YJC’s mission is “Success for young people in the workplace and in life.” YJC is a leading youth workforce development agency in Cook County, founded in Evanston in 1983 and expanding services to Chicago in the last decade. YJC offers comprehensive workforce development services for youth and young adults ages 14-25, including job training and placement, personalized career advising, financial literacy training and coaching, work-based learning programs, career advancement supports for roughly 2,000 youth and young adults each year, the vast majority of whom are low-income Black and Brown youth. YJC is a certified Financial Opportunity Center through the Local Initiatives Support Corporation network and integrates financial guidance and literacy training into its programs and services. YJC programs are available to any youth who requests them, and the agency prioritizes serving youth from under-served and disadvantaged communities.  

Karen Tollenaar Demorest has served as the Executive Director of the Youth Job Center (YJC) since August of 2014.  YJC was founded in Evanston in 1983 to help youth find work and today, offers a robust set of services to youth throughout Chicagoland, designed to help participants identify and pursue career options while simultaneously supporting development of the skills, competencies, and resiliency to be successful in the workplace.