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RDLF News: Issue 30
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Impact Acquires RDLF Building At Cost
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In May 2021, the Reva and David Logan Foundation purchased a six-unit building in Skokie, giving Impact Behavioral Health Partners the opportunity to manage and operate the property while they secured funding to purchase it. Thanks to this partnership, Impact officially acquired the building, at cost, in July through funding from Illinois Housing Development Authority and Federal Home Loan Bank.
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This strategic acquisition enabled the creation of their Family Supportive Housing Program, which offers permanent supportive housing for low-income families experiencing homelessness whose head-of-household is living with a mental illness. By relocating individuals from roommate-living arrangements into their own one-bedroom units in the Skokie building, Impact was able to free up larger, multi-bedroom units for families in need in their Evanston program. Today, eight BIPOC families, including 22 children, are housed through this program.
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Operating under a Housing First model, the program prioritizes client autonomy and choice, recognizing that safe, stable housing is the foundation for addressing other challenges. Families receive wraparound support, including a dedicated, Master’s level therapist for the adults, and a case manager who supports both mothers and children. Additionally, participants have access to employment specialists who help them utilize their existing skills and experience to find meaningful employment. Families may remain in their homes until the youngest child turns 24, providing the stability and continuity necessary for children to thrive throughout their formative years.
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The Foundation purchases properties across the city as a direct and tangible investment into communities and the organizations that serve and enrich them. This strategy aims to help those organizations advance their missions and reach higher levels of functioning. Our partnership with Impact Behavioral Health Partners has led to direct impact for families who need it most. We thank Impact for everything they do for housing equity and mental health.
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"EveryMom" Deserves Support
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It is easy to get lost in the excitement of having a brand new baby. For a new parent, there is nothing like the feeling of holding their newborn baby to their chest, and being surrounded by their loved ones. Unfortunately, the reality of taking care of a new baby even a week later can be less joy-filled.
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When the visitors leave and friends and family resume their obligations, the physical, mental, and emotional demands of new parenthood are unimaginably hard and often unspoken.
This reality—plus a global pandemic—inspired Jamie Taratoot to pay it forward for new birthing people. In March 2020, Jamie connected with a new mom in an online parenting group who needed a car seat. Jamie was happy to deliver her own as she no longer needed it. After talking with the mom, one thing was clear to Jamie: new moms don’t know what they need until the baby arrives. This is especially true if they don't have a strong support network or the means to procure these items.
With the support of other moms, Jamie provided the same new mom with a baby shower’s worth of newborn materials in addition to the car seat to help her more easily navigate the crucial first three months. This kind gesture evolved into EveryMom Chicago, a nonprofit organization that serves over 330 expectant birthing people in underserved communities, and believes every mom, regardless of circumstance, deserves to feel prepared, supported, and celebrated.
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On Friday, July 11th, Co-Executive Director Crystal Logan and Program Officer Jessica Jones-Lewis saw EveryMom Chicago’s work in action at its monthly Kit and Community Night, where attendees participated in assembling kits for new parents. All the materials were lined up on banquet tables, ready to place inside baby bathtubs which doubled as kit baskets. The kits are equipped with everything from infant soap, baby washcloths, onesies, board books, NoseFridas and baby toothbrushes. At the end of the evening, 32 volunteers had assembled over 100 new baby kits.
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One of EveryMom's board members, a labor and delivery nurse, took some kits back to Roseland Hospital after the event and hand-delivered them to a new mom and her baby. “When I walked in with the newborn kit, post-partum kit, and breastfeeding bags, her mother started to cry," she said, "which made me and the nurses on shift cry. The mom had the brightest smile and was extremely happy.”
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EveryMom Chicago is making a huge impact on the people they serve annually, but there is a pressing need to increase support for new mothers across Chicago. To learn more about EveryMom and how to support their work, visit their website.
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Proyecto Aprender's FITO, the AI Tutor
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Proyecto Aprender (PA) is a Chilean nonprofit and RDLF grantee whose goal is to transform the quality of teachers' pedagogical practices so they are able to accelerate their students' learning. PA primarily focuses on schools at risk of being closed, which serve the most vulnerable populations and most urgently need teacher training to re-engage their students.
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Recently, PA developed FITO, an artificial intelligence tutor designed to support teachers in planning classes and project-based learning. Fully coded and trained in-house, FITO was developed to be a pedagogical copilot.
