Support the Freedom of the Press – The Fight Goes On
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Meet LOOKOUT News, the USSouthwest’s only nonprofit LGBTQ+ newsroom. Its mission is to deliver fearless journalism and community events that expand LGBTQ+ representation on the local news stage, while strengthening and engaging LGBTQ+ communities and their allies. LOOKOUT‘s ultimate vision is a queer experience liberated from injustice, with equal respect, rights, and opportunity for all people, backed by journalism that holds power accountable.
Founders Joseph Darius Jafaari and Jake Hylton started LOOKOUT in December 2022 because the data was clear: local news coverage of queer people and the issues affecting them was disappearing outside of election cycles and Pride month. When it did show up, it usually talked over the community’s voices, rather than including them. They wanted to change that.
It started as Jafaari’s monthly newsletter but has since grown into a full operation. LOOKOUT now publish a quarterly print magazine and three regular weekly newsletters, including their legislative tracker Eyes on the State, reaching a community of more than 15,000 readers. It also built the Glitterati, a volunteer street team that shows up at events across Arizona to get LOOKOUT directly into people’s hands.
First Place – AAN Excellence in Journalism for Under the Badge, an investigative series by Celina Jiménez examining how law enforcement agencies across Arizona respond to violence targeting LGBTQ+ people.
First Place – LGBTQ+ Coverage for reporter Tori Gantz’s body of workexploring the intersection of queerness and far-right politics.
First Place – Newsletter for Eyes on the State, LOOKOUT‘s legislative newsletter by Tori Gantz tracking hundreds of bills affecting LGBTQ+ Arizonans during the legislative session.
Third Place – LGBTQ+ Coverage for Escaping Arizona, a reported series by Joseph Darius Jaafari and Ellie Samsal exploring why LGBTQ+ Arizonans are leaving the state amid an increasingly hostile political climate.
Founder and Editor-in-Chief Joseph Darius Jaafari also received the Spirit of AAN Award for his leadership in the field.
Beyond reporting, the organization’s flagship programs like Summer of Solutions and Reporting as Resistance train community members in journalism fundamentals, empowering those closest to the issues to tell their own stories. The Spring 2026 cohort covered stories ranging from a crepe shop doubling as a safe haven for activists to frontline medics tending to elderly protesters in the summer heat.
In exciting news, LOOKOUT officially expanded into Colorado in June after a feasibility study and months of listening sessions across the region. Thinking intentionally about building roots in the community, LOOKOUT started with a launch event in Denver for local partners, funders, and publishers. It also tabled at Denver Pride, where more than 400 people signed up to receive the newsletter. LOOKOUT plans to continue expanding its coverage to Utah, New Mexico, and Nevada, hiring local talent that are already embedded in each community.
We invite you to follow along with their work and read some of their recent articles:
The Leaders of Color Collective (LoCC) recently welcomed Aimée Eubanks Davisfrom Braven to talk about turning $5,000 gifts into $500,000 gifts.
As always, the LoCC event started with the opportunity for Chicagoland nonprofit leaders of color to network over food and drinks. At each event, leaders make new connections, with a majority of people reporting they plan to follow up with the people they met after the event. This remains a necessary facet of LoCC programming, since leaders of color often feel isolated in their positions.
The discussion was moderated by Jamyle Cannon, Executive Director of The Bloc, who started with a question: what have attendees’ experiences been with receiving grants, and how large or small are their gifts? The attendees shared an interesting through-line: their most significant fundraising came from the personal connections that leaders cultivated with individual funders. Grants were cited as the vehicle, but the relationships were the method.
Unbeknownst to those who shared, participants created a perfect segue into Davis’s central talking point: donors fund organizations based on their relationships.
Through various examples of relationship-building that grew Braven into a nearly $50 million organization, Davis highlighted several strategies to deepen connections with current and prospective philanthropic supporters:
Ask networks for connections
Prepare for meeting potential supporters
Develop a clear narrative of what you do
Create a strategic communications plan
Organizations need to find their champions or, in other words, people who will spread the word and bring in more connections. An organization’s initial network does not have to be individuals capable of donating large gifts; board members, staff members, and community supporters can leverage their respective networks to find more major donors.
Once nonprofit leaders secure the chance to meet face-to-face with prospective new funders, it is imperative they carefully research their audience. That research can include their interests, various people in their personal spheres, personal motivations, and most importantly, what matters to them.
The next step is to have a clearly communicable picture of the what, how and why. Nonprofit leaders should be ready to succinctly share their organization’s purpose, plan and impact, and how that connects to the individual. Why does your work matter to this donor? What connections can you make to their personal values? Through a sense of inquiry and curiosity, leaders can better acquaint themselves with the history of potential donors and highlight their shared goals.
Ultra-wealthy individuals donate their money because it is in their best financial interest to do so, but they want to make sure their investment is having a significant impact. While nonprofit leaders can talk to their staff and participants to gauge their success, donors don’t have that access. It is incumbent on leaders to consistently connect with donors and stakeholders of all types to share their impact and progress. For organizations like Braven, that means multiple touchpoint with the organization’s work, such as impact report mailings, connection events, and individual or group meetings. A sense of belonging in a movement to make change goes a long way.
Conclusion
While her presentation included concrete steps for attendees, Aimée Eubanks Davis ultimately shared the outline for a mindset shift. Fundraising and philanthropic support are not passive or sporadic aspects of leading. They are active, ongoing practices that need consistent attention and strategic planning. Leaders must understand that funding the work of an organization is a top priority —alongside programming and organization management, not beneath it. Furthermore, fundraising must go beyond applications to open calls; a more concerted plan to utilize board and community networks to make connections to potential supporters is essential.
Written by Jessica Jones-Lewis.
