2009 Grantees
 

Crossroads Fund is proud to announce that in 2009 we gave out $339,358 in grants, to 68 groups working for social change across a spectrum of issues. Although the following list categorizes grantees based on one primary focus of their work, grantees’ work is rarely limited to a single issue area. Most work across issues and prioritize the multiple needs of their diverse constituencies. The listed grantees received funding within six grantmaking programs. A notation after the grantee description indicates from which program(s) they received funding. These programs include the Seed Fund (Seed), Donor Advised (DA), Technical Assistance Fund (TA), Media Justice Fund (MJF), Fire this Time Fund (FTT) and Youth Fund for Social Change (YF). Our largest Donor Advised Fund, the GRAM Fund, supports women and girls, rights for Arab Americans, and innovative youth projects. Most grants were used for general operating support.

ARTS AND CULTURE:
April 1968 Riot Oral History Project is a multimedia project featuring interviews and photo documentation of those who witnessed and were impacted by the 1968 riot that erupted on the West side of Chicago after the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King. The work will be available for educational, research, and artistic exhibition purposes. $1,000 (FTT)

AREA Chicago Art/Research/Education/Activism is a publication and event series that works to build bridges between movements and communities working for social justice across Chicago by documenting and sharing historical and current social change activities. This grant supported their “Everybody’s Got Money Issues” publication, which examined economic issues affecting activist communities. $500 (FTT)

Arte y Realidad preserves Mexican cultural heritage and counteracts community violence by hosting street-side “talleres” art workshops to share the practice of “artesania”—crafts made by hand—to adults and children in the Little Village. $1,000 (FTT)

Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts is a youth-focused organization that uses theater and art to organize various immigrant communities across social, economic and political issues. $5,000 (Seed)

Chicago Independent Radio Project (CHIRP) is part of a national coalition organizing to pressure the Federal Communications Commission to make low-power FM radio signals available to community organizations, enabling the establishment of independent, community-based radio stations. CHIRP also generates diverse content for their own, currently web-based, station. $5,250 (MJF)

Chicago Palestine Film Festival exhibits and promotes films about Palestine or by Palestinian directors that address current issues in the region and portray the daily lives of Palestinians. Over the years, they have established themselves as a critical educational resource for various communities, institutions and the general public. $5,000 (Seed, GRAM)

Funny, You Don't Look Like a Jew is a multimedia art installation that builds relationships between Queer radical Jews and more conservative Jews who are organizing for racial, economic, and social justice. $1,000 (FTT)

Gayco Productions created and mounted a two-weekend political sketch comedy festival to coincide with the historic election cycle of 2008. $12,500 (SF)

Mixing it Up, a follow up to the film “Voices of Cabrini (1998),” examines the impact of the destruction of Chicago's Cabrini Green public housing development a decade after the Chicago Housing Authority initiated their plan for transformation. $1,000 (FTT)

Neighborhood Writing Alliance works with adults in marginalized communities to write, publish and perform their own stories. This grant supported a project to bring the voices of underrepresented constituents into mainstream media to speak directly to key issues affecting their lives. $5,250 (MJF)

We the People Media equips adults and youth from communities of color with reporting, editing and publishing skills and collaborates with national media and academic institutions to shape coverage of the inner city, challenging stereotypes of low-income communities. $5,250 (MJF)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE:
A Day at Stateville is a play written by men currently incarcerated at the maximum security prison Statesville. The play will be performed by former prisoners throughout Chicago, in order to raise awareness of the horrific conditions experienced by individuals in long-term confinement in Illinois. $1,000 (FTT)

Citizens Alert holds Chicago metropolitan police accountable and works for systemic change in law enforcement agencies while advocating for victims of police brutality and misconduct. $7,000 (Funding Exchange “Small Axe” Project for Racial Justice, TA)

First Defense Legal Aid provides legal advice and aid in Chicago Police Department stations to low-income individuals who cannot afford attorneys. They also document police brutality and provide workshops to at-risk communities on their constitutional rights and responsibilities when dealing with law enforcement personnel. $4,000 (Seed)

