Elgin Human Services Council Launches the #ElginCopingChallenge

The Elgin Human Service Council (EHSC), a coalition of 20+ Elgin-serving social service agencies, has launched the #ElginCopingChallenge in partnership with various faith, cultural, and civic institutions of Elgin.The #ElginCopingChallenge tool is a citywide effort to encourage Elgin youth to cope in healthy ways with the stress of the pandemic.

Bobby Jackson, Chair of EHSC, explains, “It became clear over the course of the last year that young people are dealing with the pandemic and often feel overlooked and disconnected. Several EHSC member organizations saw this issue in their clientele and in their therapy settings. They set out to build a campaign trying to make sure that young people could still get connected to each other as well as to helpful services, events, programs, and resources that are still available to them to help them cope. A couple of weeks into this project, the Gail Borden library joined as a partner and agreed to host the database where we could maintain an up-to-date list of these things, and the #ElginCopingChallenge was born.”

As ECC student, Teresita, says, “The pandemic made me feel really isolated. But I wanted to cope the right way. I reached out to people I hadn’t spoken to in a while, picked up old hobbies, and took the time to work on myself. I’m always on the lookout for ways to connect socially.”

The #ElginCopingChallenge initiative will launch four weeks of social media content on TikTok, Facebook, and Instagram meant to build awareness of the experience of young people during the pandemic, as well as highlighting events, programs, resources, and services available for young people ages 12-22. The campaign will point to a new database hosted at gailborden.info/elginteens

“Elgin young people, like all of us, are being faced with events that may be challenging their way of life. There is a pandemic. There is political unrest. Many feel as if they are wrestling with historic issues and need places, activities, and communities to help them work through it all.” explains Bernie May, from Family Service Association. “For young people in our community, it is absolutely crucial that we collectively learn to cope in healthy ways and build safe communities. That’s the goal of the #ElginCopingChallenge.”

Abby, a local high school student and one of the contributors to the campaign stated, “Doing remote school and not seeing friends has made life hard and sometimes sad. It’s nice to be able to share the way I deal with that with other people. We are actually in this together even though we aren’t together. “

The EHSC was recently recognized by the City of Elgin for their invaluable work coordinating information and resources in the wake of COVID. EHSC member agencies also played a critical role in establishing a 708 Mental Health Board for Elgin Township. EHSC continues to meet on a biweekly basis, developing a collective strategy to ensure that the social service agencies of Elgin are able to provide the most effective and accessible services to those in need.