simple message: the city belongs to you too.
“The $50 gives them ownership, it gives them agency, it gives them a choice of their own experience,” Cole said. Last year, over 1,800 youth participated with zero incidents.
Cole identified the root cause plainly: neighborhoods lack investment. “If you’re not investing in my neighborhood, you can’t get mad at teenagers for going to places that have been invested in.”
Competing visions
The hearing also surfaced sharp disagreement about causes and solutions.
Taewon Sims, a community observer, described what he characterized as a manufactured incident at the Joan Kroc Community Center on June 23.
When the facility closed its doors, approximately 75 to 100 youth were forced outside, where they mixed with other young people, creating chaos, he said.
“They cut these children off to safety, safe spaces,” Sims said. He criticized the city’s narrative about Black youth, arguing that young people are being stigmatized while resources are withheld.
Sims accused Mayor Brandon Johnson of deflecting responsibility and prioritizing undocumented immigrants over Black youth. “Black foundational American children have nothing to do. But they’ve given all the consideration to the undocumented,” Sims said.
Alderman Raymond Lopez (15th) offered a different perspective, arguing that some youth are deliberately choosing destructive behavior and that parental accountability is critical.
“The frustrating thing about the hearing on teen takeovers is this. These youth want to do only what they want to do,” Lopez said. He argued that structure, discipline, and consequences are essential—not optional.
Lopez acknowledged that many youth engage in lawful activities without incident.
“I think that there are plenty of things that youth can and often do do that aren’t illegal, that are perfectly fine,” he said. Lopez said hundreds of youth go to libraries, museums, parks and beaches without incident.
But he said a small group is using broader youth sympathy as cover for destructive behavior.
Still, Lopez clarified that his parental accountability ordinance has been mischaracterized.
The mandatory component is family counseling, not fines. “No amount of more money being spent on programs for youth can compete to having one or two parents paying full attention to what you’re doing as a youth,” Lopez said.
He emphasized parental responsibility as foundational.
“The love you seek is under your roof. If only we give the parents the opportunity to exercise their power,” Lopez said.
What investment achieves
Alderman Mike Rodriguez of the 22nd Ward offered a data-driven case study. Raised in Little Village since the 1980s and when he moved as an adult into Little Village in 2003, he witnessed the transformation of Gary Ortiz Field from an abandoned, violence-plagued space into a hub of pro-family, pro-youth activity—thanks to community organizers like Rob Castaneda of Beyond the Ball, he said.
The results are striking: violence is down 70 percent in Little Village, compared to 30 percent citywide and 20 percent nationally, according to Rodriguez.
“In the 1980s, we had a war on drugs that was really a war on inner city communities. It was a war on Black and brown families,” he said. “But now we are smart on crime. Now we are learning how to invest in communities, and that’s why you get to see these drops in violence.”
Rodriguez asked the youth directly: “What do you think is productive at keeping streets safe, keeping young people engaged, and on a positive trajectory to do good things in their lives?”
Jaylen Mendez answered by pointing to existing programs and the quality of adult relationships within them. Youth don’t want adults eliminated from their spaces; they want adults who work with them, not against them.
“It’s not that the youth wants to throw out adults completely, it’s that we just want adults that work with us and understand and are able to regress to their own youth in order to do that,” Mendez said.
Demarion Spann contrasted this vision with current police tactics at youth gatherings. “What works? It’s generally when you’re not met with a gun and a bulletproof vest,” Spann said. Police form intimidating lines and make threats; youth respond with defensiveness.
“We just don’t want to be met with the gun because you all say it’s 1,000 of us out there, and we causing all these problems, but it’s also 500 police with guns on their hips. So we don’t know what could be next,” he said.
What research reveals
Dr. Amethia Franklin, an assistant professor of criminal justice and sociology at Concordia University, presented research that undermined the rationale for enforcement-focused responses. Her study of teen gatherings in Chicago and other cities found that charges are predominantly disorderly conduct—not weapons or organized violence.
“That matters, because the policy responses that’s being proposed, these curfews, these ordinances, parental accountability laws, are not proportionate to what the data is actually showing us,” Franklin said.
Enforcement doesn’t reduce gatherings; it displaces them, she said. Youth are not gathering randomly but seeking accessible, visible spaces—often safer than their own neighborhoods.
“One young woman said publicly a few weeks ago on record, ‘We are not safe in our own communities.’ When we invoke public safety to justify sending her home, we should be honest about what we are actually doing. Where are we actually sending her to?” Franklin said.
Franklin identified the structural drivers: school closings, public housing destruction, defunding of recreational centers, and cuts to after-school programs. “These are not background details, they are the story,” she said. “When we talk about public safety, how can we not keep our kids safe? We owe these young people. They are part of our public safety initiative.”
The City of Chicago provides many opportunities for youth to access safe spaces, events and more via its My CHI. My Future app. For more information, go to: https://explore.mychimyfuture.org/