Longterm Prisoner Policy Project ("Warehoused Prisoners") pushes for changes in law, policies and practice affecting prisoners serving virtual to actual life sentences in Illinois prisons, promoting their human rights. $7,500 (Seed)

Mothers of Incarcerated Sons supports writing workshops for mothers of incarcerated sons in the Howard Area Community Center in Rogers Park. The workshops help mothers move past guilt into a more systemic understanding of incarceration and the criminal justice system. $1,000 (FTT)

Tamms Year Ten is a coalition of prisoners, ex-prisoners, families, artists, activists, organizations and concerned citizens protesting inhumane policies at Tamms C-MAX prison and calling for an end to the abusive conditions that are known to provoke mental illness and physical breakdown. $5,000 (Seed)

DISABILITY RIGHTS:

Chicago ADAPT engages in direct action and grassroots organizing to advocate for the independence of people with disabilities from institutional and cultural barriers in everyday life. $350 (DA)

Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA) is a grassroots non-violent direct action organization led by and for women with disabilities that works on issues of reproductive rights and healthcare. This grant supported their organizational development. $3,000 (TA)

Next Steps organizes people with mental disabilities and homeless individuals to be active in the systems that affect them, particularly boards, institutions and decision-making bodies addressing homelessness and mental health. $3,000 (Seed)  
 

ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:
Blocks Together is a grassroots, multi-issue social justice organization on the West Side of Chicago addressing affordable housing, public education & restorative justice. These grants included support for youth to present at the Education for Liberation Conference in Houston, Texas. $8,500 (Seed, YF)

Center for Popular Economics is a collective of economists who advance social and economic justice by educating communities and promoting alternative economic models. This grant supported their Summer Institute, which brought together educators, activists and others to address the economics of immigration and migration. $1,000 (SF)

Chicago Honey Co-op is a beekeeping cooperative that provides economic development opportunities for the underemployed while promoting sustainable urban agricultural practices. $14,550 (DA)

Jane Addams Senior Caucus organizes low-income northside seniors to improve their quality of life and build a strong community voice. $1,000 (TA)

Lakeview Action Coalition, a multi-issue coalition of individuals and organizations in the Lakeview neighborhood, organizes around affordable housing, healthcare, sustainable development, environmental justice and police abuse of homeless youth. $10,000 (Seed, DA, TA)

Little Village Environmental Justice Coalition addresses public transportation, land contamination and urban agriculture in Pilsen and Little Village. This grant supported the organization’s youth journalism program. $5,250 (MJF)

Pilsen Environmental Rights and Reform Organization educates Pilsen-area youth about environmental issues affecting their neighborhood. Youth document local sources of pollution and present their findings to the community. $1,000 (FTT)

Southside Together Organizing for Power (STOP) uses tenant organizing, action research, and alliance-building between tenants, homeowners, students and youth to address gentrification and displacement in the Woodlawn Neighborhood. $1,000 (TA)

GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY:

Chitown Daily News covers local issues ignored by mainstream media, including government, housing, education, and others, while training volunteer journalists to cover issues affecting their neighborhoods. This grant supported the development of a website to generate and track Freedom of Information Act requests in order to make local government more accountable to citizens and media. $5,250 (MJF)

Citizen Advocacy Center works in DuPage County to increase the capacity and skills of individuals and organizations, particularly those most shut out of civic participation, to engage effectively in community life while advocating for policies that protect public involvement. $5,000 (Seed)

Pilsen Alliance organizes community residents to address gentrification, public transportation access, housing and education. This grant supported the development of popular education-based training materials to prepare leaders for their Tax Increment Financing accountability campaign. $3,000 (TA)

HEALTH ACCESS:

Acudetox Healing Collective provides acupuncture and alternative healing education to activist communities to address burnout and promote the self-care necessary to make social justice work sustainable. $1,000 (FTT)

Chicago Women's Health Center is a collective of health workers who provide health education, advocacy, and affordable, accessible gynecological and mental health care to women in the Chicago area. $1,000 (TA)

Health and Medicine Research Policy Group promotes social justice in Illinois healthcare, currently focusing on the underfunding of the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and its impact on Cook County residents. This grant supported advocacy training sessions for community leaders. $3,000 (TA)

