2008 Grantees
 

Crossroads Fund is proud to announce that in 2008 we gave out $403,210 to 67 groups working for social change across a spectrum of issues. In the following list, grantees are categorized based on one primary focus of their work. The listed grantees received funding within our eight grantmaking programs. A notation after the grantee description indicates from which program(s) they received funding. These programs include the Seed Fund (Seed), Donor Advised (DA), Emergency Fund (EF), Technical Assistance Fund (TA), Media Justice Fund (MJF), Fire this Time Fund (FTT), Youth Fund for Social Change (YF) and Opportunity Fund (OF). Unless otherwise noted, the grants were used for general operating support.

ARTS AND CULTURE:
African Textile Magazine is produced and distributed by students from Bowen Environmental Studies Team High School, and highlights textile and resistance traditions from the African Diaspora. $500 (FTT)

Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts is a youth-focused organization that uses theater and art to organize various immigrant communities across social, economic and political issues. $5,000 (Seed)

Chicago Independent Radio Project is part of a national coalition organizing to pressure the FCC to make low-power FM radio signals available to community organizations, enabling the establishment of independent, community-based radio stations in Chicago. They also generate diverse content for their own station. $6,000 (FTT, MJF)

ChicagOtra is a collective of activists and organizers dedicated to promoting the Zapatista ideals of democracy, autonomy and social and economic justice in Chicago. This grant supported the Son de Las Barricadas project, a series of expositions of art from the Oaxacan social movement. $1,000 (FTT)

Chicago Palestine Film Festival exhibits and promotes films about Palestine or by Palestinian directors to encourage public dialogue while engaging local Palestinian and Arab-American communities to address issues presented in the films. $5,000 (Seed, DA)

Revolushunary Strippa Musik is a compilation of local socially-conscious hip hop music and spoken word counteracting the misogyny and materialism of mainstream hip hop. $500 (FTT)

ThickRoutes Performance Collage is a women’s performance collective that creates original multimedia works at the intersection of entertainment, social activism, and education. This grant supported “Where Seeds Have Grown,” a workshop series using writing, movement, theater and music to address the impact of race and the influence of the African diaspora in individuals’ lives. $1,000 (FTT)

We The People Media equips adults and youth from communities of color with fundamental reporting, editing and publishing skills and collaborates with national media and academic institutions to shape coverage of the inner city, challenging stereotypes of low-income communities. $5,000 (MJF)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE:
Campaign to End the Death Penalty engages in education and activism to abolish the death penalty in Illinois. This grant supported the Death Row Shuffle Tour, in which former death row inmate and musician Darby Tillis shared his music and personal experiences with youth in communities disproportionately impacted by the criminal justice system. $1,000 (FTT)

Chicago County Fair is an art, activism and research network that connects groups and individuals for innovative action and dialogue. This grant supported “Coming Home Chicago,” a photo series that promotes productive and informed dialogue about Sex Offenders and their classification, registration and restriction. $1,000 (FTT)

Citizens Alert holds Chicago metropolitan police accountable and works for systemic change in law enforcement agencies while advocating for victims of police brutality and misconduct. $6,000 (Seed)

First Defense Legal Aid provides legal advice and aid in Chicago Police Department stations to low-income individuals who cannot afford attorneys. They also document police brutality and provide workshops to at-risk communities on their constitutional rights and responsibilities when dealing with law enforcement personnel. $4,000 (Seed)

The Gen Y project of the Southwest Youth Collaborative is working to improve conditions at Audy Home Juvenile Detention Facility while using a human rights framework to organize for community-based restorative justice alternatives. $2,500 (YF)

Long Term Prisoner Policy Project (“Warehoused Prisoners”) pushes for changes in law, policies and practice affecting prisoners serving virtual to actual life sentences in Illinois prisons, promoting their human rights. $7,500 (Seed)

Spoke Digital Films is creating a narrative documentary about the torture case against former Chicago Police Commander Jon Burge, examining the failures of the criminal justice system, especially with relation to race and class, and the inadequacies of local and national media coverage of the case. $5,000 (MJF)

