Marques Watts is a youth leader with Communities United and Voices of Youth in Chicago Education (VOYCE).
Marques is a youth leader organizing to dismantle the school-to-prison pipeline and uplift solutions driven by young people to redefine what it means to be safe in our schools and communities. He also serves as president of the Black Student Union at his high school.
“In this partnership with Lurie Children’s hospital, we have an opportunity to impact the mental health system by investing in youth leadership that will lead to change the way we are doing healing and restoration for Black and Brown youth, and addressing root causes of trauma in our communities.
We want to lead the transformation of our city that values the identities of Black and Brown youth, and where we are able to flourish in our communities. Our experiences are the knowledge that we use to create healing-centered communities and the investments that are needed for generations to come.”