HUMAN AND WORKER RIGHTS:
Arise Workers' Center (formerly known as Chicago Interfaith Committee on Worker Issues) educates workers on rights, assists workers whose rights are being violated and works for systemic change through direct action and advocacy. This grant supported the purchase of a simultaneous translation system that will allow Polish and Spanish-speaking workers to communicate with one another. $3,000 (TA)
 

Centro de Trabajadores Unidos is an immigrant-run workers’ center on Chicago’s Southeast side that protects immigrant workers from violations and exploitation by area employers. $3,000 (Seed)

Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, a coalition of workers and groups, organizes for day laborer and immigrant rights through public education, worker trainings and litigation on behalf of primarily immigrant workers who have experienced exploitation in their workplace. $15,500 (Seed, DA, Ron Sable Award)

National Boricua Human Rights Network works to raise awareness of human rights issues facing the Puerto Rican community, including political prisoners and the preservation of civil liberties. They also work to cultivate youth leaders in the Humboldt Park community through their collaboration with the Batey Urbano youth program. $6,500 (Seed, GRAM)

United Taxidrivers Community Council is a multiracial and multiethnic taxidriver organizing project that promotes a living wage and better working conditions for Chicago taxi drivers. $3,000 (Seed)

IMMIGRANT ISSUES:
The Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance organizes congregations and people of faith to respond to injustice experienced by undocumented immigrants. Its strategies include public witness, political advocacy and support for immigrants at risk of deportation. $6,000 (Seed, DA)

United African Organization, a coalition of African organizations in Chicago, works for social justice, civil rights, civic participation and empowerment of African immigrants and refugees. $5,000 (Seed, TA)

Waukegan Leadership Council advocates for the welfare of immigrant and Latino residents, protecting them from indiscriminate arrest, detainment and deportation. They are also involved in voter registration, education and building collaborations with non-immigrant communities of color. $3,000 (Seed)

INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND ADVOCACY:
Christian Peacemaker Teams trains and places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world and reports to the larger world community on these atrocities. The teams support local nonviolence efforts through direct action and public witness. $5,088 (Seed)

Committee for a Just Peace in Israel & Palestine works toward a just and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through public education forums, civic participation and an annual walk for justice. $3,500 (Seed)

Electronic Intifada provides comprehensive public education on the economic, political, legal and human dimensions of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. $1,000 (Don Erickson Award)

LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/TRANSGENDERED ISSUES:

Affinity Community Services serves African American lesbian and bisexual women and youth in Chicago by providing a safe space while addressing issues related to race, health, poverty and education. These grants included support to increase their fundraising capacity. $11,000 (Seed, TA)

Illinois Safe Schools Alliance prevents violence against LGBT students in Illinois public schools through policy advocacy, youth organizing and public education both within and outside of school systems. These grants included support for youth to attend a national leadership development conference for LGBT youth organizers. $10,500 (Seed, GRAM, TA)

Mamsir Productions is producing an experimental film about transgender issues to provoke conversation among the LBGTQ community and others about our gender identities and their social and historical context. $1,000 (FTT)

WOMEN AND GIRLS:
Beyondmedia Education partners with under-represented women, youth and communities to create and distribute alternative media and arts addressing the issues and systems that affect them. Grants included support for a project to hold public media accountable to communities. $10,250 (MJF, GRAM)

Chicago Books to Women in Prison fulfills incarcerated women’s direct requests for books, reducing their isolation and providing valuable resources. $2,500 (GRAM)

Chicago Friends of WE-ACTx – Rwanda is a pooled fund to benefit the WE-ACTx HIV/AIDS clinics in Rwanda. WE-ACTx serves HIV positive genocide widows, rape survivor and orphans and is a model of care and international/local collaboration. $60,000 (DA)

Ella's Daughters is a network of women of color activists, artists, scholars and writers working in Ella Baker’s participatory democratic tradition. This grant supported scholarships for youth to attend the network’s national gathering. $1,000 (Cathy Cohen Black Youth Fund)

Global Girls, Inc. uses performing arts as a medium to develop strong communication, leadership and life skills amongst a group of youth that consists primarily of girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. $2,500 (GRAM)

