Youth Protection Policy

The core rules every adult at Rainbow DJ Lab follows to prevent abuse and misconduct, from one-on-one time to messages, gifts, photos and touch.

Status of this policy

This policy was adopted by the Ras Tafari Inc. board on October 17, 2026. It takes effect before the first class and applies to every adult who takes part in a Lab activity: coaches, mentors, volunteers, guest DJs, and Ras Tafari Inc. officers, including the President. Its conduct rules also bind vendor staff on site, such as Q-Ality Sound's sound and stage crew (see Rule 10). No staff have been hired yet. Every person who is hired or volunteers must read and sign this policy before their first class.

The policy covers every Lab activity: classes, Spotlight, listen-back days, the Rainbow Showcase, and any messages or online contact connected to the Lab.

Definitions

Grooming: warning signs we watch for

Any of these is reported at once to the Chicago Park District (the Rainbow Beach Park office, (312) 745-1479, or any Park District staff member) and to the Lab lead (Stephen Henry), and is a violation of this policy even if nothing else has happened:

• Singling out one child for special attention, gifts, privileges or "extra lessons."
• Asking a child to keep a secret, or saying "this is just between us."
• Contacting a child privately: texts, DMs, social media, gaming chats.
• Trying to be alone with a child, offering rides, or arranging to meet outside the Lab.
• Testing boundaries: tickling, wrestling, lap-sitting, long hugs, comments about a child's body or looks.
• Sharing personal problems, adult content or sexual jokes with a child.
• Discouraging a child from telling a parent, or criticizing the child's parents.

Rule 1: Two adults, always

1. At least two screened adults (cleared by the Chicago Park District's background check, under its rules) are present with children at all times. Vendor staff never count as one of them.
2. No adult is ever alone with a child out of sight. Not in a closet, office, gear room, car, or behind a closed door.
3. Ratio: no more than 6 children per screened adult. Little DJs (ages 5–7) also have their own grown-up in the room.
4. If one adult must leave the room, the class pauses or the children stay with the other adult in view. One adult never takes one child somewhere alone.
5. If the second adult does not arrive, class does not start. Children stay with their parent at drop-off until two screened adults are present, or class is cancelled.

Rule 2: One-on-one time is observable and interruptible

Some teaching is naturally one-on-one, for example listen-back Missions (6, 10 and 13), where a mentor reviews a child's 2-minute recording.

1. It happens in the main room, in the open, in sight of the other adult and the class.
2. Doors stay open. Windows in doors are never covered.
3. Never in a parked car, a gear room, a restroom, or any private space.
4. A parent may sit in on any one-on-one review of their own child.
5. If a child needs to talk privately (for example, they are upset), the adult moves just out of earshot but stays in plain view of the other adult.

Rule 3: Electronic communication

1. No private messaging with children. Adults never text, DM, email, call, video-chat, or game-chat with a child one-on-one, on any app.
2. Lab messages go to parents and guardians. For Teen DJs (ages 12–17), a message to a teen is only sent to a group that includes the parent, or with the parent copied.
3. No social media connections with children. Adults do not friend, follow, or accept follow requests from enrolled children on personal accounts.
4. The live app is not a private channel to a child. A coach's "glow note" for a child goes to that child's own family through their private family link, and every coach can see it. Glow notes never appear on the in-room screens. Coaches write nothing to a child they would not want that child's parent and the other coaches to read. Coach messages in the app go to the whole class at once, never privately to one child. See Privacy.
5. Quiet hours: no Lab messages to families between 9 p.m. and 7 a.m., except for an emergency.
6. If a child messages an adult privately, the adult does not continue the conversation, replies only to tell the child to go through their parent, tells the parent, and tells the Lab lead.
7. Emails are kept. Nothing is deleted to hide a conversation.

Rule 4: Gifts and favors

1. Adults do not give individual gifts, money, rides, food, or favors to a child.
2. Anything given to children is given to the whole group, with the Lab lead's approval: for example, Passport stamps and color badges.
3. Adults do not accept gifts of more than token value from families. A thank-you card is always welcome.
4. No food is shared with a child without parent permission. See the Medical and allergy plan.