2025 Logan Scholarship recipients and student service coordinator.
This summer, Program Officer Jessica Jones-Lewis interviewed two recipients of the “In the Game” Logan Scholarship, a Kelly High School program led by Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) and funded by the Reva and David Logan Foundation. You can read the first interview here.
The Impact of the Logan Scholarship
The Logan Scholarship is a scholarship for 4 years of undergraduate education awarded to six to seven women at Kelly High School each year to close the financial gap that remains after all their financial aid and scholarships are applied toward their undergraduate education, which otherwise prevents many young people from graduating. The $20,000 scholarship is distributed in installments of $5,000 per year.
Since the scholarship started in 2015, 61 students have received the Logan Scholarship, with 24 active recipients currently enrolled full-time in college. All active scholars maintain GPAs between 2.5 and 4.0, reflecting their continued academic achievement. So far, three students continued education after the scholarship and completed their graduate degrees.
Each scholarship recipient has a Student Support Coordinator who offers individualized assistance through monthly one-hour case management meetings. These sessions address academic progress, personal well-being, study strategies, time management, mental health, and financial stability, connecting students to needed resources. Through these efforts, the Logan Scholarship continues to strengthen college readiness, support scholars holistically, and maintain strong collaboration with school leadership.
In addition, all scholarship recipients can make requests for assistance with all the unexpected costs associated with attending college through the scholarship’s emergency fund. In the past, students have used this fund to pay for books, iPads and laptops for school, groceries, transportation, exam fees, and graduation attire.
This scholarship is helping bright, ambitious young women complete their undergraduate degrees. Like our next interviewee, Kelly Lin, many of these students want the opportunity to pursue graduate degrees, but lack the financial support. If you are a funder and would like to help expand this program, please reach out.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jessica: What is your major and year in college? And what are you up to right now?
Kelly: I am a senior at University of Illinois Urbana Champaign. I study Political Science on a Pre-Law track with a double minor in Public Relations and Legal Studies. Right now, I am currently active as a Board Advisor for the Vietnamese Student Organization, formerly the fundraising chair. And I’m also currently a member of the Asian Law Association. It is essentially a law organization to help students in the Asian community connect to lawyers, get an idea of what law school is like, and professionally develop. That’s pretty much all I’m currently involved in.
Esmeralda (Student Support Coordinator): Kelly also joined as an Alumni Ambassador this summer at Kelly High School assisting the post-secondary team help recent alumni and rising seniors transition into their last year and freshman year of college.
Jessica: I love how you said that’s pretty much all, because that’s a lot. It’s tremendous. I want to hear from you: why college after high school?
Kelly: I’ve always wanted to pursue the legal field and become a lawyer or attorney. So far, I love college and I’m really glad I went because I’ve gained a lot of valuable experience that’s not just in academics. It has helped me grow as a person and learn a lot of life skills that I believe will help me long term.
Jessica: Why law?
Kelly: In high school I did 4 years of policy debate. I would go to summer camp to help prepare for the upcoming seasons, up until I was a senior. I really love the aspect of researching and preparing the evidence of a debate in order to win. That spilled into long term career plans like being a lawyer, because that’s very similar. Studying it in college and having a legal studies minor made me enjoy learning about different laws and the system.
Jessica: How did high school prepare you for college and in what ways did you feel unprepared?
Kelly: I think my high school at Kelly College Prep provided a lot of resourceful college career coaches that helped me gauge what college is really like and what resources the school provided, such as scholarships, which is how I found out about the Logan Scholars. They provide a lot of opportunities to apply for scholarships and they always have someone to back you up in that sense. In that part, I do think my high school was very effective in helping me get an idea of what college was like and giving me the resources that I need to benefit me in college.
The one thing I think didn’t prepare me for college was the style of learning. In high school you have your schedule and your activities or extracurriculars you’re involved in. All of that is from 7:45 to 3, longer if you have extracurricular activities. But in college you have to set your own schedule and you have to manage your own time in order to involve yourself in all these activities. It’s a skill you have to learn while being in college or other experiences you might have.
Jessica: What was your first year of college like? You went from Chicago to Urbana Champaign, a whole new place.
Kelly: I guess freshman year was kind of rough, but I assume that’s a common theme that happens for a lot of students that are out of state or far away from their families. I did experience having to be by myself for the very first time without my parents. But it wasn’t that bad in the dorms because they have dining halls, so I wasn’t starving or dying.
I think the main issue I had was being away from home and not having that support system of family and friends. I did leave a lot of friends behind. And adjusting to the new environment is hard. There are thousands of students on my campus and you do feel kind of left out, or you think, “Where do I belong?” I didn’t know many people coming into college and I didn’t really know what organizations to join, so that did kind of scare me away.
The very first semester I only focused on academics. I didn’t push myself to join other organizations until my spring semester. The first thing I learned my very first semester was how to adapt to going to different buildings for classes and how to study for them, because the way these classes work, they’re very fast paced. I focused on just learning how to study effectively and how to have a social life so it’s not just studying. And adapting to a new environment.
Jessica: What motivated you to get out there and join groups in the second semester?
Kelly: When I only focused on academics and had a pretty small circle of friends, I didn’t enjoy university as much as I’d like. I was contemplating transferring back to a school in Chicago, like UIC maybe. But I was like, “Well, you haven’t tried joining these groups your other friends are a part of,” because a lot of my friends were in the Vietnamese Student Association, which is the organizations I ended up joining and being very committed to for three years. So, I pushed myself to try new things and I think that benefitted me the most because that’s when I really started to experience the college life. I made a lot of new friends from different backgrounds, whereas before I was only friends with a small circle of friends from Chicago. That expanded my horizons and connections and that’s when I ended up gaining confidence personally and professionally, too.