Tamms Year Ten is a coalition of prisoners, ex-prisoners, families, artists, activists, organizations and concerned citizens protesting inhumane policies at Tamms C-MAX prison and calling for an end to the abusive conditions that are known to provoke mental illness and physical breakdown. $9,000 (Seed, TA)

Wiley Resource Center provides legal information and resources to residents of Lawndale and the West Side and is currently organizing for successful reentry and criminal record expungement for the formerly incarcerated. $3,000 (Seed)

ENVIRONMENT AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT:
Anti-Corruption Center documents the patterns, scale and social costs of corruption in local government to develop a series of reports for grassroots community groups to use in their organizing work. $10,000 (OF, DA)

Beyond Today is a grassroots group of residents in the Lincoln Square/Ravenswood neighborhood committed to promoting environmentalism, social justice and peace. This grant supported the institution of a youth environmental activism internship program at Waters Elementary School. $1,000 (FTT)

Black Men and Black Boys Initiative is a national movement addressing the current situation of black men and boys in the United States. Led by the Metropolitan Area Group for Igniting Civilization and Southwest Youth Collaborative, the Chicago group addresses health care, education, economic development, fathers and families, criminal justice and technology and media. $3,000 (OF)

Blocks Together is a grassroots, multi-issue social justice organization on the West Side of Chicago addressing affordable housing, public education & restorative justice. $7,500 (Seed)

Chicago Honey Co-op is a member-owned beekeeping cooperative that provides economic development opportunities for the underemployed while promoting sustainable agricultural practices. $19,037 (DA)

Citizen Advocacy Center works in DuPage County to increase the capacity and skills of individuals and organizations, particularly those most shut out of civic participation, to participate effectively in community life while advocating for policies that protect public participation. $5,000 (Seed)

Lakeview Action Coalition, a multi-issue coalition of individuals and organizations in the Lakeview neighborhood, organizes around affordable housing, healthcare, sustainable development and police abuse of homeless youth. $6,000 (Seed)

Little Village Environmental Justice Organization addresses public transportation, land contamination and urban agriculture in the Pilsen and Little Village communities. This grant was used to train area youth in basic journalism techniques, enhance the quality and distribution of the community newsletter “El Cilantro,” and train organizers in the use of multimedia technology and social networking websites. $5,000 (MJF)

Metropolitan Area Group for Igniting Civilization organizes residents of Woodlawn and the surrounding areas to fight gentrification and racism, with a particular focus on the development of youth leadership. $1,000 (Ron Sable Award)

Southside Together Organizing for Power uses tenant organizing, action research and alliance-building between tenants, homeowners, students and youth to address gentrification and displacement in the Woodlawn neighborhood. Their youth project works to improve conditions at the Audy Home temporary juvenile detention center with the long-term goal of closing the facility and replacing it with community-based restorative justice alternatives. $6,500 (Seed, YF)

West Town Bikes is a community bicycle learning workshop. A grant from the Fire This Time Fund supported the Youth Build a Bike program, providing hands-on education and activities on bicycle maintenance and self-sufficiency for youth. $1,000 (FTT)

HUMAN AND WORKER RIGHTS:
Centro de Trabajadores Unidos: Immigrant Workers Project is creating a new immigrant-run workers center to protect immigrant workers’ rights on Chicago’s Southeast side. $3,000 (Seed)
 

The Chicago Interfaith Workers Rights Center educates workers on rights, assists workers whose rights are being violated and advocates for systemic change through action on public policy. This grant supported “Radio/TV Chamba,” a worker-led, Spanish-language, independent media bproject that uses community television and radio stations as organizing tools. $5,000 (MJF)

Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, a coalition of workers and groups, organizes for day laborer and immigrant rights through public education, worker trainings and litigation on behalf of adversely-effected workers. $10,054 (Seed, DA)

Latino Union organizes workers to improve the conditions of low-income and immigrant workers and day laborers and to address systemic injustices in the day labor industry. $3,000 (TA)

National Boricua Human Rights Network works to raise awareness of human rights issues facing the Puerto Rican community, including political prisoners and the preservation of civil liberties. Grants included support for “Crime Against Humanity,” a play addressing the situation of political prisoners performed by a cast of youth from the Humboldt Park community. $8,000 (FTT, EM, Seed, DA)

