Youth-Outlook

We had our beginnings in 1996 when a group of community members in DuPage County, Illinois met to discuss their concerns over the lack of area resources for LGBTQ youth. Two years later, Youth Outlook was up and running with our first drop-in center, our first grant, and our first executive director. Since that time, Youth Outlook (formerly Questioning Youth Center (QYC) has been committed to providing a safe, supportive, and respectful environment for adolescents, whether they identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ). Youth who identify as allies are welcome in all of our programs and settings.  We celebrated our tenth anniversary in 2008, and we are happy to report that we’ve served more than 1,800 youth in that time; resilient young people that we have been proud to know.

Youth Outlook is the only agency in the DuPage, Kane, and DeKalb counties of Illinois dedicated solely to serving LGBTQ youth. In order to accomplish our mission, we provide wellness education on a variety of topics, leadership development, and social space. We also conduct community education programs in order to change the social atmosphere that imperils LGBTQ youth in the first place.

Since our beginning, Youth Outlook has expanded dramatically, now offering four drop-in centers in three counties, as well as a youth leadership program, a group for transgender youth, off-site recreational activities, and mobile programming. We have five staff members and over 40 volunteers active each month. We work with interns from Aurora University, Northern Illinois University, College of DuPage and University of Illinois--Chicago. 

In 2002, in recognition of its ongoing work, Youth Outlook received an award for Excellence in Service to LGBTQ youth from the Human Rights Campaign Illinois Chapter.