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Planning is one of the most time-consuming tasks for teachers, and FITO reduces that workload from weeks to minutes, offering creative, curriculum-aligned proposals tailored to student interests. “When teachers spend less time planning, they have more space to personalize learning, respond to student needs, and build stronger relationships,” says Valentina Araya, Executive Director of Proyecto Aprender.
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FITO currently comes in two versions:
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- FITO Proyecto, which guides the planning of deep learning projects step-by-step, including activities, assessments, and learning products.
- FITO Clase, which helps design engaging, meaningful lessons in just minutes.
Because FITO was fully developed by PA's team, they can customize it for any school, district, state, or country, adapting it to specific educational contexts and curricular frameworks.
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Thanks to support from the Foundation, FITO is currently benefitting thousands of students and hundreds of teachers in southern Chilean schools, showing how responsible use of AI can unlock time, spark innovation, and strengthen teaching.
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Open Applications
- DCASE Arts Relief Fund: Recent decisions to change priorities for long standing arts and humanities federal programs have created challenges for the creative sector at the local and national level. The DCASE Arts Relief Fund supports arts and culture organizations impacted by these cuts and losses. These grants are one-time only and meant to replace income and opportunities lost through terminated or withdrawn federal funding. If your organization is a nonprofit based in and serving Chicago and you have recently lost an NEA, NEH, or IMLS grant, you are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is August 20th at 2 PM CT.
- Latitude 2026 Artist in Residence: Latitude's Artist in Residence Program is a one month residency where 8-10 artists are granted full access to their facilities and community to develop their practice. During their month at Latitude, residents are asked to be mentors to the community, sharing their insights and creative methods. Artists who are interested in production, education, and experimentation with their technology are encouraged to apply. The application deadline is August 31st at 12 PM CT.
- Sozosei Foundation: The Sozosei Foundation is requesting Statements of Interest for funding to support evidence-based programs and innovative (untested) approaches that will disrupt the current practice of criminalizing mental illness and accelerate access to community-based mental health care. The Foundation values programs that are grounded in evidence along with those that have the potential to grow the evidence base of what works by enabling data collection, data sharing, and evaluation of evidence-ready interventions. Grants will range from $25,000 - $100,000. The application deadline is September 5th at 10:59 PM CT.
- The Fund for Investigative Journalism: The Fund for Investigative Journalism provides grants and other support for reporters to produce high-quality, unbiased, nonpartisan investigative stories that have an impact. Freelance journalists, staff reporters and media outlets are eligible for grants, and their investigations can be for print, online or broadcast stories, books, documentaries or podcasts. Regular grants are up to $10,000 and the deadline to apply is September 8th. Seed grants are up to $2,500 and the deadline to apply is September 15th.
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Invisible Institute: "John Poulos’s past might have prevented him from being hired by the Chicago Police Department — if he had been honest about it. Instead, the lieutenant’s rise through the department’s ranks is emblematic of many of the problems identified by critics of CPD’s 'merit' promotion system."
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MindSite News: “A six-month investigation by Medill Investigative Lab-Chicago and MindSite News found that CARE teams are responding to fewer and fewer mental health calls, that police are responding to the vast majority, and that the overall effort is hampered by dysfunction and bureaucratic infighting."
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The Lens: “More than 100 men are crammed into each dormitory, roughly double the original capacity. With no air conditioning, broken ventilation systems, and failing infrastructure, temperatures soar above 100°F inside the buildings during Louisiana’s stifling summer heat. These conditions, inmates argue, not only violate basic human dignity but may also constitute a constitutional violation."
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San Francisco Public Press: "Uber’s use of a secretive fare pricing algorithm driven by artificial intelligence lowers drivers’ wages, causes them confusion and uncertainty, and could undermine public safety — all while boosting company profits to record levels."
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Take a look at these events coming up from our grantees and partners:
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What did you think?
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We craft this newsletter for you. If you have any comments or suggestions, please reply to this email and you might see your ideas implemented in our next issue.
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We have an open call for content from our partners to highlight the brilliant work they're doing in the community. If you are a current grantee or partner with The Reva and David Logan Foundation, please send your content to Sabrina Boggs, Communications Coordinator at sabrina(at)loganfdn(dot)org. Please note that we will not share fundraising campaigns.
Thanks for reading, and see you next time!
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