Next Steps organizes mentally disabled and often homeless individuals for greater voice in the systems that affect them, particularly major boards, institutions and decision-making bodies addressing homelessness and mental health. $3,000 (Seed)

Restaurant Opportunities Center of Chicago is an organizing project targeting high-end restaurant workers. They will conduct a thorough study of Chicago’s high end restaurant industry, train and place workers in restaurants and launch workplace justice campaigns against employers engaged in discrimination, exploitation and abuse. $5,000 (Seed)

San Lucas Workers Center organizes U.S.-born and immigrant day laborers to protect their rights in the workplace and access permanent and regular work, with a particular commitment to building collaborations between African-American and Latino day laborers. These grants included support for a video project to expose race and gender discrimination in the day labor industry, specifically against young African-American day laborers. $4,000 (FTT, Seed)

United Taxidrivers Community Council is a multiracial and multiethnic taxidriver organizing project that approaches fare increases, inspections standards, lease overcharging, and other concerns as human rights, immigrant rights and workers rights issues. $3,000 (Seed)

IMMIGRANT ISSUES:
The Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance organizes congregations and people of faith through its Chicago New Sanctuary Coalition project to respond to injustice experienced by undocumented immigrants. Its strategies include public witness, political advocacy and support for immigrants at risk of deportation. $12,000 (Seed, DA)

Immigrant Nation is a 90-minute film developed in collaboration with Chicago activists, communities and organizations that documents the critical growth of Chicago’s immigrant rights movement from the Spring of 2006 through the Summer of 2007. $3,000 (TA)

Korean American Resource and Cultural Center challenges Koreans in the greater Chicago area to engage in meaningful civic participation to solve community issues, with a particular emphasis on youth programs and intergenerational activities. These grants included support for a youth organizing project to address issues of human trafficking. $7,500 (DA, YF)

United African Organization, a coalition of African organizations in Chicago, works for social justice, civil rights, civic participation and empowerment of African immigrants and refugees. $4,000 (Seed)

Waukegan Leadership Council protects the welfare of immigrant and Latino residents in a city that is predominately Latino from current immigration policies of indiscriminate arrest, detainment and deportation through voter registration, education and building collaborations with non-immigrant communities of color. $3,000 (Seed)

INTERNATIONAL POLICY AND ADVOCACY:
Chicagoans Against War and Injustice is a broad-based coalition that includes communities of color, unions, suburban residents and others protesting the war in Iraq and combating injustice more broadly through public protests, grassroots campaigns and electoral politics. $7,000 (TA, DA, Don Erickson Award)

Christian Peacemaker Teams trains and places violence-reduction teams in crisis situations and militarized areas around the world and reports to the larger world community on these atrocities. These teams also support local nonviolence efforts through nonviolent direct action and public witness. $12,500 (OF)

Clearwater Project organizes against privatization of the military and law enforcement, particularly the military contractor Blackwater, which has opened a facility in Mt. Caroll, Ilinois. This grant supported the production of a video to aid the group’s organizing efforts. $1,000 (DA)

Committee for a Just Peace in Israel & Palestine works toward a just and peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through public education forums and an annual walk for justice. $4,000 (Seed)

LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/TRANSGENDERED ISSUES:
Actor Slash Model is a multimedia collective addressing gender identity and gender performance and politics through music, film and other projects. This grant supported the making of a documentary about the lives of transgendered-identified musicians, highlighting the complexity and diversity of transgendered artists. $1,000 (FTT)

Affinity Community Services serves African American lesbian and bisexual women and youth in Chicago by providing a safe space while addressing issues related to race, health, poverty and education. $10,000 (Seed)

Illinois Safe Schools Alliance prevents violence against LGBT students in Illinois public schools through policy advocacy, youth organizing and public education both within and outside of school systems. $7,500 (Seed, DA)

Project CQY Chicago provides resources and accessible, safe and multiracial meeting spaces for LGBT youth under 21. $1,000 (YF)

