These are the 2021
Leaders for a New Chicago

Some are organizers, artists, producers, and activists, and some are part of collective or shared leadership models. Some are executive directors, some are co-founders.

Like our 2019 and 2020 cohorts, these 10 individuals include a diversity of age and expertise, ethnicity, gender identity, different geographies, and income levels.  ALL of them are redefining leadership in Chicago. As we think about dialogues around relief, recovery and reimagining in the city, leadership is an essential element.

This award recognizes past accomplishments in the fields of Justice, Art, or Media & Storytelling and promotes and advances a range of leaders whose influence will inform decision making across the city of Chicago. Each leader received a $25,000 cash award in recognition of past accomplishments, and their affiliated non-profit organizations each received an additional $25,000 general operating grant.

This program is unique because leaders select leaders. For this year’s selection committee, we again invited last year’s awardees to lead the process of identifying the 2021 awardees. Meet the 2021 Leaders for a New Chicago.