Woods Fund Chicago

Our communities are strengthened when we do not work alone. As we near the end of the year, we ask that you join us in our gratitude for our grantee partners and consider offering support in whatever way is most meaningful to you — whether through monetary support, volunteered time, or by amplifying their work.

Learn more about Woods Fund Chicago’s 2023 grantee partners: https://www.woodsfund.org/2023-grantees

Housing Video

Today, we remember our fallen siblings. We live in a country where there’s over 500 pieces of anti-LGBTQ, legislation, most of which are specifically targeted towards trans people. Yesterday was a beautiful representation of community, but also a reminder that there’s still so much work to be done. At Brave Space Alliance, we believe in dignity, while you’re living, as well as after death. As we collectively mourn, we encourage you to donate to local trans-led organizations. We also encourage you to donate to the BSA funeral fund, which specifically provides funding for dignified funeral services for our trans siblings who were victims of anti-trans violence. Our hope is that everyone can rest, and live in power! 🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️🏳️‍⚧️

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We wish all CPS parents, students, educators, and community members a restful break. 🫶

RYH will be open next Monday and Tuesday and closed next Wednesday-Friday for the holidays. We will re-open Monday, November 27th.

Read WFC grantee partner Equity And Transformation's report on the Chicago Future Fund:

In 2021, EAT launched the first round of the Chicago Future Fund, one of the only guaranteed income programs in the country exclusively for formerly incarcerated people. We gave $500/month to 30 system-impacted residents of West Garfield Park for 18 months. Explore the impact by reading the full CFF Evaluation Report today. Link in bio.

Save the date for January 16th, 2024 as TRHT Chicago celebrates racial healing and restores communities to wholeness so we can work together to change the systems and structures that affirm the inherent value of all people. Stay tuned over the next few weeks as we roll out our programming, resources and information on how you can get involved!

Save the date for upcoming events with Shriver Center on Poverty Law, including their first annual Poverty Summit. ➡️

TONIGHT. 🌟 Have you registered for our Post-Budget Season Debrief?

📍 Mon, Nov 20, 6PM - 7:30PM via Zoom.
➡️ Register: tinyurl.com/PUPBudgetDebrief

Join us to discuss what the 2024 budget means for the future of our campaigns, such as , , , and our environmental justice campaigns.

W/ Brighton Park Neighborhood Council Southside Together Organizing for Power - STOP GoodKids MadCity Neighbors For Environmental Justice Southeast Environmental Task Force

Next week on Tuesday, November 29, The UIC Institute for Research on Race and Public Policy will host a discussion on Treatment Not Trauma, which has received the organizing support of several of Woods Fund Chicago's grantee partners. This is a great opportunity to learn more about the campaign and its background from a panel that includes Arturo Carrillo, grantee partner Brighton Park Neighborhood Council's Deputy Director of Health & Violence Prevention.

Learn more and register at bit.ly/TNT_IRRPP.

Congratulations to our grantee partners who organized around the Paid Leave Ordinance! The ordinance passed Chicago City Council this month and is scheduled to go into effect on December 31. The Paid Leave Ordinance is cited as the most progressive paid time off legislation in the nation.

Paid Leave Ordinance organizers include AFIRE Chicago, Arise Chicago, Centro de Trabajadores Unidos, Chicago Community and Workers' Rights, Chicago Workers' Collaborative, Latino Union of Chicago, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, Warehouse Workers For Justice, Women Employed, and Workers Center for Racial Justice.

Photo credit: Warehouse Workers For Justice

"In the struggle for racial justice and systemic change, what will it take to recalibrate our leadership?" For the November newsletter, President Michelle Morales reflects on her four years at Woods Fund Chicago and reimagining what leadership could be. Plus: Learn how to support our grantee partners' work, join the Woods Fund Chicago team, and read our monthly recommended reading list.

Read the full newsletter now: https://t.e2ma.net/message/hplfhi/dy5xys8g

Congratulations to Michelle for being one of six honorees who will be celebrated tonight, and thank you to City Club of Chicago for recognizing the work of Michelle and Woods Fund Chicago!

When our grantee partners are successful, our communities are successful. 🌟

Congratulations to our grantee partners for your momentous wins this year, including...

- Chicago's allocation of grant funds for the Chicago Torture Justice Memorial. Supporters of the memorial include the Chicago Torture Justice Center and CJTM Advisory Board members from Northwestern Pritzker School of Law’s Children and Family Justice Center and Heartland Alliance.

- The Community Commission on Public Safety’s decision to erase the gang database. The Erase the Gang Database Coalition includes Organized Communities Against Deportations, BYP 100, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago, and GoodKids MadCity.

- The Illinois State Supreme Court's decision to uphold the Pretrial Fairness Act. The Coalition to End Money includes Chicago Community Bond Fund, Community Renewal Society, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, SOUL - Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, and the Workers Center for Racial Justice.

- The release of Chicago's first-ever Cumulative Impact Assessment report. Grantee partner Little Village Environmental Justice Organization (LVEJO) was a key member of the working groups developing the report.
.. And this month's most recent successes through the passage of the Paid Leave Ordinance and organizing for the inclusion of Bring Chicago Home on the upcoming 2024 ballot.

We recognize these achievements and support you through the work ahead.

Photo credits: Top circle, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, left, Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (S.O.U.L.), right, Chicago Community Bond Fund

Woods Fund Chicago congratulates our numerous grantee partners who have organized so that Chicagoans will have the opportunity to vote on the Bring Chicago Home referendum, a proposal to utilize a one-time Real Estate Transfer Tax to fund permanent affordable housing. Bring Chicago Home has received the support of several WFC grantee partners, including the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Communities United, Not Me We, and ONE Northside, who serve on the steering committee.