Yellow Wing Productions is producing a documentary called “Fish out of Water” to confront long-standing beliefs and misconceptions related to religious texts and homosexuality. $1,000 (FTT) 

Youth Pride Center offers a range of programs for youth who are primarily LGBT and African American on Chicago’s South Side. This grant supported organizing to combat police harassment of LGBT youth of color and efforts to establish gay-straight alliances in South Side schools that lack institutional support for LGBT students. $2,000 (YF)

WOMEN AND GIRLS:
Beyondmedia Education partners with under-represented women, youth and communities to create and distribute alternative media and arts addressing the issues and systems that affect them. $12,000 (Seed, DA)

Chicago Books to Women in Prison fulfills incarcerated women’s direct requests for books, reducing incarcerated women’s isolation and providing them with valuable resources. These grants included support for a professionally-printed special issue of “Bound Struggles,” a publication of writing and artwork by incarcerated women. $5,000 (FTT, Seed, DA)

Chicago Friends of WE-ACTx – Rwanda is a pooled fund to benefit the WE-ACTx HIV/AIDS clinics in Rwanda. WE-ACTx serves HIV positive genocide widows, rape survivor and orphans and is a model of care and international/local collaboration. $95,000 (DA)

Global Girls, Inc. uses performing arts as a medium to develop strong communication, leadership and life skills for girls between the ages of eight and eighteen. $2,500 (DA)

Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team is a youth-led social change organization developing youth leaders to address street harassment and violence against women and girls. $5,000 (Seed, DA)

The Sisters Empowering Sisters program at Chicago Girls Coalition is a social change grantmaking program where girls between the ages of 14 and 18 direct resources toward other girl-driven social change programs. This grant supported the development of an anti-oppression curriculum to maximize the impact of their girl-driven grantmaking. $2,500 (YF)

Sisters Rising is a group of formerly incarcerated women housed at Stillpoint Theater Collective who build community through participation in theater and creative writing workshops, sharing, writing and performing one another’s stories. $1,000 (FTT)

The WE-ACTx Peace Journey helped twelve young women from Chicago and Kigali, Rwanda design projects to address the relationship between HIV/AIDS and systemic inequalities within their home communities. $2,000 (YF)

Women’s Voices Fund provides programs that promote feminist dialogue through book discussions, author readings and community events. $7,618.90 (DA)

Young Women’s Empowerment Project is run by and for women and girls with life experiences in the sex trade and street economies who use social justice, transformative justice and harm-reduction strategies to address issues affecting them. These grants included support for a research project documenting violence against their constituency. $9,000 (Seed, YF)

YOUTH:
Cabrini Green Chapter of the Hip Hop Congress is working with young male teens to develop a half-hour DVD addressing violence from the perspectives of community members and the young men themselves. $1,000 (FTT)

Kelly High School Students for Social Justice work to address justice issues within their school, such as aggressive military recruitment, harassment by security officers and inadequate curriculum. This grant helped them apply lessons learned during a trip to New Orleans to combat similar issues of racism, economic injustice and gentrification within their school and home community. $3,000 (YF)

Nuestra Voz Youth Council works with predominately immigrant youth and their parents in the Melrose Park area to increase civic engagement and address the lack of resources for undocumented and/or Latina/o students seeking higher education. $2,000 (YF)

Secular Jewish and Community School of Oak Park worked with youth from Austin, Little Village and Pilsen to organize a march and speak-out for a more accessible, affordable and just healthcare system. $2,000 (YF)

SITY Ollin is a youth organizing project at Telpochcalli Community Education Project in the Little Village neighborhood. This grant supported a public forum addressing community violence in Little Village and its relationship to racism, sexism and economic oppression. $5,000 (YF)

2007 Grantees

Crossroads Fund is proud to announce that in 2007 we gave out $421,266.85 in grants, to 63 groups working for social change across a spectrum of issues. We are particularly interested in groups with a racial justice and anti-oppression analysis. In the following list, grantees are categorized based on one primary focus of their work. The listed grantees received funding from any of our six grantmaking programs. A notation next to their name indicates from which program(s) they received funding. The programs include the Seed Fund (Seed), Donor Advised (DA), Emergency Fund (EF), Technical Assistance Fund (TA), Media Justice Fund (MJF) or the Fire This Time Fund (FTT). Unless noted, grants were used for general operating support.
 

