June 2024 — Moving the Needle | Woods Fund Chicago

Our Grantee Partners Are Leaders in Their Communities — and They’re Being Recognized For It.

Woods Fund Chicago’s investment in our grantee partners isn’t singular: We are wholeheartedly committed to their success beyond their partnership with WFC because we believe it will take all of our efforts to dismantle systemic racism and to build a new way of being.

Community and grassroots organizing are historically under-resourced. Woods Fund Chicago commends our partners for their remarkable work of the last year, and we appreciate the tremendous labor and resourcing it takes to achieve these accomplishments.

Most recently, our partners have been recognized with City of Chicago and Cook County grants — as well as awards from our peers — that speak to their indelible leadership and dedication to their communities.

Community Outreach Grants for Cook County Legal Aid for Housing and Debt (CCLAHD) Program —

Cook County and the Chicago Bar Foundation announced grants awarded to several community organizations to support CCLAHD outreach. These organizations will serve as bridges between their communities and the program to ensure the initiative effectively reaches communities impacted by debt, evictions, and foreclosures.

Six WFC grantee partners have received CCLAHD outreach grants: Brave Space Alliance, Chicago Community and Workers Rights, Latino Policy Forum, PASO — West Suburban Action Project, Southwest Organizing Project, and Warehouse Workers for Justice.

City of Chicago My CHI. My Future. (MCMF) Micro-Grants —

The Mayor’s Office and Department of Family and Support Services (DFSS) have announced the recipients of the My CHI. My Future micro-grants administered by SGA Youth & Family Services (SGA). These micro-grants are investments in programs that directly impact Chicago youth on the south and west sides.

Three WFC grantee partners have received MCMF micro-grants: Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Northwest Side Housing Center, and Southwest Organizing Project, which respectively serve the areas of Brighton Park, Belmont Cragin, and Chicago Lawn.

2024 Leaders for a New Chicago Awards —

Our peers at the Field Foundation of Illinois and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation have announced the 2024 Leaders for a New Chicago, which provides both a prize for each recognized leader and a grant to their organizations.

Leaders from two WFC grantee partners were recognized:
Alia J. Bilal, Chief Executive Director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, and Timmy Châu, Board Member of the Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project.

Woods Fund Chicago will continue to amplify the work, voices, and achievements of our partners through our newsletter, website, and social media. We encourage our network to stay up to date with our present and future partners and to support their organizing, advocacy, and community education work. Learn more about our 2023 grantee partner cohort: woodsfund.org/2023-grantees

Stay tuned in July for our announcement of our 2024 grantee partners — the inaugural cohort of our new, once-a-year cycle.

Last month, the Illinois legislature demonstrated its commitment to building upon the positive impacts of the Pretrial Fairness Act by passing the Pretrial Success Act, which will provide increased access to crucial health and human services for individuals awaiting trial. The act is supported and celebrated by the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and the Coalition to End Money Bond, which include WFC grantee partners Asian Americans Advancing Justice | Chicago, Chicago Community Bond Fund (CCBF), Community Renewal Society, Illinois Black Advocacy Initiative (IBAI), Illinois Justice Project, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, The People's Lobby, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), and Workers Center for Racial Justice.

Congratulations to our grantee partners. The promising success of the Pretrial Fairness Act and its expansion is a testament to your organizing power and commitment to systemic change and racial justice.

#1 — Grantee Partners on Migrant Supports and Protections

Why We're Reading It: Our grantee partners continue to provide support and advocacy in addressing Chicago’s newly arrived migrant and asylum-seeking populations. Over the past month, partners have responded to news regarding the troubling instability of social supports for immigrants, from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR) and Latino Policy Forum addressing President Biden’s executive order suspending border entry for asylum seekers to the Chicago Coalition For the Homeless connecting the city’s surge in unhoused populations to migrants who have been unable to maintain shelter.

Read recent news on how our grantee partners are responding to migrant populations:

• Biden's new border plan likely to endanger migrants further, advocates say

Featuring the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR).

WBBM Newsradio // Read now

• Will President Biden's immigration order limiting asylum-seekers affect migrants in Chicago?

Featuring Latino Policy Forum.

ABC7 News // Read now

• Number of Unhoused Chicagoans Tripled Amid Surge of Migrants, Survey Found

Featuring the Chicago Coalition For the Homeless.

WTTW News // Read now

#2 — How to change your gender on Illinois state IDs

Why We're Reading It: As of April, Illinois residents now have the ability to select a gender-neutral marker on state identification. While the option provides affirmation of a larger spectrum of gender, advocates express caution in using a non-binary identifier due to threats of discrimination and violence against transgender communities. Stephanie Skora from WFC grantee partner Brave Space Alliance speaks on why foregoing a gender option all-together may be the next step forward and Wednesday Journal provides resources on how Illinois residents interested in utilizing the gender-neutral “X” marker can change their IDs.

Wednesday Journal // Read now

#3 — ‘A state of triage’: Illinois public defenders in crisis amid staffing shortage

Why We're Reading It: Legal advocates discuss the public defender shortfall in Illinois and other states, citing research from WFC grantee partner Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law and covering how lack of resources for public defenders and the judge appointment process may contribute to the shortage.

Courthouse News Service // Read now

#4 — Hundreds march to demand more help finding Black girls and women who are missing — but never forgotten

Why We're Reading It: Earlier this month, the 7th Annual ‘We Walk for Her’ March — led by organizers including grantee partners Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Lugenia Burns Hope Center, GoodKids MadCity Englewood, and Southside Together Organizing for Power — took place in Bronzeville to bring attention to missing and murdered Black girls and women. The annual march sheds light on the systemic mishandling of missing persons cases that disproportionately impact Black girls and women — an issue that received wider attention following the Pulitzer-winning investigation from City Bureau and Invisible Institute last year. The Chicago Sun-Times features organizers and participants in the march as they express their grief and share their vision for measures that could save the lives of Black girls and women.

Chicago Sun-Times // Read now