Dear Community,

As a Movement Funder, our mandate is to resource movements like we want them to win. We invite you to participate in our annual fundraiser - Seeds of Change. This year's virtual Seeds of Change is a celebration of our 40th Anniversary! For three days, we will celebrate Change, not Charity, be in community with each other, and raise money to support justice movements in Chicago.

We have an incredible program lined up, including honoring our fierce 2021 Awardees and an Online Auction. New this year, is a special guest speaker who has been instrumental in providing a platform for progressive change-makers AND a stellar musical performance by a singer rooted in social justice organizing in Chicago. 

Join us in this mandate by making a donation to help us reach our goal of raising $200,000 by Friday, March 19th.

 

SEEDS OF CHANGE

Our 40th Anniversary Celebration -  Rooted in Radical Joy

Join grantees, board members, and friends of CROSSROADS FUND to celebrate

40 years of Change, not Charity at our virtual annual benefit, Seeds of Change.

 

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17 – FRIDAY, MARCH 19

 

VIRTUAL SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Special Guest

AMY GOODMAN

 

 Special Musical Performance

JAMILA WOODS

 

2021 Awards Presentation

 BRAVE SPACE ALLIANCE

GOODKIDS MADCITY

CHI-NATIONS YOUTH COUNCIL

 

Online Auction

(Opens Saturday, March 13)

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This year we will present the Ron Sable Award for Activism to Brave Space Alliance, a Black-led, trans-led organization centering LGBTQ communities in Chicago.  The Donald F. Erickson Synapses Award to GoodKids MadCity, a youth-led organization dedicated to ending the root causes of violence experienced by youth. The Lynda J. Tipton Memorial Award for Social Justice to Chi-Nations Youth Council, an inter-tribal group committed to Native Youth organizing and building Black and Indigenous solidarity.

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VIEW SPONSORSHIP BENEFITS   

SPONSORSHIP, ONLINE AUCTION, ADVERTISING OPPORTUNITIES

For more information, please contact Emmanuel Garcia at Emmanuel@crossroadsfund.org

We accept cash, personal checks, MasterCard, Visa, Discover, and American Express.

 

ONLINE AUCTION

(Opens, Saturday, March 13, 2021)

 

 

Special Guest

AMY GOODMAN

IN CONVERSATION WITH JANE KIMONDO 

 

Amy Goodman is the host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, a national, daily, independent, award-winning news program airing on over 1,500 public television and radio stations worldwide. Goodman has co-authored six New York Times bestsellers. Her latest one, Democracy Now!: Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America looks back over the first two decades of Democracy Now! and the powerful movements and charismatic leaders who are re-shaping our world. 

Special Musical Performance

JAMILA WOODS

Tempering sharp and powerful lyrics with a sweetly melodic voice, Jamila Woods is a Chicago-bred singer/songwriter and award-winning poet whose inspirations include Gwendolyn Brooks and Toni Morrison. Following the 2016 release of her debut album HEAVN, Jamila received critical acclaim for her singular sound that is both rooted in soul and wholly modern. Her 2019 sophomore release LEGACY! LEGACY! featured 12-tracks named after writers, thinkers, and visual artists who have influenced her life and work. She is a Pushcart Prize-winning poet and co-editor of “BreakBeat Poets: Black Girl Magic” (2018).  Her poetry was recently published in the Library of America anthology “African American Poetry: 250 Years of Struggle & Song” (2020). Jamila recently made her television debut, performing "SULA (Paperback)" on Colbert on Jan 6th, 2021.

 

 2021 Awardees

RON SABLE AWARD FOR ACTIVISM

BRAVE SPACE ALLIANCE

 

Since 2017, Brave Space Alliance (BSA) has organized and uplifted trans and gender non-conforming people of color through community-sourced services, knowledge-sharing and advocacy while building toward the liberation of all oppressed peoples.  BSA is the first Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ Center located on the South Side of Chicago, dedicated to providing affirming, culturally competent, for-us by-us services and programming for LGBTQ+ individuals on the South and West sides of the city. BSA has strengthened the ecosystem of community care through the Crisis Delivery program and mutual aid program amid the global pandemic. They firmly believe in organizing through collaboration with the Black, Trans, and Gender-Nonconforming collective and the Trans Liberation collective.

 

DONALD F. ERICKSON SYNAPSES AWARD

GOODKIDS MADCITY

 

Founded in the wake of the Parkland, FL, shooting in 2018, GoodKids MadCity (GKMC) provides support to young people affected by shootings while pushing for policies that address the systemic causes of gun violence. GKMC has galvanized Chicago by being a leading voice in the demand to defund the Chicago Police Department (CPD) and consistently leading protests during the uprisings of 2020. GKMC developed the “Peace Book Commission'', which is a proposal to divert funds from CPD in order to cultivate practices of repairing harm in Chicago communities most affected by gun violence without resorting to the criminal legal system and provide more resources and opportunities to youth affected by gun violence.

 

LYNDA J. TIPTON MEMORIAL AWARD FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

CHI-NATIONS YOUTH COUNCIL

 

Chi-Nations Youth Council was created in 2012 and comprises a diverse group of youth and adults with a mission to create a supportive, open environment for Native Youth; raise awareness of cultural identity; and promote a healthy lifestyle through arts, activism, and education. They work towards this goal by strengthening community through avid volunteerism, fundraising, and traditional values. In Spring 2019, the Youth Council opened the First Nations Garden in Albany Park, which they own and maintain with the American Indian Center. Recently, the Youth Council has led campaigns for Black and Indigenous solidarity; removing white supremacist monuments, mascots, and depictions of Indigenous people; and stopping oil pipeline development through Indigenous lands.

 

	HOST COMMITTEE Makkah Ali* Tony Alvarado-Rivera Mollie Anderson* & Al Rosenberg Emmanuel Andre* Gary M. Arnold Becky Belcore & Chris Williams Jim Bennett & Terry Vanden Hoek Evette Cardona & Mona Noriega Megan Carney Henry Cervantes* Inhe Choi Ann Christophersen Alice Cottingham James & Megan Murray Cusick* Shelley A. Davis & Omar McRoberts Cecile De Mello* Lee Dewey* Michelle Di Benedetto Erica Lynette Edwards Susan Eleuterio & Tom Sourlis Roxana Enriquez* Ruth & Dale Fast Denise D. Ferguson* Carolina Gallo Jazmin Garcia Sharlyn Grace Rhoda Rae Gutierrez & Jim Clark Tracie Hall* Abbey Hambright & Ben Santos Pat Handlin Brenda Hernandez* Janine Hoft & Linda Wagner Kheira Issaoui-Mansouri* Gabriel Jones Susan Kaplan Alice Kim Danbee Kim Julia Klein* Erica Knox Jeanne Kracher & Laura McAlpine Nora Kyger* Skyler Larrimore Drae Laws Rebekah Levin & Sophie Kaluziak Cherie Lockett Sharmili Majmudar Lynn Meissner Agnes Meneses* Joy Messinger Anjali Misra Nancy Myers Alan Paberzs Amisha Patel & Neena Hemmady Barbara Phillips Jon Quinn* Carbon Ratchford Ireri Rivas* Brittany Roque Mony Ruiz-Velasco & Denise Poloyac Muhammad Sankari* Margie Schaps Mary Scott Boria Lena Singer Debbie Southorn Sara Spoonheim Amit & Yali Amit Aisha Foluke Truss-Miller Thelma Uranga Tom Wilson   *Also a Crossroads Fund Board Member