June 2023 — Moving the Needle | Woods Fund Chicago
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SUMMER IS FULL OF EXCITING MILESTONES!
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The Woods Fund Chicago team wishes the following grantee partners a Happy Anniversary. Thank you for your organizing, advocacy, and coalition-building that advance racial, economic, and social justice.
We applaud and appreciate you!
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Many Chicagoans celebrated Pride Month with the city's skyline aglow with rainbow colors, homes and businesses across the city proudly displaying rainbow flags, numerous Pride festivals and parties, and the historic Pride Parade on Sunday, June 25. For some people, Pride is deeply personal and about self-love and self-acceptance, about creating chosen family amid discrimination and ostracization from families, places of worship, and workplaces; for others, it's about political activism for human and civil rights and liberation for all the communities represented in the LGBTQ+ alphabet; and for others, it's all of the above. The LGBTQ+ community, like most communities, is a diverse and multi-faceted one. Pride means different things to different people at different points in their lives. Tracy Baim, journalist, founder and publisher of Windy City Times/Windy City Media Group and former publisher of The Chicago Reader, speaks to the rainbow of sentiments and expressions of Pride in her reflection, What is Pride? From the Inside Out.
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After decades of organizing and activism by Juneteenth activists across the United States, in June 2021, President Biden signed a bill declaring Juneteenth (June 19) a federal holiday commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. On June 19, 1865, two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation, Major General Gordon Granger issued an order proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas. For many Juneteenth educators and activists, this day is not only a federal holiday or symbolic win, but a call to continue the fight for human and civil rights for all people.
Nevertheless, Juneteenth stirs up conflicting thoughts and feelings for some African-Americans. Seeing the Juneteenth flag erected in the city’s first flag-raising ceremony in June 2021 raised various questions for Matt Harvey, a staff writer for the TRiiBE: Why have a flag celebrating the end of chattel slavery in the U.S.? Does Juneteenth put more emphasis on white people declaring the freedom of African-Americans, instead of African-Americans fighting for and winning their own freedom? Why does the Juneteenth flag share the colors of the American flag, to some a symbol of the very country that enslaved and oppressed their ancestors? Should Juneteenth be exclusive to African-Americans, or can it be for all Americans united for freedom and human rights? And who decides? Please take a moment to read this insightful commentary that illustrates the diversity of thoughts and sentiments that African-Americans have with the United States and celebrations of emancipation.
COMMENTARY | The Juneteenth Flag isn’t the best symbol for Black Americans • The TRiiBE
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Join us for an Insta Live Chat featuring our very own Caroline McCoy, Vice President of Programs, on Tuesday, July 11, at 1:00 pm CST. Caroline will share what inspired her to work remotely from her homeland of Kenya for a few months last year, the insights she gleaned during her time abroad, and how Woods Fund Chicago's practice of trust-based philanthropy made this possible.
Join us on Instagram
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Six Questions for Michelle Morales,
Woods Fund Chicago President
Why We're Reading It: Inside Philanthropy's Mike Scutari interviewed our very own Michelle, who reflected on the importance of valuing youth voices and leadership, a new fund focused on the City's migrant community, her previous work as an organizer, and the values and experiences that inform her leadership and work in philanthropy.
Inside Philanthropy // Read now
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Illinois Racial Justice and Equity Landscape Study
Why We're Reading It: The Grand Victoria Foundation (GVF) partnered with the Great Cities Institute (GCI) on the Illinois Racial Justice & Equity Landscape Study. Commissioned by GVF, the study seeks to shed light on the challenges faced by Black communities across Illinois, with a specific focus on 81 “Black population centers” throughout the state where 30% or more of the residents identify as Black outside of Chicago and Cook County.
Grand Victoria Foundation // Read now
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Reparations campaigns get boost from new philanthropic funding
Why We're Reading It: Campaigns to win reparations for Black Americans just got a big boost. The Decolonizing Wealth Project announced at the "Alight Align Arise” national conference in Atlanta on June 9 that it's committing $20 million over five years to boost reparations campaigns across the country, along with a research collaboration with Boston University to map reparation projects.
New Haven Register // Read now
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Philanthropy Does a Lot of Navel-Gazing. Is That Accomplishing Anything?
Why We're Reading It: The philanthropic sector is preoccupied with navel-gazing and risk-aversion, which is of no help to grantee partners and the communities they organize and advocate with. Although introspection and thoughtfulness are important, they are no substitute for tangible action. Philanthropy must spend more time looking outward than inward in order to move the needle on social change further and faster.
Inside Philanthropy // Read now
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The woman who helped make Juneteenth a holiday
Why We're Listening: Opal Lee, a community organizer and advocate known as the Grandmother of the Juneteenth Movement, walked all around the country for years to help establish this national holiday on June 19 to commemorate history and celebrate freedom. She shares the history of the Juneteenth movement, why she and other activists organized local education campaigns and Juneteenth celebrations across the country, and the significance of Juneteenth to ongoing movements for human rights and racial justice for all people.
NPR Here and Now Anytime Podcast // Listen now
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Organizing Works by the Wieboldt Foundation Screening Event
Why We're Watching: In commemoration of its 100th anniversary, the Wieboldt Foundation commissioned a short film to celebrate the power of community organizing and the people who use its principles as their primary methodology to create change. Happy Anniversary, Wieboldt Foundation! Many thanks for uplifting and resourcing community organizing and racial justice.
Wieboldt Foundation via YouTube // Watch now
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