Venus Collective is a multimedia cultural celebration that strives to make every day International Women's Day. In addition to an annual event, they organize a multiracial women's circle and celebrate the lineage, impact and cultural influences of women via art, music, poetry, dance and craft. $1,000 (FTT)

Women’s Voices Fund provides programs that promote feminist dialogue through book discussions, author readings and community events. $7,870 (DA)

Young Women’s Empowerment Project is run by and for women and girls with life experiences in the sex trade and street economies. They use social justice, transformative justice and harm-reduction strategies to address issues affecting them. $5,000 (Seed)

YOUTH:
Black Diaspora Project will develop the leadership capacity of black youth from Chicago as they travel to Haiti to learn about the country’s historical importance to black people in the Diaspora. Youth in Haiti will gain understanding of the challenges facing Black youth in the United States, and the youth from Chicago will return to apply their learning to social justice work locally. $3,000 (YF)

Highly Flavored Inc. is a youth summer social justice program in Gary, Indiana. Last year’s participants will work with this year’s participants to continue a project to address inequalities in Gary’s public school system. $3,000 (YF)

Korean American Resource and Cultural Center challenges Koreans in the greater Chicago area to engage in meaningful civic participation to solve community issues, with a particular emphasis on youth programs and intergenerational activities. Grants included support for youth organizing to pass the DREAM Act, which allows undocumented immigrant youth to attend college, providing a path to citizenship. $7,500 (GRAM, YF)

Kuumba Lynx is a youth program that uses urban (hip hop) culture and arts to promote social justice. This grant supported the production of their first CD, “Braid Tales,” which will be used to initiate dialogue about social and economic issues affecting inner city youth. $1,000 (FTT)

Latinos Progresando's College-Bound Youth Group advocates for passage of the DREAM Act to allow undocumented youth to attend college and provide a path to legalization, while offering trainings for immigrant youth to help them access existing educational opportunities. $2,000 (YF)

Metropolitan Area Group for Igniting Civilization organizes residents of Woodlawn and the surrounding areas to fight gentrification and racism, with a particular focus on the development of youth leadership. This grant supported the development of a youth-driven project to train youth to know and exercise their rights in encounters with law enforcement officials. $3,000 (YF)

Nuestra Voz Youth Council works with primarily immigrant youth and their parents in Melrose Park to increase civic engagement and address a lack of resources for undocumented and Latina/o students seeking higher education. $2,000 (TA, YF)

Sisters Empowering Sisters is a project of Chicago Girls Coalition that seeks to engage girls between the ages of 14 and 18 in grantmaking, fundraising and other activities related to social justice issues affecting them. Sisters Empowering Sisters recently completed an anti-oppression curriculum, and will build upon this experience by designing their own girl-driven social justice project. $3,000 (YF)

SITY Ollin is a youth organizing project at Telpochcalli Community Education Project in the Little Village neighborhood. This grant supported the second year of a public forum addressing community violence in Little Village and its relationship to racism, sexism and economic oppression. $5,000 (YF)

Teens Acting in Community uses a student-centered approach to teach poetry, prose, art, theatre and spoken word in Riverdale, IL. Students’ performances open up dialogue issues impacting their community. $1,000 (FTT)

WE-ACTx Girls' Exchange helped bring two young women from Rwanda to Chicago to participate in the summer session of the Chicago Freedom School, a social justice history and education program for youth. The young women have recently established a Freedom School in Kigali, Rwanda, and will use their experience in Chicago to inform the project. $5,500 (DA, YF)

Youth Pride Center offers a range of programs for youth who are primarily LGBT and African American on Chicago’s South Side. This grant supported the Code Red program, an effort to forge better relationships between LGBT youth of color and local business owners. $1,000 (YF)

In addition to giving out grants, Crossroads Fund expended significant resources to support our grantees through Technical Assistance trainings, workshops, and one-on-one time with consultants. In total, we gave an extra $24,000 through the following Technical Assistance programs: presenting fundraising trainings; hiring consultants to conduct an innovative program to assess and strengthen grantees financial positions; and providing one-on-one support to our grantees. We thank Polk Bros Foundation and Cricket Island Foundation for their partnership in these programs.

Grantees from Previous Years