Jessica: How specifically did the Logan Scholars program support you before you went to college, while you’re in college now, and how do you hope it will support you after college?
Kelly: I would say that the Logan Scholarship helped me a lot in providing me a student support coordinator, because they have a lot of expertise in college. They encouraged me to look into more resources that the college provides. That’s when I started to learn how to be more independent and reach out to my resources on my own rather than being dependent on somebody.
They help me a lot with finances, because college is very expensive. I come from a low-income household. Even though I have a lot of financial aid, there are still a lot of expenses outside of tuition like books and rent. The Logan Scholarship was able to help me offset a lot of financial burden. I was able to get reimbursements from the university to help pay for my apartment and housing and stuff. Esmeralda really encouraged me to request for funds if I really do need it. She let me know about a lot of stuff that Logan Scholarship helps me with that I didn’t think they focused on, like reimbursing for books which are really important for my classes and stuff like that.
Going forward, I do also want to pursue a masters, so I feel like having to pay for graduate school is very expensive. For FAFSA, you can’t really apply for financial aid if you’re a graduate student; you can only take out loans and that’ll be really expensive. One thing I would hope the Logan Scholarship will focus on is to have more support for the alumni—maybe another smaller program that provides smaller funds to subsidize some of the financial burden that grad students will have to face. And for people who already graduated, maybe the Logan Scholarship can provide some career opportunities in case they’re needing help to find a job or other issues they might have.
Jessica: How did participation in the Logan Scholarship program differ from other supports you have utilized while in college?
Kelly: Compared to other scholarships, the Logan Foundation provides reimbursements for a lot of assets that people don’t usually help you with, like books, groceries, and gas. It makes me think the Logan Foundation really does care about their students’ wellbeing—not just education, but personally, too. They want to make sure we can not only afford going to college but that we can survive the other expenses that other scholarships don’t really tend to focus on.
Jessica: You shared that it was hard for you to leave home. What has your family’s experience been like during your college years?
Kelly: They were a lot more chill with it. They were like, “Oh, I can finally get time away from my kids,” they would joke about that. But they do miss us sometimes, obviously. They want us to come home for break, they would get upset if I said I wanted to go on vacation.
I do think the one thing that they’re very grateful for is the fact that I don’t have to pay for college, so they don’t have to worry about that really expensive part. They work very hard and they make low-income wages which is perfectly fine, because they still try to make ends meet to support me and my brother. My older brother also doesn’t have to pay for college because he has his own scholarships. They always say that they’re pretty lucky to have two kids that offset some of their financial burdens.
They don’t really speak English well, so my brother and I translate for them and help them deal with a lot of stuff like taxes or translation services, and filing for government programs. I think without us being there it’s a lot harder for them to manage by themselves, so that does worry us. But we try to help them as much as we can despite being miles away from them.
Jessica: How has your college experience changed your family’s ideas or perceptions of college, if at all?
Kelly: I would say going to college made them realize, “Not being with my kids is kind of difficult,” and it’s kind of both ways. We just miss each other’s presence and stuff like that. They realized they can’t depend on their kids forever, so they try to learn things for themselves. It’s both ways for me and my brother too—if I’m not home, I have to learn how to take care of myself, cook, clean, and live independently with my other roommates.
Jessica: What are your long-term goals and aspirations, even thinking beyond law school?
Kelly: I want to get a masters. I don’t want to go straight into law school. I’m very interested in the Human Resources aspect of things. I think having a master’s in HR would also help me be able to work a few years before going straight to law school since I don’t want to take out a lot of loans. A lot of my peers go straight into law school and they always tell me it’s so stressful and they wish they could have taken a gap year. They go from graduation straight into intensive studying. I would definitely want a break before going straight into law school.
Jessica: Why an HR masters specifically?
Kelly: Based on my internships. I interned at a state representative’s office and it felt a lot more like providing resources and helping constituents. I also worked at my high school this last summer where I helped give a lot of students resources to help them be successful. I’ve always enjoyed doing that kind of work, not just for students but all age groups. At the office I had to work with a lot of older people from the Chinatown community because they don’t really speak English, and I helped them with filing for bus cards and other stuff. That made me interested in that field.
Jessica: Are there any other things that you want to share about your experience, starting in the Logan Scholars program up until where you are now?
Kelly: The Logan Scholarship is very good at reaching out to its students monthly, which I think is very important because anything can happen in that one-month span, like midterms or an emergency. The student support coordinators really care about their students and they want to make sure their students have everything they need to be successful in college. Even if a student might not be as responsive, they still follow up. Working at my high school during the summer, I got to see what Esmeralda does for her other students. I think that’s very important and helpful.
Jessica: I appreciate your candor and time sharing your experience. Do you have any questions?
Kelly:How does the Logan Scholarship keep up with alumni?
Esmeralda: There is a huge need for transitional support, so that’s what I’m working on right now with current graduate students. There’s a lot of resources through BPNC and the Brighton Park Neighborhood Network. Sometimes I help connect them if there’s a job-related request or somebody wants to intern somewhere, or looking for scholarships or additional aid. Something that we did recently with recent graduates was help them pay for certificate programs or smaller funds that related to continuing their education through the special request funds. Sometimes we were able to help during the summer if they needed a specific class to get their double major.
In the past, a lot of students weren’t taking advantage of the special request funds that we had. I think mainly it was a cultural thing, like being Latino or Asian American, which is why I was encouraging so much for students to take advantage of that support, because we always had leftover funds from the semester or the year before. So that’s a way that we used to be able to pull funds to support master’s programs. But now, because we have been more consistent with using those funds, we’re more limited in supporting tuition-based funds outside of undergrad. I’m hoping maybe in the future that could change.
