Dar’tavous Dorsey

Dar’tavous Dorsey is a lifelong Chicagoan whose deepest passion is ensuring all youth, particularly young Black men, have the safety, structure, love, and support they need to thrive and achieve their most ambitious dreams.  Passion has fueled Mr. Dorsey’s 18-year career; leading him to create and implement numerous youth development programs and initiatives.

Dar’tavous is the Director of Partnerships and Community Engagement for the Education Lab and Crime Lab. In this role, Dar’tavous leads a portfolio of projects and initiatives aimed at identifying and scaling programs and interventions to increase graduation rates for youth who are disengaged from school and to decrease youth violence. He also directs and manages a cross-functional team of project managers, researchers, data analysts, and implementation managers to monitor progress toward key project goals and deliverables. Lastly, Dar’tavous advises city officials on how to improve outcomes in the Options Schools (Chicago’s alternative schools system) that serve 10,000+ Chicago Public Schools students a year who are at a high risk of dropping out of school.

Highlights of his work outside the Labs include serving as the West Region Supervisor at Youth Guidance’s Becoming A Man program. In 2019, Mr. Dorsey founded a mentoring and housing nonprofit E.Y.E. Lead Foundation to better support young men of color who experience conjoined barriers to achieving their post-secondary goals. Through his work, Mr. Dorsey is proud to have mentored more than 500 young men, modeling Black excellence and providing social-emotional, academic, and post-secondary guidance. Mr. Dorsey is a proud servant in the community, serving on numerous Boards, and he was recently appointed by Governor JB Pritzker to the State of Illinois Children and Family Service Advisory Council.