Rule 5: Photos and video

1. The app stores no photos or video. See Privacy.
2. Adults do not take photos or video of children on personal phones.
3. Any photo or video for the Lab (for example, at the Rainbow Showcase) is taken only of children whose parent has given written photo consent, and is never posted with a child's full name, school, or neighborhood.
4. Never in restrooms or changing areas, and never of a child in a state of undress.
5. Listen-back recordings are audio of the child's DJ mix, reviewed in class with a mentor.
6. Parents may photograph their own child at the Showcase. We ask families not to post other children's faces without their parents' agreement.

Rule 6: Physical contact in a music class

Contact is always brief, in the open, for the child's benefit, and something the child is comfortable with.

Exception: an adult may hold or move a child to stop immediate danger (for example, pulling them back from a falling speaker) or to give first aid. That is recorded as an incident in the class app's incident log, which emails Stephen Henry. See Incident reporting.

Rule 7: Restrooms and changing

Children go in pairs, an adult waits at the restroom entrance, and staff never enter a stall area with a child. Little DJs go with their own grown-up. The full procedure is in Restroom supervision. The Lab has no changing or locker area, and children do not change clothes during class.

Rule 8: Transportation

1. The Lab does not transport children. Adults never give a child a ride, in any vehicle, for any reason, including "just around the block."
2. Children arrive and leave with a parent, guardian, or authorized adult. See Arrival and sign-out.
3. In a medical emergency, children go by ambulance, never in a staff car.
4. Staff do not walk a child home or to a bus stop.

Rule 9: Outside the Lab

Adults do not babysit, tutor, give private DJ lessons to, or spend time with an enrolled child outside Lab activities, unless the adult is a relative or the arrangement is disclosed in writing to the Lab lead in advance. Even then, Lab adults do not use Lab materials or the Lab's name for it.

DJ trainers have a stricter rule under the conflict of interest policy: no paid private lessons for enrolled students while a child is enrolled or for 6 months after they leave, unless a parent asks in writing and the board approves, and no promoting their own business to students.

Rule 10: Sound, stage and lighting crew

Q-Ality Sound provides sound, stage and lighting only, under a written vendor agreement.

1. Q-Ality staff never supervise children and are never counted in the ratio. They don't coach, discipline or escort children, on stage, backstage or during transitions.
2. No unsupervised contact. If Q-Ality staff must be in a space with children, a Lab adult cleared by the Park District is present.
3. No photos or recordings of children, and no access to any family or child data.
4. No soliciting families for lessons, gear or any paid service.
5. The safety lead decides. Ras Tafari Inc.'s safety lead has final authority over volume, stage access and stopping a session. Q-Ality complies immediately, or the session pauses until it does.
6. The Park District's background-check process applies to Q-Ality staff on site during program hours.

Consequences

Details on who decides and how are in How the policy is enforced.

What you'll be told

• Before enrollment: this policy, in full.
• If a rule is broken in your child's class: a phone call the same day and a written report within 24 hours. See Incident reporting.
• If your child is involved in a report to DCFS or police: we tell you unless the authorities tell us not to (for example, during an investigation).

How your child can speak up

We teach children in their first class, in kid words: "If any grown-up makes you feel weird or asks you to keep a secret, tell your parent or another coach. You will never be in trouble for telling." Parents can take any concern about an adult to the Chicago Park District (the Rainbow Beach Park office, (312) 745-1479, or any Park District staff member), and see Report a concern.

Sources

• U.S. Center for SafeSport, Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies (MAAPP), 2025 versions (one-on-one interactions, transportation, electronic communications, locker rooms and changing areas): https://maapp.uscenterforsafesport.org/
• USOPC Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policies summary: https://www.usopc.org/usopc-minor-athlete-abuse-prevention-policies
• Illinois Abused and Neglected Child Reporting Act, 325 ILCS 5: https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/ilcs/ilcs3.asp?ActID=1460&ChapterID=32
• Illinois DCFS: https://dcfs.illinois.gov/