This summer, Program Officer Jessica Jones-Lewis interviewed two recipients of the Logan Scholarship, a Kelly High School program led by Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) and funded by the Reva and David Logan Foundation.
Background
In 2015, Kartemquin Films produced a film about the Kelly College Prep Girls Soccer Team, partially funded by the Foundation. The film followed three young women from Brighton Park as they went through high school and participated in soccer. It examined their struggles with poverty, family, immigration, and the perils of trying to accomplish something more. During the filming of the documentary, several of the teens were actively organizing with BPNC to improve the Brighton Park neighborhood and support the multi-year campaign to renovate Kelly Park directly across the street from Kelly High School, which had been unusable for soccer. With little to no funding to pay for buses to take the girls to practice or take the girls to soccer games, Kelly’s soccer team and its partnership with BPNC was a unique opportunity to impact Brighton Park.
When Kartemquin released the film, BPNC went on a couple junkets with the young women, the Kelly principal, and other leaders to talk about the community and its needs. Richard Logan, President of the Reva and David Logan Foundation, discovered them at one of these junkets and approached BPNC to see how the Foundation could support young women at Kelly High School. Through a variety of conversations and strategy sessions, they designed the Logan Scholarship.
The original scholarship helped cover costs of tuition for undergraduate and master’s degrees for 3 young women, but then shifted to focus on supporting 5-6 women at Kelly with their undergraduate degrees. The $20,000 award helps to close the financial gap that remains after all their financial aid and scholarships are applied, a deficit that otherwise prevents many young people from graduating. In addition to tuition costs, the scholarship has evolved to include support services and an emergency fund for all the unexpected costs associated with attending college. It’s been an enormous success.
Our first interviewee is Diana, who majored in English and Creative Writing and graduated May 2025. She is currently pursuing her Master’s in Hispanic Literature.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jessica: Diana, why was college an important step for you right out of high school?
Diana: I immigrated here 9 years ago. The way I explain it to people is: there are 10 doors, and 9 out of 10 are open for people who were born and raised here. 8 out of 10 are going to be closed for me, just because I didn’t have some knowledge or privileges that other people have here. I need a key for those doors, and anything I can get—either college, internships, university—it’s pretty important to me. I knew that I wanted to pursue higher education, and since I got here, my family, my classmates, my teachers would tell me, “All you can do is high school.” But different doors kept opening.
The Alternative Application [for Illinois Financial Aid] became a thing when I was still in high school; when I was a freshman that was not a thing, so that’s when people were telling me I was not going to be able to pursue higher education. I like proving everyone wrong, even myself. Back then I didn’t think I would be able to pursue a Master’s, and now I’m doing it. I wanted to do it as fast as I can just because I have the time and I still get support from my parents. I need time to get all those keys, as many as I can.
Jessica: How else did high school prepare you for the next step? And in what ways did it not prepare you?
Diana: I had really good teachers at Kelly that prepared me for the workload, like the pressure of certain assignments, meeting certain requirements. I had a teacher who wanted my class to get Honors credit but we couldn’t because we were part of the bilingual program, and for some reason we couldn’t get both. So she said, “Even if you don’t get the credit, you will get the knowledge.” It was a tough class, but I got the experience, the hard work it takes to be in an Honors class.
It had a lot to do with those teachers. They gave me a lot of warnings like, “College is not going to be as easy, you’re not going to have this close of a relationship with your professor in college.” I didn’t really listen to them at the time because I was like, “Nah, they’re overreacting,” but they weren’t. I’m pretty grateful for those teachers.
And the ways I felt unprepared—it was a little bit hard for me to adjust to college because I thought it was going to be the same dynamic and it wasn’t. Even though they told me that structure-wise it was going to be more independent, the assignments and responsibilities were going to be on me and no one was going to be there to push me or expect something from me as a teacher in high school would, I didn’t get to experience that before college. And they told me that was going to happen, but I guess it was my own ignorance that made me unprepared. I should listen more.
Jessica: It’s always hard to believe other people until you experience it. I hear that. Can you paint a picture of what your first year of college was like?
Diana: My first year, I didn’t expect to be fully on my own. I remember one time I had a doctor’s appointment and I was like, “Oh my god, I have to tell my professor.” And I went to him and I told him, “Tomorrow I might need to leave a bit earlier because I have a doctor’s appointment.” And he told me, “It’s your time. We don’t care if you’re here. We don’t care if you leave early.” It was more like a joke, but he straight up told me, “We don’t care if you’re here or not.” If it had been in high school, some of my teachers would have been like, “Are you okay? What is going on?” It would have been different.
It was pretty hard. My grades, I’ve never been a C student, and I got C’s and B’s for my first semester, and it was really hard on me because I take a lot of pride in my grades and that’s my motivation. So when I saw that I was like, “This cannot be happening.” My second semester, that first year, I had to lock in. It took a little while. I was trying to understand the whole dynamic of college and I had to take fewer classes than I took my first semester, but I think that helped me start getting used to the structure and responsibility.
My second semester got pretty lonely because it’s not like high school, everyone is in their own world and has their own struggles. They go to class and they don’t talk to anybody, and then they leave class. So that was a little bit challenging too. There would be days that I wouldn’t talk at all. My first words of the day would be after getting home and seeing my family and being like, “Oh, hi, I’m here.” And I would realize this was the first time I’d talked the whole day. So that was also a little bit hard.
I had some high school friends at the time that were going to UIC as well, so that helped me. But there were some ups and downs for that first year.
Jessica: So you were a commuter student to campus. Do you think that some of the structural aspects would have been different if you had stayed on campus?
