A 2025 Retrospective: What Chicago Youth Need and How We Get It To Them

When I look back on 2025, what stands out most are the outcomes we saw for our young people and how clearly they reflect the work we’ve been building toward.

As a result of internship placements through our Accelerate program, eight students received internship extensions, and one was offered a full-time role by their host site. When we talk about access, connectivity, and social capital, these are the outcomes we’re working toward - young people being positioned for what comes next, not just what’s in front of them.

One of our Gray Matter alumni completed his apprenticeship last year and was offered a full-time role earning $70,000 at just 23 years old. Outcomes like this speak directly to our work to close the racial wealth gap by positioning young people for opportunities that can propel them forward. He credits much of his professional success to the mindset he developed through Gray Matter - a powerful reminder of why this work matters.

These are the exact success stories we’ve been working toward in our ten years of closing the opportunity gap. 

Last year also reinforced something we’ve been paying close attention to: how young people learn best.

During the pandemic, we shifted to virtual and hybrid programming, which allowed us to continue reaching students across the city. But with everything we’ve learned since, and with students naming a desire for deeper connection and stronger social skill-building, it’s clear that being together in person yields stronger outcomes. In 2026, we’re returning to an in-person program model. It’s how Gray Matter started, and it’s where we’re seeing the most meaningful engagement, collaboration, and growth.

None of this happens without community and donor support.

At our annual Pitch Black pitch competition, that support showed up in a powerful way. Beyond the seed funding we provide, people in the room made additional financial commitments, shared connections, and offered ongoing support to our young entrepreneurs - allowing students to experience, in real time, how strong ideas attract belief, resources, and opportunity.

Through our partnership with the Virgil Abloh Foundation, 10 Chicago students with creative interests from underrepresented backgrounds participated in the Abloh Air 001 pilot, spending nine transformative days in London and Paris. Two of those students were Gray Matter alumni. The exposure to life abroad, paired with the expansion of their networks, exemplifies what we mean when we say we are catalysts connecting young people to experiences that ignite ownership, unrealized possibility, and lasting change.

As we look ahead, this work is becoming more urgent and necessary.

While the circumstances around us may feel uncertain and heavy, it’s exactly why the next generation of leaders must be developed, trained, equipped, and resourced for the future ahead.

Critical thinking, innovation, social change agency, and collaboration will be essential, and we’re proud to have built an experiential model to help young people sharpen those skills is work we’re extremely proud to continue.

I’m deeply grateful for our team, our partners, and everyone who showed up for Gray Matter this past year.

-Britney Robbins, CEO & Founder