5th Annual James Thindwa Grassroots Organizing Fund
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!
THANK YOU!
We wanted to express our gratitude for your support of the 5th Annual James Thindwa Grassroots Fund Celebration, whether you could attend or not. Your engagement is vital to honoring the legacy of James Thindwa.
The evening celebrated the spirit of organizing, movement building, and community togetherness that James embodied. The evening featured inspiring remarks from our Executive Director, Jane Kimondo, and special guest, Bill Ayers. The event featured a thought-provoking panel conversation with our 2024 James Thindwa Grassroots Organizing Fund grantees; Alex Y. Ding (Dissenters Chicago), Alicia Brown (Final 5 Campaign), and Nora Kropp (Black Midwifery Collective), moderated by organizer and Hip Hop performing artist, Damon A. Williams. We hope the discussion highlighted the incredible work being done in our community and the importance of continuing James’ vision.
Left to Right: Bill Ayers, Jane Kimondo, Damon A. Williams, Alex Y. Ding, Martha Biondi, Alicia Brown, Nora Kropp, and Emmanuel Garcia
2024 JAMES THINDWA GRASSROOTS ORGANIZING FUND GRANTEES
AWARDEE
THE FINAL 5 CAMPAIGN
The Final 5 Campaign is dedicated to closing Illinois’s final five youth prisons. Just ten years ago, eight youth prisons incarcerated nearly 1,200 young people across our state. Now, five prisons incarcerate 100 youth. The failure of these “Illinois Youth Centers” (as they are officially called) to provide care and respect to young people is no longer acceptable. The Final 5 Campaign exists to say that the time is now. We are at the finish line.
AWARDEE
Black Midwifery Collective
Black Midwifery Collective’s mission is to improve health outcomes for Black birthing individuals by actively addressing disparities in maternal and infant health that have disproportionately affected communities of color. They work to revolutionize midwifery models of care by increasing the racial diversity of Community Midwives to combat obstetric racism and dismantle institutionalized birth practices.
AWARDEE
Dissenters
Dissenters are leading a new generation of young people to reclaim our resources from the war industry, reinvest in life-giving services, and repair collaborative relationships with the earth and people worldwide. They work to take back our resources from elites and their violent wars, prisons, police, weapons, and walls. In short, defund militarism and endless wars.
Past Recipients of the James Thindwa Grassroots Organizing Fund:
Bring Chicago Home (2023)
Bring Chicago Home Campaign (Housing Justice) is a grassroots movement of Chicagoans committed to creating a dedicated revenue stream to combat homelessness in Chicago. The coalition aims to restructure the Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT), a one-time tax on properties when they are sold to create a substantial and legally dedicated revenue stream to provide permanent affordable housing for people experiencing homelessness. The new tax would generate $163 million annually to be dedicated to combating homelessness.
Illinois Worker Cooperative Alliance (2023)
Illinois Worker Cooperative Alliance (Workers Rights) is a multiracial, multilingual alliance of worker-led organizations formed to promote, educate and support the development of worker cooperatives in Illinois. IWCA is proud to be the first Seed Commons lending peer active in Illinois. Their vision is to create stable economic resources and workplace democracy for low-wage communities.
Not Me, We (2022)
Not Me, We is a Black-led organizing group in the South Shore neighborhood of Chicago fighting for issues around racism, housing, and education. They organize poor and working-class community members, allowing for mutual aid and collective power.
Survivors Know (2022)
Survivors Know is a membership organization of survivors that channels the power of those most impacted by sexual violence and sexual harassment to organize workplaces against misogyny and violent patriarchy. They place survivors’ needs, rights, and hopes over those of perpetrators, corporations, and institutions.
Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois (2021)
The Coalition to Decarcerate IL is a group of activists, loved ones of the incarcerated, and formerly and currently incarcerated individuals working to end the extreme, unending, and ineffective prison lockdown in the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). Since March 2020, their incarcerated community members in IDOC have often been confined to their cells for 23 hours a day, while COVID-19 continues to spread and their mental health worsens. For the past year, the coalition has been mobilizing and advocating for protecting the mental and physical health of people in prison. Their work is focused on pressuring the Illinois Government and IDOC to implement effective COVID-19 precautions, end the ineffective and torturous lockdown, and release people.
IL Workers in Action (2021)
The Illinois Workers in Action is a grassroots organization that empowers Black and Latinx workers through education, organizing, solidarity, worker power, and rights. They address violations and discrimination in the workplace, build leadership and worker power. Some of the violations and discrimination include wage theft, harassment, sick days, and OSHA violations.
Lift the Ban on Rent Control (2020)
Lift the Ban Coalition is a statewide coalition advocating for rent control and the repeal of the Rent Control Preemption Act — which prohibits local communities from implementing rent control — as a policy option to sustain affordable hous-ing throughout Illinois. Passing the referendum offers a tool for Chicago’s economic well-being and access to affordable housing for all.
SoapBox Productions and Organizing (2020)
SoapBox Productions and Organizing utilizes multimedia curation to elevate social movements in Chicago centering education, entertainment, and structural change. Their video and photography work challenges dominant narratives to raise consciousness and critique oppressive systems. Their long-running podcast “Bourbon ‘N Browntown” creates dialogue with guests about important historical and con-temporary social movements.
Who was James Thindwa?
James Thindwa, a former Crossroads Board member and longtime Chicagoan, died of cancer in January 2020. James had a passionate commitment to social justice and an abiding belief in the power of ordinary people to change the world. Born in Harare Zimbabwe and raised as well in Blantyre Malawi, James moved to the United States in 1974 to attend Berea College in Kentucky. There he began his commitment, as an African immigrant, toward forging solidarity with African American struggles. Upon earning an MA from Miami University, and briefly considering a career in academia—and wisely rejecting it—James began his beloved work as a community organizer. Spanning issues from climate justice to racial justice and the right of workers to unionize, James’ incredible organizing skills touched countless people and communities. The staff director of Citizen Action Coalition of Indiana, Ohio Citizen Action and Metro Seniors in Action in Chicago, he also served for many years as executive director of Chicago Jobs With Justice, where he fought in numerous campaigns, most memorably in the fight for a municipal living wage ordinance. His work with JwJ was featured on a Bill Moyers show in 2009, of which James was very proud.
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