The Virtual FLIP Summer Series 2020 applications are now closed. Please visit our FLIP engagement page for more information on our sessions. 

Future Leaders in Planning (FLIP) is the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning's (CMAP) leadership development program for high school and college students in Northeastern Illinois. FLIP is a FREE program where teens learn about the issues that shape our region and think of solutions with other students from Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties. Participants meet and interact with selected regional leaders who make key planning decisions in our communities.

Read a recap of the 2019 FLIP program activities, trips and experiences. Learn more in the behind-the-scenes video below. 

The Future Leaders in Planning Program (FLIP) will be held virtually this year. The Virtual FLIP Summer Series will highlight topics related to the impacts of planning during COVID-19, water resource management, inequalities in urban planning, and urban street festivals for a four-week period in July and August.  

Over four weeks, the Virtual FLIP Summer Series will offer high school and college students one unique live-streamed session followed by an interactive activity led by regional planning experts from CMAP and partner agencies. The series will continue the goals of FLIP: to grow the pipelines of planners, to provide a meaningful and inclusive civic leadership curriculum to young people, and to support CMAP’s core values across our seven-county region. 

The live content will be made available to participants through a conference link after participants register. Participants who attend all four sessions will receive a Future Leaders in Planning certificate. 

 
The dates of commitment are as follows. All sessions will be held from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. CST.
 

Orientation

Thursday, July 9, 2020

Week 1:  Planning for Urban Street Festivals

Thursday, July 16, 2020

Week 2: The Truth About Drinking Water

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Week 3: Planning Amid COVID-19

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Week 4: Inequalities in Urban Planning

Thursday, August 6, 2020

The Virtual FLIP Summer Series will be a great opportunity for students to learn about the world of urban planning and address planning issues in their communities. In order to participate, students must: 

• Register to attend 
• Be currently enrolled in high school or college 
• Live in one of the seven counties of the northeastern Illinois region (Cook, DuPage, Kane, Kendall, Lake, McHenry, and Will counties) 
• Possess a desire to learn more about the region and our communities 

Applications are now closed.  Please visit our FLIP engagement page for more information on our sessions. 

To meet other youth in the region and learn more about past FLIP activities, visit the FLIP Facebook page.

For general inquiries, email FLIP@cmap.illinois.gov. 

For more information, please contact Michelle Agunloye (@magunloye@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8764) or Courtney Barnes (cbarnes@cmap.illinois.gov or 312-386-8628).