Over the past year the Illinois Safe Schools Alliance has worked with parents, students and teachers in the East Aurora school district to help draft policies to protect transgender and gender non-conforming students.

Naming an organization is never easy. When our founders got together in 1981, they wanted to start a new kind of foundation: A 501(c)3 public foundation that would support grassroots groups working for racial, social and economic justice in Chicago, where decisions would be made by activists and members of the community, not just people with wealth.  Crossroads Fund seemed like a great name.

When you think of tools your organization can use for social media outreach, memes may not be the first thing that comes to mind. You might think memes are only good for funny animal photos and internet inside jokes, but a number of grassroots organizations are harnessing the power of memes to educate the community, spur people to action, raise money and gain followers.

Memes are incredibly easy to produce and adapt. Essentially photos and (usually humorous) text, anyone can slap together a meme without programming experience, expensive software, or even a camera! Not only that, they are easy to access and share on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. And memes get attention. Beyond the dream of “going viral,” photo posts get an average of 20 more views on Facebook than links and other types of posts.

Crossroads Fund is excited to welcome our new Program Associate, Cindy Ibarra. Cindy comes to Crossroads Fund from a long background of youth activism and social justice work. Growing up in Chicago, Cindy had her first experience with movements for social justice marching in immigrant rights protests with her parents.

Crossroads Fund is seeking candidates for 2012-2013 Lisa Fittko Internship. Details and application information is below.

Lisa Fittko Internship Program
The program was established in 2005 to honor the legacy of Lisa Fittko, a lifetime social justice activist.  Lisa is widely known for her courage in leading Jews and members of the anti-Hitler resistance from Nazi-occupied France to neutral Spain during World War II.  Lisa later settled in Chicago where she was involved in numerous social justice organizations and movements.  The internship has been established by friends of Lisa Fittko with the intention of giving a young person the opportunity to gain knowledge of the social justice arena.

Crossroads Fund was excited to have Chris Long join us last week for Financial Planning 101: Financial Freedom and Social Justice – How You Can Achieve Both. Chris is a certified financial planner at Long & Associates LLC, and also serves as the treasurer on the Crossroads Fund Board of Directors. Over the course of the evening, Chris laid out a series of steps on how to prioritize financial stability and social justice in our lives:

A group of artists and activists are addressing one of the ugliest periods in Chicago history with their new exhibit Opening the Black Box: The Charge is Torture. The show is the result of a year's worth of work by the Chicago Torture Justice Memorials Project, which seeks to reckon with the torture of over 100 African American men and women under Police Commander Jon Burge.

When Chicago Workers' Collaborative first received funding from Crossroads Fund in 2004, they were a small coalition of workers's rights groups just beginning to tackle the exploitation of day laborers in Chicago. Since that time they have helped win an increase in the Illinois minimum wage, won millions of dollars in back pay and compensation for their membersh, and expanded to two new workers' centers in the Chicago suburbs.

As this summer continues to be one of the most violent in recent memory, Crossroads Fund is honored to support youth-led projects in Chicago addressing violence in their communities and neighborhoods. One of those projects is A Long Walk Home’s Girl/Friends Leadership Institute.