Youth Development Programs
Carole Robertson Center for Learning – North Lawndale, 3701 West Ogden Avenue, Chicago, IL 60623
About
Youth Development Programs offers after-school programs and a Summer Day Camp that include activities such as art, STEM, social-emotional learning, problem-solving skills, team-building, and activism. The program also includes general activity-based sessions that take place during the school year and school closures.
• Ages: 5–17 years old
• Schedule: Program centers operate between 8:00am and 5:00pm, with an administrative office schedule of 8:30am to 4:30pm
Since 1976, the Carole Robertson Center for Learning has operated Youth Development Programs as part of its work to educate, enrich, and empower children and their families. Youth Development Programs are delivered through a highly qualified, energetic, and passionate staff. The leadership team includes Brenda Berman, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications; LaTonya Jones, Director (North Lawndale); Vanessa Powell, Contact (Little Village); and Lucy Taylor, Director (Albany Park). The Center describes itself as “for families, by families, with families,” and as a leader in building brains and championing families, with a living incubator approach for fresh innovations in early childhood education and youth development. The approach combines direct service, robust data and evaluation practices, and community-based advocacy, and offers experiences that infuse youth voice and choice and are grounded in research and best practices. Youth Development Programs include high quality academic support and enrichment activities during the school year and a Summer Day Camp offered during school closures. The Carole Robertson Memorial Scholarship offers eligible high school juniors and seniors a chance to win $5,000 in college expenses. The Center reaches 15,000 children and adults annually through direct service programs, community partnerships, workforce development efforts, and support services for independent child care providers, with a direct service footprint in more than two dozen Chicago communities. The Center engages in community-based advocacy, frames child care networking and advocacy around child care as a human right and vital to economic success and personal well-being, and offers individual, group, and corporate volunteer opportunities. Youth & Leadership Development within these programs is focused on changing the world outside their walls to improve opportunities and on developing leaders today to create a better world tomorrow.
Last updated April 18, 2026.
• Ages: 5–17 years old
• Schedule: Program centers operate between 8:00am and 5:00pm, with an administrative office schedule of 8:30am to 4:30pm
Since 1976, the Carole Robertson Center for Learning has operated Youth Development Programs as part of its work to educate, enrich, and empower children and their families. Youth Development Programs are delivered through a highly qualified, energetic, and passionate staff. The leadership team includes Brenda Berman, Senior Director of Marketing and Communications; LaTonya Jones, Director (North Lawndale); Vanessa Powell, Contact (Little Village); and Lucy Taylor, Director (Albany Park). The Center describes itself as “for families, by families, with families,” and as a leader in building brains and championing families, with a living incubator approach for fresh innovations in early childhood education and youth development. The approach combines direct service, robust data and evaluation practices, and community-based advocacy, and offers experiences that infuse youth voice and choice and are grounded in research and best practices. Youth Development Programs include high quality academic support and enrichment activities during the school year and a Summer Day Camp offered during school closures. The Carole Robertson Memorial Scholarship offers eligible high school juniors and seniors a chance to win $5,000 in college expenses. The Center reaches 15,000 children and adults annually through direct service programs, community partnerships, workforce development efforts, and support services for independent child care providers, with a direct service footprint in more than two dozen Chicago communities. The Center engages in community-based advocacy, frames child care networking and advocacy around child care as a human right and vital to economic success and personal well-being, and offers individual, group, and corporate volunteer opportunities. Youth & Leadership Development within these programs is focused on changing the world outside their walls to improve opportunities and on developing leaders today to create a better world tomorrow.
Last updated April 18, 2026.
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