Springboard To Success Inc

Resident Events: Annual holiday party (Senior Gala) for CHA seniors (featuring food and entertainment) and CHA Homeownership Forum event.

SUMMER PROGRAMS:Become a Filmmaker: Geared towards female identifying youth, the Become a Filmmaker filmmaking intensive is designed to provide all essential skill sets for a job in film: pre-production, camera operation, lighting, sound, and video editing. Working in small teams, 15 participants created three original short films. The films were screened as part of their graduation celebration and then went on to play at local venues and film festivals. The films themes provide a voice for social topics important to CHA youth and serve as an entry point to community discussions on creating positive change in Chicago. Next Level Photography is a six-week program designed to expose CHA youth to the field of photography and develop professional photographic skills. Sixteen participants were given a professional DSLR camera and led through a number of technical and creative exercises to provide a base for a potential career in photography. CHA youth were exposed to camera mechanics, lighting techniques, and a variety of photography genres (sports, portraiture, fine art, wedding, street/photojournalism) presented by accomplished photographers in each field. Although they were given autonomy to explore topics, they were urged to focus on visual stories that felt important to them and their community. Movie & TV Scripts 101: Nine CHA youth were invited to participate in an intensive six-week summer program studying the art of screenwriting. Movie & TV Scripts 101 allowed youth to become well-versed in the Classical Hollywood conventions of writing for film and television, and then developing a story pitch in to an original short script. The program culminated with a live table read with actors from DePaul Universitys Theatre School. The final scripts presented at the graduation ceremony as a live table read were No Mans Land, a short fantasy drama about a boy who goes on an adventure with a giraffe, and Is This Love, a short crime romance on how far two individuals are willing to go for the other.

Operation Warm: S2S received corporate donations designated for CHA's annual CHA Opertaion Warm event. S2S was the fiscal administrator. The event is for distributing new coats to families and is also a service fair with multiple organizations offering services and giveaways.

Take Flight - College Reception: The Take Flight College Reception celebrates the accomplishments and achievements of graduating CHA high school seniors and endeavors to impart words of wisdom and guidance as they begin their collegiate journey. While CHA youth may receive financial aid to pay for tuition, they still face a significant gap between their financial aid award and their familys ability to pay the cost of other out-of-pocket expenses. The Take Flight reception meets a critical need by providing students with dorm room necessities such as linens, towels, and desk lamps. Each student also received a refurbished laptop.

Digital Inclusion: CHAs Digital Inclusion team helps residents confidently handle digital tasks in their daily lives by providing education, technology and internet access. S2S is the fiscal administrator for grants and sponsorships received to support digital inclusion efforts.

Back to School: A back to school pilot effort to provide uniforms (this was an initiative in 2024 only).

Finals Care Packages: Right after the Thanksgiving holiday and before final semester exams, S2S provides care packages for CHA college students across the country containing snacks and S2S tchotchkes.

Take Flight Networking & Recruitment: In supporting CHA youth getting to and through college, S2S also provides exposure and connection to professionals and a variety of career industries. The Take Flight Networking & Recruitment event offers CHA college students and recent graduates an opportunity to network, explore career options, and learn about summer internships and employment. It also serves as a valuable check-in over winter break to help them navigate any potential hurdles that could negatively impact their ability to continue in their studies.

Be Your Own Boss is a six-week paid internship program for high school age CHA youth. Twenty participants explored the startup ecosystem, networked with entrepreneurs, built community with peers from different backgrounds, and pitched the businesses they built in a competition format at the programs end. Participants explored key entrepreneurial concepts and applied this knowledge to a business being built with a group of co-founders. Alongside learning the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, this program enabled participants to practice, and refine key career skills including interview practice, resume building and networking.

S2s branded and other giveaways: s2s-branded merchandise, such as keychains and notebooks, gifted to cha residents, board members, and individuals who attended s2s events.

PeacePlayers uses the power of sport to unite, educate, and inspire young people to create a more peaceful world through sports programming, peace education and leadership development. Using basketball as both a hook and a tool, PeacePlayers created engaging and transformative learning experiences for 18 CHA young males ages 13 15.

Internships: Working with corporate partners, S2S helps secure paid, substantive summer internship opportunities for CHA youth to gain valuable insight into their chosen profession, build a network of professionals in their chosen field and add quality work experience to their resumes.