SCDT Executive Director Kia Smith (left) teaching staff members Sabrina Boggs and Jessica Jones-Lewis some moves.
When we decide to fund an organization, we’ve seen that “magic spark” that makes them special — but for board members, who only see the work on paper, it can be hard to grasp. To enhance the vision, our board and staff gathered for a two-day tour at the end of September, visiting several of our Chicago grantees on the South and North sides of the city. Beyond demonstrating the excellence of individual grantees, the tour highlighted the through line of our work: people taking care of people, and how the entire community benefits as a result.
About the Tour
For the first stop on the tour, the team visited South Chicago Dance Theatre (SCDT) in Hyde Park for a special rehearsal of their interactive dance showcase, during which ensemble members performed in different styles and Founder and Creative Director Kia Smith taught us a few dance moves. The rehearsal wrapped up with a Q&A where the dancers discussed their physically demanding lifestyles, the necessity of working multiple jobs as artists, and how SCDT eases the burden with competitive pay and comprehensive health benefits, the latter of which is almost unheard of at other companies.
We then went to Chicago United Solidarity Project‘s (CUSP) Sharehouse in Englewood. CUSP co-stewards Amanda Williams and Jared Honn shared the breadth of their work in mutual aid and community infrastructure, as well as the impact of our fresh food partnership and their plans for future growth. We were able to see firsthand the scale of goods they are distributing across the city through their Sharehouse, from shelf-stable food, to clean drinking water, to diapers and formula.
Left: CUSP’s Sharehouse. Right: CUSP Co-Steward Jared Honn talking to our team.
The first day concluded at Public Media Institute‘s (PMI) building Co-Prosperity, an artist hub and gallery space in Bridgeport. Lumpen Radio Director Stephanie Manriquez walked us through the space, including their risograph printing station and broadcasting station, and explained how PMI’s work sits in the intersection of cultural programming and artist-run mutual aid. Their exhibition at the time, “Between Memory and Becoming: Manifestations of Black Motherhood,” was curated by WILD YAMS, who recently joined the LoganArts cohort. We were honored to sit with the artists, who talked through their art and art-making process.
WILD YAMS artist presenting her work at Co-Prosperity.
The following morning, we visited Sarah’s at Lakeside, one of Sarah’s Circle’s buildings in Uptown that provides 28 fully furnished studio apartments as part of their Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) program for women experiencing homelessness. The building also provides additional program and communal space, a demonstration kitchen, and administrative offices. We spoke to staff members Lee Poe, Foundations Relations Manager and Kathleen Molnar, LCSW, Director of External Resources about the severe shortage of affordable housing in Chicago, with more than 1,800 unhoused women sleeping on the streets on any given night. Sarah’s Circle is a safe space for these women, welcoming them with safety, respect, and community.
The last stop was Global Gardens in Albany Park, where Executive Director Haley LeRand led the team through a tour of their one-acre farm. Global Gardens’ mission is to facilitate reconnection with cultural foods and cultivation practices, build community, and promote sustainable growth and equitable food access. Refugee families grow produce from their home countries like opo squash, bitter melon, and sour leaf — a taste of home. Additionally, through their market farmers program, refugee farmers earn income from their harvest at farmers markets, restaurants, and Global Gardens’ CSA program.
Produce grown at Global Gardens.
Feedback From Our Board
Rozina Breen, our board director who traveled all the way from Leeds, England, said: “The privilege of sitting on a board really comes to life when you get to meet the grantees you’re supporting. Of course it’s they who are front and centre of our work; and who teach us so much about the world around us and the values of resilience, courage, community and humanity. It was a humbling, enlivening and inspiring 48 hours which perfectly illustrated the might of movement building and the strength of the collective approach.“
Chicago-based board director Jim Hellige said: “It was greatly rewarding to go on the recent tour of some of the Foundation’s grantees. It was impressive to see the significant impact the Foundation has on smaller, in some case almost “start-up”, nonprofits that have a big impact in the neighborhoods they serve. These capable leaders have chosen a path of service to their communities when they certainly could have found a different kind of success following an alternative path. It is very inspiring.”