Woods Fund Chicago

After an unusually temperate winter followed by weeks of gray skies, it is hard to believe that summer is already right around the corner. Atypical weather patterns are taking hold not only in Chicago but worldwide, drawing further and further concern regarding climate change. Undoubtedly, Environmental Justice is crucial in preserving and sustaining our planet, but what is often overlooked is how climate change and its effects impact communities of color the most. Racial Justice and Environmental Justice are both necessary, and neither can be achieved without the other. Chicago in particular has seen a litany of attempts to concentrate new and pre-existing industrial sites in predominantly Black and Brown neighborhoods. Woods Fund Chicago grantee partners like Alliance of the Southeast (ASE), Little Village Environmental Justice Organization, and Faith in Place have been at the front lines of local environmental justice movements. Where one lives shouldn’t determine whether their water is clean and their air is breathable, and changes are urgently needed for that guarantee to exist — not just for the few, but for our whole community. Read our last newsletter to learn more about our grantee partners' work challenging environmental racism and ensuring communities receive equitable access to environmental resources: https://lnkd.in/ggc4EXEv Photo credits: Little Village Environmental Justice Organization and Faith in Place.

What We're Listening to: "Help This Garden Grow" tells the story of Hazel Johnson and the fight for environmental justice in Chicago spanning over forty years. The podcast series from the producers of AirGo Radio focuses on Johnson's far south side community of Altgeld Gardens and its position amidst a heavy concentration of hazardous waste. #EnvironmentalJustice #HazelJohnson #AltgeldGardens 🎧 Listen now: https://lnkd.in/gKpCBS43

In this month's newsletter, Woods Fund Chicago raises the voices of our grantee partners as they fight for police accountability and honor the life of Dexter Reed. Plus: Learn about how our grantee partners are advocating for environmental justice, hear partner reflections on six months without money bond in Illinois, explore our monthly recommended reading list, and discover job opportunities from our partners and peers. Read the April newsletter: https://lnkd.in/dyVn38ma Photo credit: Little Village Environmental Justice Organization

What We're Reading: We're revisiting Nonprofit Quarterly's feature on the new book "Portraits of Us: A Book of Essays Centering Black Women Leading Philanthropy" and its editor Toya Nash Randall, who discusses the process of putting together the book and creating a portrait of the often overlooked and underappreciated work of Black women leaders in philanthropy, the challenges they face, and the convening power that emerged as leaders came together to share their experiences. #WhatWereReading #TrustBasedPhilanthropy #BlackWomenInPhilanthropy Learn more: https://lnkd.in/g5DJXxuu

Our grantee partners and peers are hiring! Learn more about open opportunities to join organizations, coalitions, and nonprofit sector peers that are making an impact, including: - Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago | Multiple Positions Open - Chicago United for Equity | Executive Director - Coalition for Spiritual and Public Leadership (CSPL) | Campaign Organizer/Manager - Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI) | Multiple Program and Administrative Positions Open - Dissenters | Organizing Director - HANA Center | Multiple Positions Open - Healing to Action | Organizing Manager - Illinois Black Advocacy Initiative | Director of Communications - Latino Policy Forum | Vice President of Finance - Michael Reese Health Trust | Program Director, Strategic Initiatives and Program Director, Health Workforce - Mujeres Latinas en Acción | Multiple Positions Open - Muslims for Just Futures | Organizing & Membership Manager (DC-MA-VA and National) - Polk Bros. Foundation | Vice President of Investments and Administration Learn more about job opportunities with our grantee partners and peers: https://lnkd.in/dPgifSbd. #JobOpportunities #NonprofitCareers #CommunityOrganizing

Woods Fund Chicago commits to supporting community organizing as a means to build power through taking collective action. We are troubled by the Supreme Court's escalation of the increasingly dangerous trend of protest suppression taking hold across numerous cities and states, and the impact these punitive responses will have on organizing and the movement for racial justice. Read more from Capital B: https://lnkd.in/gBSy5G5i

What We're Listening to: With housing front-and-center during last month's elections, we’re listening to this interview with WFC grantee partner Housing Action Illinois’ Policy Director Bob Palmer that delves into the challenges Chicago faces in accurately counting its unhoused population — and how an undercount could affect funding for critical services to prevent homelessness and provide support. 🎧 Listen at WBEZ Chicago: https://lnkd.in/gHbsXsib

Woods Fund Chicago Director of Grants Management and Assistant Corporate Secretary Deborah D. Clark shared a testimony at GivingData’s conference last fall about our improvements to the grantmaking process and how GivingData software has supported these transitions. Deborah has over two decades of grants management experience at WFC, and her testimony speaks to our approach to evolving our processes to best match the needs of our current and potential grantee partners. Along with improving the processing of sending grant applications, providing the ability to be more responsive to applicants and grantee partners, and improving our data management, Deborah highlights how GivingData “helps us with the transparency that we aspire to.” #GrantsManagement #TrustBasedPhilanthropy Watch Deborah's testimony: https://lnkd.in/dVDaS9ui

What We're Reading: The Trust-Based Philanthropy Project developed a 16-page supplement for the Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Spring Issue that dives into the opportunities of Trust-Based Philanthropy, providing insight into Woods Fund Chicago’s commitment to the approach and its ability to strengthen movements. #WhatWereReading #TrustBasedPhilanthropy Read more: https://lnkd.in/g25PNuup

Last month, Chicagoans had the opportunity to vote on #BringChicagoHome — a ballot measure that would have restructured Chicago’s Real Estate Transfer Tax to legally establish dedicated funding for affordable housing. Moreover, Bring Chicago Home was a proposal designed to address the deep-rooted injustice of housing inequality that has plagued Chicago — particularly Black Chicagoans — for decades. While practices such as redlining and predatory housing contracts may no longer be legally permitted, segregated communities where Black Chicagoans and other residents of color reside remain blighted. Grantee partner Chicago Coalition for the Homeless reported last year that 82% of people experiencing homelessness are people of color, and “Black and African American Chicagoans account for 53% of all people experiencing homelessness while making up only 29% of the city’s total population." The Bring Chicago Home referendum may have narrowly lost, but urgent efforts by our grantee partners and their coalitions to bring justice to the painful racial and economic inequities of the city will not cease. We commend the unyielding efforts of our grantee partners including BCH steering committee members Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Communities United, Not Me We, and ONE Northside, and the 20+ grantee partners who supported and provided community education around the ballot measure. We call upon our partners, supporters, and peers to support this coalition of organizers as they work at the frontlines within and across communities to right decades of systemic racial harm in Chicago. Justice is a benefit to all of us, and all of us are needed in the movement to achieve that vision. Read more about how grantee partners are organizing to house every Chicagoan in our latest newsletter. ➡️ https://lnkd.in/gwS4YtNc Photo credits: Communities United, ONE Northside, and Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.