Just Released: ICAH’s re:Birth Plan

We hope you enjoy the ICAH re:Birth Plan, in place of a traditional report on our past 8 months of transition. It was inspired by the birth plan we created in the past for young parents in our Birth Justice Toolkit. Alongside young people, board members, collaborating artists, and many people we admire: We learned a lot. We changed a lot. And the work continues.

The toxins of oppression run deep, but we can be mushrooms. We transform those toxins day by day: in ICAH protocols, relationships, and future choices.

The re:Birth process helped us see some of what is needed for that future to come to pass: Youth Leadership, Care, and Accountability (to our values and to our people).

A note about young people’s leadership:

As a youth-centered Reproductive Justice organization, we have a duty to uproot the systems and frameworks that prevent young people from having organizational power.

Through developments like forming a Youth Committee and hiring youth staff (and youth program alums), we aim to create an environment where young people don’t only participate in ICAH spaces and programs but can have a deeper role in the creation and implementation of these programs. The Youth Committee is a specific space where ICAH staff and consultants are sharing power as adult accomplices: we trust young people to shape ICAH’s future work based on our shared values and their curiosity and expertise. It is also necessary that young people are meaningfully part of spaces – like staff meetings – where we make decisions about ICAH’s organizational practices and the way we embody Reproductive Justice in our day-to-day work. We reject organizational frameworks and beliefs that tell us not to trust young people with power and leadership roles.

Keep reading by downloading the full re:Birth plan pdf!

I WANNA LEARN ABOUT REPRODUCTIVE JUSTICE

I WANNA LEARN ABOUT SEX EDUCATION/SEXUAL PLEASURE SYLLABUS

I WANNA LEARN ABOUT LIBERATION SYLLABUS

Get to know our co-leaders - with more on the horizon!

Alyssa Vera Ramos, (she/her/ella) Transition Co-Director, December 2021 - July 2022 
Alyssa is a cultural worker, facilitator, theatre artist, and organizer dedicated to dreaming — and living into — a liberated world. She deeply believes that cultural problems demand cultural solutions: a philosophy which has guided her over seven years of youth organizing and artistic collaborations at ICAH. Since 2013, Alyssa has served as a sex educator, For Youth Inquiry (FYI) Performance Company member, actor, and later Artistic Director, Movement Building Organizer, and Arts Justice Organizer in her tenure at ICAH. Most recently, she stewarded ICAH’s culture shift work publicly and internally as Director of Cultural Strategies, working in deep collaboration with young folks, theatre artists, and close organizational partners (and winning the Repeal of PNA!). Alyssa also co-designs and co-facilitates anti-racism training for teaching artists in the Midwest, like Arts Force Iowa and Arts Ed Chi. Additionally important to her vision for self and community is her work as a bomba student at La Escuelita Bombera de Corazón and as an organizer of Swarm Artist Residency, specifically in anti-racist and healing arts programming curation. A lifelong learner, she has trained in community accountability with Just Practice and in civic engagement through performance at Sojourn Theatre Institute, Pedagogy & Theatre of the Oppressed, Inc. (PTO), and Cardboard Citizens-UK. Alyssa is a queer, cis, Puerto Rican woman based in Chicago, IL.

Aisha Chaudhri, (no pronouns) Transition Co-Director, December 2021 - July 2022
Aisha has been a social justice activist for over 23 years and has been working in nonprofits on Reproductive Justice (RJ) issues for almost 15 years. Aisha served as the co-chair of the board of directors at ICAH from 2019-2021 and as the Education Manager from 2013-2018. Aisha has worked with immigrant survivors of gender-based violence at a domestic violence shelter and with young people around sexual health, rights, and identities to create training programs on how to provide trauma-responsive social services and health care. Most recently Aisha was the RJ Manager at EverThrive Illinois leading the Contraceptive Justice Project, a community-driven contraceptive access project rooted in the RJ framework, and RJ-centered legislative and administrative policy advocacy. Aisha is also a steering committee member of the American Society for Emergency Contraception (ASEC) and was recognized in 2015 by the Cook County Commission on Women’s Issues as the Peggy A. Montes Unsung Heroine At Large awardee. Aisha’s commitment to anti-oppression work stays rooted in the experiences of marginalized communities including Aisha’s own queer, gender nonconforming, femme, Punjabi, immigrant, and Muslim identities.

Chinyere Achebe, (she/her) Board Co-Chair, as of November 18, 2021
Chinyere Achebe (she/her) is an enthusiastic facilitator who is committed to fostering an equitable environment where individuals feel seen and heard. As an active listener and effective communicator, Chi has had the pleasure of holding space for and with some dynamic humans. Chi has had the privilege of organizing a residency for local artists with Swarm Artist Residency, led self-care and harmful bias trainings with faculty and students at the School of the Art Institute, Williams College, University of Denver, and Scattergood Friends School. She  has also facilitated conflict resolution training for the Chicago Recovery Alliance and has led professional trainings focusing on volunteer organizing and communication strategies with The American Heart Association. Chi infuses wellness, mindfulness and care in all she does and this has generated opportunities to facilitate unique circles, lead impactful trainings, sit in on panel discussions, be a guest on podcasts, curate mindful conversations, and engage youth and adults in meaningful programming. 

Jenni Kotting, (she/her) Board Co-Chair since January 2021, former staff member
Jenni served as ICAH’s Communications Director from 2012-2015 and has been a board member of ICAH since June 2018. She is now a Strategic Communications consultant and graphic designer who devotes her career to supporting culture shift and social justice. She brings more than a decade of experience in collaboratively producing values-driving messaging and documents, inclusive facilitation processes, narrative change strategy, and innovative media through a strong racial justice lens. Jenni’s organizational relationships include a range of organizations that relate strongly to ICAH’s mission, including: Liberate Abortion Campaign, National Network of Abortion Funds, We Testify, If/When/How, Access Reproductive Care-Southeast, Amplify Georgia, Movement Voter Project, BYP100, Black Lives Matter Global Network, Bold Futures New Mexico, Women’s Foundation of Oregon, Trust-Based Philanthropy Project, ANSIRH, Chicago Youth Job Center, Black Feminist Future, and more. Jenni is a white cis woman of Italian descent living in Chicago, IL.

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