August 2023  —  Moving the Needle  |  Woods Fund Chicago 

Last week started the 2023-2024 school year in Chicago, marking the end of summer for CPS students and their families, and the start of the first full school year under a new City administration. Woods Fund Chicago supports education advocacy through our grantmaking and creating partnerships with organizations that embody our trust-based approach by centering parents, students, and educators as experts in decision-making that impacts education in Chicago. We understand that in strengthening education, we bolster the vision, imagination, and leadership of youth, and invest in our city's future.

With the new administration also comes a new Chicago Board of Education (CBOE). Woods Fund Chicago’s President, Michelle Morales, was named in July as one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s appointees to the CBOE. She will serve alongside veterans of many Woods Fund Chicago grantee partners, including Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Enlace Chicago, and Raise Your Hand Illinois. 

Michelle wrote in a statement last month, “Serving on the CBOE is an opportunity to bring my passion for education and racial justice, community organizing, and trust-based philanthropy to create more equitable and just systems that help our children and communities thrive.” Congratulations to Michelle and fellow CBOE board members Jianan Shi, Mary Fahey Hughes, Mariela Estrada, Rudy Lozano, Jr., and Tanya D. Woods!

Woods Fund Chicago recognizes the incredible efforts of our grantee partners in advocating for youth, education, and families in Chicago. Recent highlights include:

• Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), who shared their work at the 2023 National Community Schools and Family Engagement Conference this summer;
  
  
• GoodKidsMadCity, who partnered on Back to School events throughout August with fellow WFC grantee partners Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP), and the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP);
  
  
• Mujeres Latinas En Acción, who presented on community health initiatives at the National Association of Community Health Workers Unity Conference;
  
  
• Black Youth Project (BYP100), who held a national convening to commemorate their 10th anniversary;
  
  
• Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity (MAMAS) who have provided public education on the community-rooted principles of “radical mothering”; and
  
  
• Raise Your Hand Illinois, a parent advocacy organization who was stewarded by new CBOE President Jianan Shi.

You can read more about Raise Your Hand Illinois’ advocacy through a Woods Fund Chicago grantee partner spotlight we featured in 2021, including an interview with former Executive Director Jianan Shi. 

We celebrate our grantee partners, the new CBOE, and all parents and youth throughout Chicago championing education. Congratulations on starting a new school year!

Woods Fund Chicago President Michelle Morales on Advancing Social Justice —

On August 3, WFC President Michelle Morales was featured in a virtual live discussion on racial, economic, and educational justice, hosted by Southern Illinois University’s Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. Michelle discussed her background in advocacy and philanthropy and Woods Fund Chicago’s eight-decade quest to advance social justice.

Listen to the discussion on WSIU.

The Woods Fund Chicago team will be taking a week off! Our offices will be closed starting August 28, 2023, and will reopen on September 5, 2023.

The Future of Equitable Giving: Understanding and Implementing Trust-Based Philanthropy

Why We're Reading It: Woods Fund Chicago works to embed Trust-Based Philanthropy (TBP) in all areas of our work — not just grantmaking. This piece from Inside Philanthropy highlights the roots, practice, and impact of TBP, including how foundations can put the principle into action.

Inside Philanthropy // Read now

Investing in Black Women Leaders With the
Dream Capital They Need

Why We're Reading It: There is a large, historical disparity between the incredible social progress championed by Black women leaders and a lack of philanthropic investment in their work. This piece urges funders to provide dream capital, “a trust-based, financial investment that empowers them to look well beyond the day-to-day of societal problems and instead imagine and pursue greater possibilities beyond one-, three-, and even 10-year time horizons.”

Stanford Social Innovation Review // Read now

Chicago closed 50 schools 10 years ago.
What’s happened since then?

Why We're Reading It: A decade following the CPS closures that took place under Mayor Emanuel’s administration, many questions about the decision remain unanswered and Chicago communities are still seeing the impacts. Becky Vevea revisits her initial reporting from 2013 in this thorough examination of what has happened in the 10 years that followed.

Chalkbeat Chicago // Read now

Chicago schools with mostly Black student bodies share less information about LSCs: report

Why We're Reading It: Chalkbeat Chicago covers a new report from Woods Fund Chicago’s grantee partner, Raise Your Hand Illinois, that shares data about inequities in transparency surrounding Local School Councils (LSC).

Chalkbeat Chicago // Read now

Warehouse Workers For Justice
Clean Air Organizing Manager and Development Director // Learn more

Chicago United for Equity (CUE)
Director of Communication and Narrative Strategy // Learn more

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Top banner image: Mujeres Latinas En Acción

Photo collage: top, Raise Your Hand Illinois, bottom left, Community Organizing and Family Issues (COFI), bottom right, Raise Your Hand Illinois

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