Announcing the 2025 Leaders for a New Chicago
The 2025 Leaders for a New Chicago. Pictured from left to right. Front row: Enneréssa LaNette Davis & Dave Spencer. Back row: Alice Kim, Jhmira Alexander, Cheryl Miller, Nissa Rhee, Hac Tran & Andrea Ortiz.
Photo credit: Brian J. Morowczynski/ViaPhotos.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 20, 2025
CONTACT:
Maria McCandless
Director of Communications
Field Foundation
(312) 560-0004
mmccandless@fieldfoundation.org
FIELD AND MACARTHUR FOUNDATIONS ANNOUNCE
2025 LEADERS FOR A NEW CHICAGO PRIZE WINNERS
Redefining Civic Leadership, Reimagining Our City's Future
Eight Leaders Driving Transformative Change Across the City to Receive $50,000 No-Strings-Attached Awards
CHICAGO – The Field Foundation, in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation, today announced the recipients of the 2025 Leaders for a New Chicago Award. As artists, journalists, storytellers, and organizers, these eight leaders are bringing transformative change to their communities—from the ground up—and are helping to write the next chapter in Chicago’s ever-unfolding story.
Now in its seventh year, the Leaders for a New Chicago Award recognizes leaders from outside the city’s traditional power structure with the aim of bringing new voices, creativity, and innovation into the systems that shape Chicago. This year, the award will provide $50,000 no-strings-attached prizes to eight individual leaders—doubling funding from previous years—as well as $25,000 general operating grants to the leaders' affiliated not-for-profit organizations.
A participatory grantmaking committee, comprised of community leaders, oversaw a rigorous process of reviewing nearly 200 nominations and recommending the 2025 award recipients.
“We believe in the wisdom of community leaders,” Field Foundation President Daniel O. Ash said. “They have identified the 2025 Leaders for a New Chicago awardees as leaders among leaders—each one making a unique impact in redefining civic leadership and reimagining Chicago’s future.”
Doubling the direct investment in individuals to $50,000 represents the initiative’s belief in the important work of community leaders and in ensuring they have the resources needed to continue driving change.
“The Leaders for a New Chicago Award uplifts individuals who stand as a powerful testament to the kind of leadership our city needs—rooted in lived experience, fueled by resilience, and driven by a deep love for community,” said Richard Tran, Field Foundation Director of ART & Leadership initiatives.
Since the Leaders for a New Chicago Award launched in 2019, the partnership has committed more than $3.85 million to support its 73 recipients and their affiliated organizations.
"Chicago's story has always been one of reinvention and resilience," said Jonathan VanderBrug, MacArthur Foundation Program Officer, Chicago Commitment. "By supporting these leaders with a 'no-strings-attached' award, they can pursue their personal and professional goals however they wish as they continue to shape the future of our city."
2025 Leaders for a New Chicago Awardees
Jhmira Alexander, President and Executive Director, Public Narrative
Alexander is a strategist and nonprofit executive with expertise in fundraising, financial sustainability, and organizational development. An entrepreneur turned intrapreneur, she is known for centering community voice through collaboration and believes in building sustainable change alongside those most impacted. With nearly 20 years of experience leading mission-driven organizations, Alexander partners with nonprofits, philanthropic collaboratives, and independent media groups to build resilient revenue strategies and sustainable growth models. As President and Executive Director of Public Narrative, a media resource nonprofit and steward of the Chicago Independent Media Alliance, Alexander has developed innovative programs addressing critical journalism challenges.
Enneréssa LaNette Davis, Founder and CEO, Praize Productions, Inc.
Davis is an award-winning artist and choreographer who has developed impactful installations showcasing Black excellence while serving as an innovative educator. Already an accomplished athlete, Davis answered her calling to the arts at the age of thirteen, studying under dance legends like Joel Hall, Kim Tyler, Larry Brewer, and Dr. Dionne Champion. She was a member of the Joel Hall Dancers for over three seasons. Her holistic approach to arts education provides youth and adults with platforms to excel—both in artistic expression and in their everyday lives. Under her visionary leadership, Praize Productions, an influential dance and performance arts company in Chicago, creates meaningful opportunities to amplify underrepresented voices.
