Celebrating our Winter 2023 Grantees

We are so pleased to announce our Winter 2023 Grantees. In this grant cycle, we awarded more than $1.15 million to 31 organizations, including new and returning grantee partners. As always, the majority of our dollars are directed to the South and West Sides of Chicago, and to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) organizations that are at the center of policy debates, activism, and front-line service to Chicagoans. Congratulations to all our grantees, whose impact in the areas of Art, Justice, and Media & Storytelling continues to transform communities across Chicago.

ART

Architreasures activates communities through the power of art and design. We facilitate participatory art and design projects and neighborhood cultural programs that transform public and shared spaces, improve quality of life, and make beautiful, livable, and healthy communities throughout Chicago.

Arts of Life advances the creative arts community by providing artists with intellectual and developmental disabilities a collective space to expand their practice and strengthen their leadership.

Deeply Rooted Dance Theater re-imagines and diversifies the aesthetics of contemporary dance by uniting modern, classical, American, and African American traditions in dance and storytelling.

Full Spectrum Features is a Chicago-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization committed to driving equity in the independent film industry by producing, exhibiting, and supporting the work of women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ filmmakers.

Prison + Arts Neighborhood Arts Project has a mission to build relationships of reciprocity that bring artists, scholars, and writers together with incarcerated people and our communities.

TGi Movement curates and cultivates oasis-es throughout Chicago to unite youth across neighborhood boundaries, dismantling "dream deserts."

JUSTICE

Arise Chicago builds partnerships between faith communities and workers to fight workplace exploitation through education and organizing and advocating for public policy changes.

Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago builds power through collective advocacy and organizing to achieve racial equity.

Assata's Daughters is a Black women-led, young people-focused abolitionist organization rooted in the Black Radical Tradition, utilizing a Black Queer Feminist lens and relationship-based tactics to organize young Black people in Chicago who will organize their communities.

Brighton Park Neighborhood Council is an intergenerational, community-based organization dedicated to equity and racial justice.

Equity and Transformation has a mission to build social and economic equity for Black workers engaged in the informal economy: the diversified set of activities, enterprises, and jobs that are not regulated or protected by the state.

The Final 5 Campaign invests in a community of currently and formerly incarcerated youth as we lead a movement that calls on Illinois to close down the five youth prisons, fund community-directed resources & responses to harm, and ultimately end youth incarceration in the state.

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is dedicated to promoting the rights of immigrants and refugees to full and equal participation in the civic, cultural, social, and political life of our diverse society.

Lugenia Burns Hope Center has a mission to develop the civic engagement of residents in Chicago’s Bronzeville neighborhood, and other communities, through education, leadership development, and community organizing.

Southside Together Organizing for Power has a mission to advance economic and social human rights by organizing and developing leadership among people most affected by economic and racial oppression.

Working Family Solidarity unites low and moderate-wage workers and their families, primarily African American and Latinx, to fight for equitable development.

MEDIA & STORYTELLING

Chicago South Side Film Festival has a two-fold mission to provide South Side filmmakers with opportunities to screen their work in their own communities, and to use film as a tool for collective intellectual and community engagement.

Chicago Video Project has a mission, through the "Shame of Chicago" film series, to make an original and foundational contribution to the many organizations and individuals striving to bring about racial reckoning and repair in Chicago and its urban counterparts throughout the country.

E3 Radio is an online radio station playing Queer music and reporting on queer news in high rotation with a R&B/Hip Hop vibe.

Forgiving Cain has a mission to sponsor and support the independent media community through fiscal sponsorship as well as offering programming opportunities that bring people together for learning and networking.

Hartman Publishing, Ltd. has a mission to bring enlightenment to Black reality and eliminate Blackness's stereotypes.

Harvey World Herald fills the void left after the collapse of local newspapers 40 years ago, providing critical information to the Harvey community.

The Hoodoisie is a live and live-streamed news show, podcast and web series that fosters radical change, collectivity, and consciousness among everyday people and communities of color.

Kartemquin Educational Films is a collaborative media arts organization that produces independent documentary films and supports emerging filmmakers in honing their craft.

Mary & Melissa Productions has a mission to help understand the vital issues of race, class, gender, and immigration by telling the stories of fascinating but uncelebrated Americans.

The Obsidian Collection Archives has a goal is to preserve current and historical journalism of the global Black diaspora through digital archiving with proper cataloging and storage of print documents, photographs, film and television.

Pigment International serves as a connector within our community of Black creators, collectors, curators, investors, and other stakeholders.

Public Narrative delights in their mission to uphold equity within the public narrative of media.

Reader Institute for Community Journalism, publisher of the Chicago Reader, creates and curates civic and cultural coverage by and for Chicago, highlighting underrepresented communities and stories.

Sisters in Cinema has an inclusive mission to center and celebrate Black girls, women, and gender non-conforming media makers, providing programs designed to educate, raise visibility, and support and serve our communities.

YR Media equips emerging content creators between the ages of 14-24, primarily BIPOC, with an immersive media arts education, top industry mentors, paid career-track employment, and holistic support services, including counseling and healthy food.