Bring Chicago Home supporters include: Brave Space Alliance, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago Coalition for the Homeless, Communities United, Community Renewal Society, Enlace Chicago, Grassroots Collaborative, Heartland Alliance, Housing Action Illinois, The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization, Latino Policy Forum, Mujeres Latinas en Accion, Not Me We, Northwest Center, ONE Northside, Palenque LSNA, Pilsen Alliance, Shriver Center on Poverty Law, SOUL - Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, Supportive Housing Providers Association - SHPA, The People's Lobby, and Westside Rising.

We celebrate the historic work of our grantee partners to ensure Chicago communities can come together in solutions that provide dignity and quality of life for all.

Photo credit: Chicago Coalition for the Homeless

Woods Fund Chicago President Michelle Morales is one of six civic leaders who will be honored by City Club of Chicago as part of Amplification: A Chicago Civic Celebration. Michelle will be recognized at the inaugural event on the evening of November 16 at CineSpace Studios Chicago. Learn more: https://www.cityclub-chicago.org/amplification-november-16

Inicio - Radio Vida Independiente ¡TAN DIFERENTE COMO TÚ!Vivimos en un mundo de diversidad funcional, donde todos somos diferentes y nadie posee las mismas habilidades y limitaciones. Es nuestra voluntad lo que determina qué tan difícil es el desafío a superar.ESCUCHA LA RADIO DONACIONES Ayuda a nuestra comunidad. SERVICIOS Y P...

We love when our grantee partners come together! Southwest Organizing Project GoodKids MadCity

Congratulations to Christina! 🥳

Christina Córdova-Herrera is the New Director of Communications and Narrative Strategy Chicago United for Equity welcomes a new Director of Communications and Narrative Strategy to share CUE's impact with stories that resonate

With LSC election season here, our workshops have remained a key resource for LSC reps across Chicago. They are focused on what you CAN do as an LSC representative. Our LSC 101s are perfect for folks interested in running and/or filling a vacancy.

Mark your calendars for upcoming workshops! Registration and more details to come soon! 🏵

Our grantee partner Faith in Place is hiring! Learn more:

🌟 We're ! 🌟

Are you passionate about making a positive impact on the environment and in communities across IL, IN, and WI? Consider applying for our Digital Communications Coordinator position!

If you're enthusiastic, organized, and committed to environmental justice, this opportunity is for you! Learn more and apply:
https://bit.ly/Digital-Comms

Learn more about Communities United's upcoming conference:

The application deadline for the Forum’s Multicultural Leadership Academy (MLA) is TOMORROW! The academy provides a series of workshops to about 24 community, policy, arts, & cultural leaders each year and looks to foster a space where these individuals can further develop their skills as visionaries within social change, policy impact, and/or community improvement across .

Learn more and apply at:
https://app.smarterselect.com/programs/92477

Woods Fund Chicago is hiring! The Communications & Storytelling Officer (CSO) works closely with the President to create Foundation-wide communications and marketing goals, with a focus on storytelling using the power of narrative to add to the Foundation’s advocacy efforts.

Join our growing team and apply today: https://www.woodsfund.org/news/job-opening-communications-storytelling-officer

Join Woods Fund Chicago grantee partner The Final 5 Campaign tomorrow as they celebrate the opening of the new, national immersive art exhibition . The event is from 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. at 688 N Milwaukee Ave #101.

Our grantee partner Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) was featured in Block Club Chicago discussing the importance of building relationships within and across communities.

Learn more:

Muslim Nonprofit Calls For Solidarity In City's Black, Brown Communities As Israel-Hamas War Continues The Inner-City Muslim Action Network hosted a teach-in for Southwest Side neighbors to learn about Palestine and talk about violence in Gaza.

You wanna know what's scary? When schools dont teach Asian American history.

If you're a teacher attend one of our workshops coming up! Register: advancingjustice-chicago.org/teaach/

A Win for Trees & Communities: Faith in Place Receives U.S. Forest Service Funding for Tree Equity EXCITING NEWS: We are honored to announce that Faith in Place, the Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin affiliate of Interfaith Power and Light, has been awarded a historic level of funding to expand tree equity and forestry workforce development in disadvantaged communities across our three-state regio...

Check out these upcoming events with Workers Center for Racial Justice ➡️

Check out all of the community events WCRJ has going on in the month of November! We have something for everyone and hope to see some new as well as returning faces.

Find more information about November's event list & get registered here: center4racialjustice.org/events

EAT 5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! EAT's founding team members reflect back over the first 5 years and share their vision for the future of the organization. Produced By: John NichollsFeaturin...

Check out this upcoming workshop with WFC grantee partner Latino Union of Chicago on November 17:

Congratulations to The Kenwood Oakland Community Organization for commemorating their 58th year! Learn more about their upcoming celebration this Saturday:

SEE YOU THIS SATURDAY AT "A BRONZE AFFAIR"!!!

Join us THIS SAT, NOV. 4, as we celebrate 58 years of organizing and service in the Kenwood and Oakland Communities in Chicago and beyond. https://bit.ly/BronzeAffair2023

Enjoy the sensual sounds of live band and DJ, delicious buffet dinner and much more.

Get your tickets now!

November 4, 2023 - 7:00 PM - 10:00 PM

National Association of Letter Carriers Hall
3850 S Wabash Ave.
Chicago, IL 60653

KOCO is a 501(c) 3 organization, and all donations support our critical programs and vital organizations activities.

Woods Fund Chicago recognizes and celebrates . We honor the history of Native American, Alaskan Native, Native Hawaiian, and First Nations people and the organizing efforts of past, present, and future to preserve these histories and halt the displacement of their communities.