Alice Kim, Educator, Organizer, Activist
Kim is the founding director of the Beyond Prisons Initiative at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture, a teaching and learning project that addresses social injustices caused by mass incarceration. She teaches inside Illinois prisons with the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project and is a cofounder of Chicago Torture Justice Memorials. Kim played a crucial role in the successful campaign to end the death penalty in Illinois. She works with justice system-impacted individuals and communities to create platforms for truth-telling. She also develops educational programming and community building efforts for and with incarcerated and formerly incarcerated people.
Cheryl Miller, Health Justice Organizer, Southside Together
Miller is a lifelong activist and organizer, who has brought deep commitment and compassion to those in need. Miller spent 25 years as a Chicago cab driver and organized fellow drivers for labor rights. At Southside Together, she has become a transformative force, contributing to the "Treatment Not Trauma" coalition that successfully positioned mental health as a key political issue in Chicago and has resulted in the re-opening of mental health clinics in Pilsen and Roseland. Miller embodies leadership through empowerment—helping others develop their own capacity for change. Her leadership supports Southside Together in advancing economic stability and human rights among Black, poor, and working-class community members.
Andrea Ortiz, Organizing Director, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC)
Throughout her career, Ortiz has spearheaded transformative campaigns—including successfully advocating to reallocate $33 million for school resource officers into student programming and staff. She has also been a leader in developing the "Treatment Not Trauma" coalition—which seeks a city-wide program that dispatches mental health professionals and emergency medical technicians to respond to mental health crises. Ortiz’s organizing approach bridges grassroots activism with policy change, ensuring marginalized communities have the power, voice, and resources to shape their own futures. Her leadership at BPNC supports its work to improve the quality of life for working-class and immigrant populations on Chicago's Southwest Side.
Nissa Rhee, Cofounder and Executive Director, Borderless Magazine
As a visionary media leader, Rhee transformed Borderless Magazine—a nonprofit and nonpartisan news outlet reimagining immigration journalism—from a blog to a nationally recognized, award-winning newsroom with nine full-time employees. Her fundraising efforts have secured $3 million to support the organization's operations and its empathetic, human-centered reporting. Throughout her career as a journalist, Rhee has been driven by the belief that journalists can and must do a better job of serving everyday people. She brings empathy and compassion to Borderless as it continues its vital work elevating immigrant voices and nurturing the next generation of diverse journalists.
Dave Spencer, Co-Executive Director, American Indian Center
Spencer (Mississippi Chata/Dine) has dedicated decades to expanding Native representation in Chicago's art world and beyond. As a co-curator at the Smithsonian's National Museum of the American Indian and assistant curator at Aurora University's Schingoethe Center, he helped develop groundbreaking exhibitions presenting Native identity through first-voice perspectives. At the American Indian Center, Spencer led the creation of Chicago's first 100% Native-first-voice gallery space, giving Native artists control over how their work and stories are presented. He has also significantly expanded Native representation through exhibitions at major museums. Through his leadership, Spencer has provided vital platforms for Native artists, activism, and youth programming.
Hac Tran, Cofounder, Haibayo
Tran is a Chicago-born urban planner, community development professional, and cultural producer dedicated to preserving the cultural legacy of “Asia on Argyle”—a five-block business district in Chicago that represents diverse Southeast Asian and African communities. Tran co-founded “Celebrate Argyle” a community initiative that shines a spotlight on immigrant-owned restaurants and businesses and connects community to resources. The initiative has brought renewed attention and appreciation to the neighborhood through innovative and cross-cultural collaborations. Tran also cofounded Haibayo, evolving what began as a social hour to a community center. Haibayo integrates oral history, storytelling, healing, and placekeeping to bring people together for authentic cultural experiences.
About the Field Foundation
The Field Foundation is a private, independent foundation that supports community power building in Chicago through strategic investments in civic infrastructure, the creative sector, local news outlets, and organizers. Through its grantmaking, the foundation collaborates with funding partners to distribute more than $11 million annually to organizations and leaders working in geographic priority areas, with a focus on the city’s South and West Sides. Learn more at www.fieldfoundation.org.
About the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation
The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation supports creative people, effective institutions, and influential networks building a more just, verdant, and peaceful world. MacArthur is placing a few big bets that truly significant progress is possible on some of the world's most pressing social challenges, including advancing global climate solutions, promoting criminal justice reform, revitalizing local news in the U.S., and reducing corruption in Nigeria. In addition to the MacArthur Fellows Program and the global 100&Change competition, the Foundation continues its historic commitments to the role of journalism in a responsive democracy as well as to the vitality of our hometown, Chicago. Learn more at www.macfound.org.
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