Diana: Yeah, definitely. Later on, I joined clubs when I was old enough to stay late, because they’re meant to be for people in the dorms. Most of them are 7pm, 8pm, and if I stayed, I would be getting home at 8, 9, that would have been too late for me. It would have been totally different for me if I had been at the dorms or closer to campus.
Jessica: How did you find out about opportunities for meeting new people?
Diana: We have the involvement fairs where we learn a lot about clubs. I would go because you get freebies, so it would be fun to go and get information. I never really thought about joining or trying to get more involved until my second year. I did have some friends from high school, but we had different schedules so we wouldn’t really see each other, and I started to get pretty lonely. I struggled with depression and anxiety for my second year, and I had the privilege to have therapy outside of school. Through that I was able to get the courage to go to events. I started going to events by myself which was pretty scary, but I knew if I were to go with a friend I would spend the whole event with them and I wouldn’t make an effort to meet other people. It did help me in the long run.
Jessica: Can you share the support that you received from the Logan Scholarship program before you started college, while you were in school, and then as you’ve graduated?
Diana: Before starting college, I remember they immediately sent me a list of materials for school that I could ask for. [My student support coordinator] was like, “Even if you don’t think you need it right now, ask for it, because you might need it later on.” I remember I was really hesitant. There was an iPad option, and I was like, “I don’t know if I’m gonna need that,” and she was like, “Trust me, you’re gonna need it later on.” And then I did. Most of my books are now on that iPad. It was a good choice. I guess for me, I struggled a lot throughout the whole experience with asking for stuff. It felt too exploitative. So having people like Maria and Esmeralda tell me, “No, you can ask, you can ask,” that was really nice.
For my financial aid, I got a little bit of an issue with it in my third year. [The financial aid department] took it all away. The scholarship helped me a lot with that, which I was really grateful for. But it was beyond the money or the tuition. I remember for the Alternative Application, not a lot of people know how to fill that one out. Every time I had to fill that out, I texted or emailed Maria asking, “Can you please help me?” And she was pretty familiar with the process. I don’t know anything about taxes, so I was really confused and scared of filling something out wrong and then getting in some kind of trouble. Even after she left the scholarship, she helped me again. She told me to come to Kelly. She said, “It’s my lunch time but I can help you really fast.” It was those kinds of details that helped me. The money is really helpful, but it’s not the only thing that’s gonna make you succeed.
I’m a first-generation student. For undergrad, I did have friends from high school who were going to college too so I could ask them questions, but now none of my friends are going for their Master’s. My family supports me to an extent, but there’s some things they don’t know or understand. So just having someone to talk about it, a community to ask questions about it. Sometimes I will say to Esmeralda, “I don’t know what’s going on,” and she will say, “Maybe you can ask this person, maybe you can communicate to this department.” Things that may be common sense, but sometimes I get really overwhelmed, so I do need someone to tell me, “This could be an option, you can do this.” That’s been pretty helpful, even after the scholarship.
Jessica: How do you feel that the Logan Scholars program was different than the opportunities the university provided you as a student?
Diana: It goes back to how involved the scholarship is with the students and how personal it can get. For the check ins, we would talk about school but also about personal situations. I was offered multiple times, “If you need support we can contact a therapist, we can help you with that.” UIC does offer some counseling sessions that you can go to, but just having someone that knows you, and is getting updates on your life and is interested in that, it’s pretty different from other institutions or scholarships.
Also, there’s a kind of commitment from both parties. I know you and you are helping me, and I have a face to the person who is helping me, so I have a commitment to do the best I can with what you are giving me, and you have a commitment to help me. I think it’s a really nice cycle. The scholarship really wants you to succeed not just academically but in other areas of your life. If you succeed in those areas, it’s going to be easier for you to succeed in college.
I remember when my last story got published, I think Esmeralda, after my parents, was the first person to tell me “I’m so proud of you,” and that felt so nice. I was really scared about the story because it was about the refugee situation and it was in favor of the refugees. It was one of my first stories, so I thought, “If people don’t like it, it’s gonna be my first ‘cancel’ situation, people are gonna hate me.” And having Esmeralda saying, “I’m proud of you,” and, “I’d like to share it with other people,” it’s pretty different from any other scholarship or institution that I’ve had contact with. That really motivates you to keep going and prove to them that what they’re doing is worth something.
Jessica: Can you share what your family’s experience has been like during your college years?
Diana: Well, they experienced my stress. For my second year, I was struggling a lot with anxiety, because for high school I wouldn’t have to speak English at all, and then for college it was the complete opposite. If I wanted my voice to be heard, my participation to matter, my opinion to matter I would have to speak up in English, I would have to present in English. So I had a period of time when I was struggling with anxiety attacks, and my family, especially my mom, was there to support me a lot during that time.
I remember one time there was a mix-up with an exam I had to take online and I couldn’t do it when I opened it, and then I closed the computer and went to do my stuff, and when I came back the timer had run out and I had an F. I think it was a midterm exam, and I got so anxious I had an attack, and my mom held me and said, “It’s ok, it’s ok.” She’s pretty logical so she was like, “You can text the teacher, you can talk to somebody, it’s ok, it’s just a grade.” They helped me to the best of their abilities, mostly emotionally.
When they took my financial aid, I cried a lot that day too, and they were like “It’s ok, they helped you already so it’s time for us to help you.” I never really wanted to take their money because I know that they have personal goals and dreams they want to achieve, so me taking their money was like me getting in the way of those goals and dreams. I feel like it should be the opposite. I should be helping them with their goals and dreams instead of taking away from them. So when that happened, they were like, “We’re gonna give you the money, whatever you need we’re gonna help you with it.” But I didn’t do it. I got a job. I asked the scholarship program, “Whatever help you can give, I would really appreciate it.”
