Issue Experts & Journalists Lend Expertise to Youth
16. Jan, 2010 
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The Issue Teach-In and Social Media Training that CYVN hosts on January 29-30 at Columbia College will bring 60 youth and youth media workers together with social media experts, journalists and policy specialists to create the blueprint for the Youth 2.0 Recovery Reporting Project.
CYVN is thrilled to have the following talent pool join us on Friday afternoon to assist youth in developing polling questions that can monitor how youth in Chicago are faring during the economic recovery.
Journalists and Public Policy Mentors
Ric Estrada Ric Estrada is First Deputy Commissioner of the Department of Family and Support Services for the City of Chicago. Prior to joining the City, Ric was for seven years executive director of Erie House, a leading social service agency founded in 1870. Ric holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Loyola University, a master’s in policy and administration from the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago and an MBA from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has been selected as an American Marshall Memorial Fellow by the German Marshall Fund, a fellow in the Leadership Greater Chicago program, and one of the 40 most influential Chicagoans under 40 years of age by Crain’s Chicago Business.
Therese Quinn – An Associate Professor of Art Education and Director of BFA with Emphasis in Art Education Program since 2002 at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Therese’s interests are educational equity and access in both formal (schools) and informal settings (museums), unsanctioned and resistant uses of public and private spaces, the effects of privatization on public schools, and the roles that art and artists play in social change for justice.
Rob Wildeboer – As a criminal justice reporter for Chicago Public Radio, Rob is responsible for covering courts and politics in the region. Rob has an M.A. in Journalism from Columbia College and a B.A. in Philosophy from Calvin College.
Kari Lydersen – an In These Times contributing editor, is a Chicago-based journalist writing for publications including The Washington Post (where she is a staff writer), the Chicago Reader and The Progressive.Immigration, Latin America, globalization and free trade, environmental issues and environmental racism, human trafficking, the sex industry, civil liberties, media analysis and criminal justice issues are among Kari’s specialties as a reporter, author and speaker.
Rebecca Estrada – Rebecca is the Director of Youth Options Unlimited (YOU). Rebecca graduated from Loyola University with a major in psychology and minor in women’s studies. Currently, she is earning her Master’s in Business Administration at National Louis University. Rebecca is bilingual and bicultural.
Troy Harden, Ed.D, LCSW, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Social Work at Chicago State University. Troy received his Masters in Social Work from Loyola University at Chicago. A trainer and facilitator since 1991, he has been responsible for co-creating and facilitating diverse educational learning experiences for men, women, adolescents and children in several countries. His research interests include youth development, cross cultural leadership, and race, class, gender and culture. His current research project focuses upon African American and Latino males involved in the criminal justice system and re-entry into Chicago Public Schools.
Florian Sichling
Florian Sichling – Florian is a native of Germany, where he received his undergraduate degree in social work from the University of Applied Sciences in Dresden. After several years of working with urban, immigrant youth, Florian came to Chicago in 2005 to pursue doctoral studies in the School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago. In his research he focuses on how neighborhood environments shape the developmental trajectories of urban youth. He currently lives in Edgewater.
Sarah Karp 
Karp is the associate editor for Catalyst-Chicago, a 20-year-old independent print and online magazine that covers education in Chicago . Her journalism work has been concentrated on subjects relating to teenagers and families in Chicago . This year, Karp won an Education Writers Association Award, a National Association of Black Journalist Award of Excellence and a Chicago Headline Club Peter A. Lisagor Award. For a year-long series on teenagers, in 2005, she won the Sidney A. Hillman Award. She previously worked for the Daily Southtown and is a graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Guillermo Gomez – Guillermo Gomez, M.S., is currently the Chicago Director of the Healthy Schools Campaign and is a social justice activist with more than 30 years experience in not-for-profit advocacy organizations focusing on underserved minority communities. He recently completed a four year NIEHS-funded research project, the Partnership to Reduce Disparities in Asthma and Obesity in Latino Schools, with the goal of developing effective strategies for motivating and empowering parents in minority urban communities to create changes for wellness and environmental health in schools. Guillermo is nationally recognized for his advocacy in combating childhood obesity in the Latino community and for building strategies with parents to around the creation of school wellness teams.
