Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health

For more than three decades, ICAH has organized and trained young people to advocate for issues that directly affect their lives and communities. ICAH has conducted statewide research, developed resources, changed public policy, and hosted frequent events and training sessions for youth and service providers, always with an emphasis on building youth leadership skills and serving marginalized populations, including low-income, immigrant, homeless, LGBTQ, and pregnant and parenting adolescents. Today ICAH continues to work in partnership with youth, advocating policies and practices that promote a positive approach to adolescent sexual health and parenting.

NIRH first partnered with ICAH in 2009 to co-host the Midwest Regional Summit in Chicago, bringing together advocates, elected leaders, and public health officials to discuss reproductive health challenges and opportunities for solutions.

In 2010, with NIRH support, ICAH hosted the “Young, Smart and Pregnant: Overcoming Barriers to Academic Success” forum in which participants shared their perspectives on how to better support pregnant and parenting youth in Chicago and advocated for passage of ICAH’s Pregnant and Parenting Youth Bill of Rights in Chicago public schools.

In 2014, NIRH provided support to the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health (ICAH) to launch a youth-focused campaign, #StopPNA, to shift public perception about the state’s parental notification law.