My dad, he didn’t really want me to go for English. He would always be like, “Why not a doctor? Why not a lawyer?” And I would be like, “No, dad, the humanities are dying, I really need to do something about it.” Even now they’re like, “Oh, you’re getting your Master’s, for what?” And it’s like, “Hispanic literature,” and they’re like, “Oh…” So even though they don’t really understand it or they would like me to pursue something else, they’re really supportive and mostly understanding, as much as they can be.
Maybe they don’t love the humanities, but they’re really supportive of whatever I write. For the refugee story, my dad was pretty opposed to it. He had a very strong stance of, “I don’t want them here, they’re taking opportunities from us.” So I was really anxious about him reading the story. That story was actually from a class I took, and a professor at UIC helped me get that published. My dad read it without me when my brother was there, and I asked my brother, “Did he get mad? What did he say?” And he told me, “He just said, ‘Oh wow.’ And he closed it.” And I was like, “In a disappointing way?” And he said, “No, he was just surprised. I think he was proud.” As soon as we got physical copies of the magazine, he said, “I want one, I want a magazine with your story in it.”
Throughout college, as I accomplished certain stuff and they were able to see the accomplishments, they’ve been able to understand it more, to change certain perspectives. I feel like education is really important to keep yourself educated, especially nowadays with the whole situation. There’s a quote that says, “I study not to be smarter, but to be less ignorant.” So that’s the way I see it, and I feel like my family is getting some of that, even if they’re not themselves going to college. The way they see me acting or fighting or advocating for certain stuff in my writing, when they read it, they get some of that education.
Jessica: What are your long-term goals and aspirations?
Diana: For now, I want to get the Master’s. I would like to get an MFA in Creative Writing. So now with the Bachelor’s in English and a Master’s in Hispanic Literature, with an MFA I would be able to teach Creative Writing, which is what I would like to do. I had a teacher once that made me realize this is my passion, and that I really liked creative and professional writing, and what I could do and communicate through that. So I would really love to be that person for a different student. I would love to be a writer, but writing doesn’t give you that much money. So you need a day job for your night job. I would love to keep advocating for people and making space for people like me in my writing. That’s something I’ve experienced through other writers as well. I want to create that space physically and metaphorically.
Jessica: Are there other things that you want to share about your experience?
Diana: Maybe just the gratitude of it all. Especially with the situation right now, with what I’m seeing, I was pretty privileged to have this support. I really think it was a luck thing. Somehow life gave me that privilege, and without it, I wouldn’t have been able to get as far as I did. I really want that to be a thing for more people, especially when it comes to majors like mine. Language and writing and communications are important to advocate for yourself and for your community. I remember thinking I’m gonna go for it because, thanks to this scholarship, I don’t have to worry about the money. I don’t have to make profit immediately to pay thousands in loans, so I can go for my passion. I feel like a lot of people drop out of college because they do it for the money and not for the passion, and they cannot handle everything. I didn’t have to stress about money, I didn’t have to be in a major I hated. That really helped me succeed. And I do give all the credit to the scholarship and I would love for other people to have that and to help in any way I can to make that happen.
Jessica: Make sure you give yourself credit. The scholarship side is the easy part. You’re the one putting in the hours and the work to make that success.
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.
When the visitors leave, and friends and family resume their daily lives, the physical, mental, and emotional demands of new parenthood are often unimaginably hard and unspoken. Not only do birthing parents have to navigate potentially challenging deliveries—with Black birthers being six times more likely to die from pregnancy related causes—they also have to heal from the physical demands of childbirth. The Mayo Clinic lists myriad physical symptoms with a recommended rest time of at least 6 weeks after delivery before resuming typical schedules. With no universal paid parental leave in the United States, 6 weeks is not always an option for new moms despite the risk of additional harm and health complications arising from resuming work too early. Birthing parents must also contend with sleep deprivation and the isolation of caring for a newborn, with as many as 1 in 7 mothers experiencing postpartum depression up to 6 months after childbirth.
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 believes every mom, regardless of circumstance, deserves to feel prepared, supported, and celebrated.
In partnership with local hospitals, community health care centers, and nonprofits, EveryMom Chicago currently connects over 330 expectant birthing people in underserved communities with new baby kits for the early weeks of parenthood. These kits contain newborn, postpartum, and breastfeeding essentials for families. Each kit was developed in consultation with OB/GYNs, nurses, doulas, social workers, early childhood development specialists, and current parents. The kits contain both practical supplies and a local guide to help connect families with other free resources across Chicago.
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. During these events, EveryMom invites volunteers, community members, and their families to meet and mingle with Jamie and the organization’s board members over food, drinks, music, and immaculate vibes. Food for this particular event was donated by Chef Art Smith.
Once everyone had some time to get to know each other, 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.
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.”
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.
As federal funding cuts imposed by the current administration have trickled down into revoked grants for nonprofits, less contract opportunities from the city and state, and hesitation from private funders, many local nonprofits across Chicago have had to re-evaluate how they can generate and sustain funding with fewer reliable resources. On May 29th, the Leaders of Color Collective and AMPT Chicago came together in community for a panel discussion on diversifying funding and sustaining revenue during a deeply uncertain time.
Four nonprofit leaders, joined by co-moderators Jamyle Cannon and Ana Agarrat, shared their experiences on the panel:
Shawn Sorsby, Executive Director of A Step Ahead Chess Liz Jansen, Executive Director of Women Unite! Carlos Robles-Shanahan, Founder and Director of Duo Development Amanda Williams, Organizer at Chicago United Solidarity Project
Throughout the discussion, panelists coalesced around the central idea that nonprofit leaders should rethink their mindset toward money. As Robles-Shanahan shared, “Some of us don’t know to differentiate between capitalism and commerce, and the fact that not all commerce is capitalism. Not all commerce is exploitative…or meant to hold somebody else down.”
