Andrea Durbin has been the Chief Executive Officer of Illinois Collaboration on Youth since 2012. A passionate and life-long advocate for young people, she leads ICOY’s work to children, youth, and their families thrive. She joined ICOY in 2009 as policy and advocacy director.

In 2017, Andrea helped to shepherd a long-discussed merger with the Child Care Association of Illinois, which took effect on July 1, 2017. Following the merger, ICOY is now the largest provider voice for services to children, youth, and families across the state.

In 2016 and 2017, Andrea fought to ensure that human service providers were paid for the work they did during Illinois’ historic and destructive state budget impasse, forming the Pay Now Illinois coalition to sue then-Governor Bruce Rauner and state agency heads. The lawsuit attracted national attention and was key in ensuring that providers were ultimately paid in full for their work.

In 2019, Andrea was recognized with the Social Impact Award from the Crown Family School of Social Work, Policy, and Practice at the University of Chicago. Chicago Business Journal named her a Woman of Influence in 2017. She served as an adjunct faculty member in the graduate School of Public Service at DePaul University from 2019-2022.

Prior to joining ICOY, Andrea worked for seven years in education, including serving as the Director of Communications at the Crown School, and for eight years at Aunt Martha’s Health and Wellness, where she led efforts to develop programs for high-risk youth, and primary and preventive health services for medically underserved communities. She has a master’s degree in social service administration from the University of Chicago, and a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University. A mother of three, Andrea lives in Chicago where she is active in her local community as a Trustee for Morgan Park Academy.