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. In college at UIC she began organizing for reproductive justice, and went on to work around issues of homelessness, youth involved in street economies, violence and youth incarceration with the Young Women’s Empowerment Project, the Southwest Youth Collaborative’s Center of Change and the Broadway Youth Center. She has also served on the Youth Fund for Social Change Grantmaking Committee at the Crossroads Fund. “I’m very excited to be at Crossroads Fund,” explained Cindy. “Having been on the other side of the table as a Crossroads Fund grantee, I know the importance of strong collaborations with funders. Crossroads Fund is really committed to having people grounded in social justice work involved in their grantmaking process and I’ve appreciated that in my work with the Youth Fund. I feel like I am carrying with me the desires and motivations of a lot of youth communities in Chicago to my work at Crossroads Fund. They can’t always be here, but I hope I can be a bridge to their work.”