Jansen, Sorsby, and Agarrat reinforced this sentiment by emphasizing their fee-for-service work. Whether fee-for-service was by design or necessity, each leader shared the need for organizations to recognize the value of their programming. By seeing the inherent value of their organizations’ work and the true cost to providing a quality product, organizations should stop settling for less and generate revenue that reflects thriving, full-fledged programming.
“When people ask, ‘How much does it cost?’ we answer, ‘How little can we do it for?’” Cannon said. “Those are two different questions, and you shouldn’t answer one with the other.”
Amanda Williams, a community organizer with Chicago United Solidarity Project (CUSP), echoed the sentiment of knowing value and worth, but also shared the importance of leaning on their community. Williams shared that CUSP does “a lot for our community partners, and because of that, they do a lot for us. So, we borrow all we can, barter. I think a lot of it is just returning to the way that we have survived.” While funding is key to nonprofit work, communities and people of color who have not traditionally had access to wealth have often found ways to flourish and uplift each other beyond financial wealth.
Williams introduced the idea of co-struggling and asking ourselves “questions like, what are we good at? And be honest about what we’re good at, what we’re not good at, and pull in folks who fill in those gaps because I think it takes every part of a ship to have it steer and go.”
Through the process of co-struggling, Williams and Jansen developed a Summer Series fundraiser that brings together several organizations each year to host community-based events that share proceeds evenly across organizations. Each partner-organization brings different strengths and capacity to the table in order to maximize the success of their fundraising.
All panelists emphasized the importance of relationship-building and market research, and maintaining these efforts regularly to be prepared for crises. Sorsby said, “If I was to go to the bank, and I was like, ‘Yo, I need a loan, I’m about to foreclose on my house, my wife left me, I have no money.’ They’re going to be like, ‘No, we’re not going to give you any money.’ … But if I already was in a good place and I’m building a relationship, they’re going to be offering money at a lower rate anyway. So, you want to build the relationships before you actually need them.”
As the panel concluded, participants walked away with new perspectives centered on knowing their value and being compensated accordingly, co-struggling, and thinking beyond traditional methods of fundraising. Nonprofits are a tax classification, not a business structure—leaders should think innovatively about attracting funding to support their work and long-term vision because it will give them the freedom to lead with intention.
Watch the full panel discussion herefor in-depth discussion, practical tips for diversifying revenue, and messages of hope from one nonprofit leader of color to another.
If you would like to get involved with the Leaders of Color Collective and stay updated on future events, please email Jessica Jones-Lewis, jessica(at)loganfdn(dot)org.
As a response to the pandemic, the Reva and David Logan Foundation launched what was supposed to be a short-term food distribution program, yet the need for high quality, nutritious fruits and vegetables has only grown. We continue to remain committed to providing these vital and healthy goods to our neighbors. Last year, our Fresh Produce Program supported 121 pop-up distributions throughout more than 17 Chicago south and west side neighborhoods and communities.
While most of our work in the program consists of working directly with farmers and organizations, a unique opportunity arose between two of our partners. The Bloc has provided a free food distribution to their local community twice a month for a couple of years, but they found that they no longer had capacity to prepare the goods for distribution. With the Foundation’s support, they teamed up with our partner Dion’s Chicago Dream (DCD), who now prepares the 400+ fresh produce boxes for The Bloc’s pop-ups.
Everyone’s collective efforts ensure the success of the partnership. Feedback is collected from clients to ensure the most culturally appropriate food is provided. Grapes, for example, were increased recently after youth enthusiastically expressed appreciation for having crisp, delicious grapes included as healthy treats in school lunches and snacks. We have also adjusted the start times of pop-ups to prevent long wait times and ensure the community feels safe when receiving their boxes.
Pop-up distribution at The Bloc.
DCD team with their fresh produce boxes.
“The impact on the community has been amazing,” said The Bloc’s Director of Operations, Carla Arias-Chavez. “Many people are excited to receive the boxes, as they truly rely on them as a consistent source of fresh produce. It is with pride that we distribute Dion’s boxes, knowing they make such a difference. On our end, handing off the production of these boxes to an organization that has the expertise in this very thing has been a great decision on our end. By saving significant time and resources, we’ve been able to reinvest in the community and expand our growing footprint.”
At the end of 2024, the Reva and David Logan Foundation, in partnership with the taz Panther Foundation, the Wau Holland Foundation and Whistleblower-Netzwerk, proudly announced the launch of the International Ellsberg Whistleblower Award, named after Daniel and Patricia Ellsberg.
Daniel Ellsberg was the most important whistleblower of his time. By disclosing the “Pentagon Papers,” he exposed the lies perpetuated by several US administrations, contributing to the ending of the Vietnam War. His disclosure also resulted in a significant Supreme Court decision for press freedom. The award was established to preserve the spirit of his legacy.
The prize will be presented to individuals and organizations worldwide whose efforts have helped disclose information that significantly enhances free public or scientific debate strengthening the public’s right to know. Their revelations will give the public the chance to participate in debates and decision-making processes on key issues that affect democracy and society as a whole.
The first to receive the award is Mr. Daniel Everette Hale, a former National Security Agency (NSA) intelligence analyst who spoke out about high civilian casualties and governmental misconduct regarding US drone warfare (2014). Concerning his motivation Hale explained: “No person should have to die for a crime that they did not commit. Just as no person should have to live with the burden of having taken a poor, defenseless, innocent life” (Daniel Hale, 2019). His whistleblowing raised critical awareness about the balance between national security, the public’s right to know, and ethics in modern warfare, as his lawyer Jesselyn Radack elaborated in her laudatory speech. For his courageous disclosures, Hale was indicted under the draconian 1917 US Espionage Act and sentenced to prison in 2021. In February 2024, Hale was released from prison after having served 33 months from which he is currently recovering.
It was Daniel Ellsberg’s personal wish that Daniel Hale received the inaugural Ellsberg Whistleblower Award.
The awardees will receive 10,000 euros. The founding members envision the award evolving into a global network of support and recognition for whistleblowers, especially in places where their contributions to democracy and the common good might otherwise be concealed or go unnoticed. Civil society organizations and concerned individuals will have the opportunity to become members of the jury and nominate deserving whistleblowers from their respective communities.
For further information about the award, nomination processes, and how to become a member, please visit https://ellsberg-award.org.
Photo credit: Tone Stockenstrom Photo Studio
On January 16th, Searching for Justice premiered at Steppenwolf Theatre to a sold-out audience.
Set in the office of a professor writing a paper on the school-to-prison pipeline, Searching for Justice tackles the question of what is justice. That question is asked again and again as a revolving door of visitors enter the office space: a burnt-out Illinois State Representative, an argumentative law professor who supports the status quo, a grieving janitor whose daughter was murdered, and a woman looking for support for her incarcerated brother. Poetry monologues full of emotion, depth, and rhythm are interspersed between nuanced conversations about the impacts of violence, the school-to-prison pipeline, and incarceration.
Through the interactions between characters, it is clear that no one receives true justice in our current system. Even when the perpetrator of violence is incarcerated, the victim’s family receives no resources or support for their insurmountable grief and loss. Incarcerated folks’ families end up “doing time” with them—they have to take second mortgages to pay legal fees, or drive five hours to the detention center to see their loved one just to turn back because of a lockdown. Incarcerated people are often released with severe trauma and little support for their re-entry into a radically different society. Billions are spent on the incarceration system instead of on consistently underinvested and over-policed communities whose children grow up with little hope of a better future.
Photo credit: Tone Stockenstrom Photo Studio
The play received a standing ovation from the audience. The cast were overwhelmed with emotion seeing the full and ecstatic crowd. “Changing the narrative is how we’re going to change the law,” said Restore Justice staff after the performance.
The road to Steppenwolf was a unique journey that brought together Mud Theatre Project and Restore Justice Foundation. Mud Theatre Project was formed by artists in the Illinois Department of Corrections. Members of the team have become national award-winning playwrights and writers. Executive Director Brian Beals is currently an apprentice in Restore Justice’s Future Leaders Apprenticeship Program (FLAP), which receives funding from the Reva and David Logan Foundation.
FLAP is a full-time comprehensive program that supports and cultivates the leadership and advocacy skills in those coming home after serving extreme sentences, many of whom received these sentences as teenagers. Through the program, they receive a combination of on-the-job experience and related coaching, as well as a full-time salary with benefits. In addition to learning how to navigate life after incarceration, FLAP participants learn to advocate for policies that support their families, communities, and individuals still serving extreme sentences.
Searching for Justice is Mud Theatre Project’s first performance outside of the correctional center. All cast members are either formerly or currently incarcerated, or impacted by incarceration of a family member.
Congratulations to Mud Theatre Project and Restore Justice on a well-researched, well-written play with amazing performances from the cast. We highly recommend checking out Restore Justice’s new project “More Than a Conviction: Stories of Children Sentenced to Life Without Parole,” which shares the insights and lived experiences of formerly and currently incarcerated people and their loved ones, as well as research on the impact of life without parole sentences imposed on juveniles.
Photo credit: Tone Stockenstrom Photo Studio
On November 7th, the Leaders of Color Collective partnered with AMPT: Advancing Nonprofits for LoCC in at AMPT, an event where nonprofit leaders of color came together for a panel discussion and community building.
The panel consisted of five leaders from a diverse set of organizations: ángela munguía, Executive Director of AMPT; Jamyle Cannon, Executive Director of The Bloc; Christina Bourné, Director of Development at Forward Momentum Chicago; Sheerine Alemzadeh, Co-Director and Co-Founder of Healing to Action; and Edwin Martinez, Executive Director and Co-Founder at Centro Sanar.
At the forefront of the discussion was the effort of undoing “white bias”, which can pervade every aspect of an organization’s existence. For example, philanthropy often dictates to nonprofit organizations of color that they must have the right results before funders will provide resources, leading organizations to prioritize metrics over the process. This same malefaction can also cloud an organization’s culture. The status quo of top-down leadership and lack of attention to staff care lead to leadership feeling isolated and team members feeling devalued, ultimately crippling the work.
In discussion of how to untangle from these long established and unhelpful yardsticks, each panelist had unique perspectives to share based on their challenges and successes as nonprofit leaders. A common theme was humanization: seeing each other as people first, rather than a metric or goal; centering the people who do the work through collective decision-making; and challenging the “great man theory” through co-leadership models that allow leaders to be vulnerable and lean on each other for support. Watch their conversation in-depth here.
The leaders left energized to go back to their respective teams and talk about what they learned. Many shared that they felt a renewed gratitude for the power of community. “We need each other,” one attendee wrote post-event.
Be on the lookout for the next event in 2025. There are several discussion topics in the works for following events: cultivating an engaged board, organizing community-led fundraising, and continuing to build collective power to make positive changes in the philanthropy sector.
The Leaders of Color Collective is immensely grateful to the panelists who shared their insightful experiences, to AMPT for collaborating on the event, and to all of the attendees who contributed to the energy and vulnerability in the room.
If you are a nonprofit leader of color and you would like to get involved with the Leaders of Color Collective, please reach out to Jessica Jones-Lewis at jessica(at)loganfdn(dot)org.