ARTS & CULTURE
AREA Chicago Art/Research/Education/Activism works to build bridges between movements and communities working for social justice across Chicago, while creating and preserving a grassroots history of Chicago activism. $4,000 (FTT, Seed)

Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts is a youth focused organization that uses art to organize various immigrant communities across social, economic, and political issues. $4,000 (Seed)

Proletariat Productions specializes in music recording, production, and artist promotion. The grant supported a workshop that explored social consciousness and political movement building through music performance, art exhibition, and panel discussion. $1,000 (FTT)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Ad Hoc Committee on Chicago Police Torture is a coalition of civil rights attorneys, activists and organizations seeking justice for two decades of torture by former police commander Jon Burge and officers under his direction. $500 (EF)

Citizens Alert holds Chicago metropolitan police accountable and works for systemic change in law enforcement agencies while advocating for victims of police brutality and misconduct. $7,000 (Seed, DA)

First Defense Legal Aid provides legal advice/aid in Chicago Police Department stations to low income individuals who cannot afford attorneys, documents police brutality, and provides workshops to at-risk communities on their constitutional rights and responsibilities when dealing with law enforcement personnel. $4,000 (Seed)

Long Term Prisoner Policy Project (“Warehoused Prisoners”) investigates the problems faced by prisoners serving virtual to actual life sentences in Illinois prisons, and pushes for changes in law, policies, and practice to promote offender rehabilitation and public safety. $5,000 (Seed)
 

Prison Reform, Inc. is made up of ex-offenders who organize for increased opportunities for ex-prisoners in Illinois and for change in legislation and public policy in order to reduce recidivism. $3,000 (Seed)

DISABILITY RIGHTS
Chicago ADAPT engages in direct action and grassroots organizing to advocate for the independence of people with disabilities from institutional and cultural barriers in everyday life. $500 (DA)

Feminist Response in Disability Activism (FRIDA) is a grassroots non-violent direct action organization led by and for women with disabilities that works on issues of reproductive rights and healthcare. $3,500 (Seed, DA, TA)

ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Center for Labor and Community Research works with labor, communities, and businesses to pursue high road economic development practices that ensure wealth creation while advocating for wealth redistribution. $1,000 (TA)

Climate Chicago is a multi-issue coalition working to reframe global warming as a grassroots issue connected not only to the environment but also to jobs, human rights, and social justice. $2,000 (Seed)
 

Coalition to Protect Public Housing is part of the Northeast Illinois Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, a national campaign aimed at securing poor people’s fundamental right to reside in urban America. $3,000 (TA)

Community Media Workshop offered a daylong training in media justice and new forms of media and their relevance to community organizing as part of the Crossroads Fund Media Justice Initiative. $5,000 (MJF)

Developing Government Accountability to the People is a network of 30 community groups addressing corruption and advocating increased transparency and accountability from Chicago’s local government. $9,000 (Seed, TA)

Rogers Park Section 8 Tenants Council is an organization of Section 8 voucher holders who work with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, landlords, and community members to maintain and increase housing available to Section 8 voucher holders. $3,000 (Seed)

Grassroots Collaborative is a collaboration of diverse groups who campaigned and won a “Living Wage” ordinance. Later vetoed by Mayor Richard M. Daley, the ordinance was a defining issue for city residents and leadership. Grant is for an analysis of campaign coverage by mainstream media. $5,000 (MJF)

Lakeview Action Coalition, a multi-issue coalition of individuals and organizations in the Lakeview neighborhood, organizes around affordable housing, healthcare, sustainable development, and police repression of homeless youth. $4,000 (Seed, DA)

Logan Square Community Technology Center provides basic computer literacy to grassroots organizations and individuals with limited access to technology. $1,000 (DA)

Pilsen Alliance organizes community residents on issues relating to public transport, housing, and education. $3,000 (TA)

Puerto Rican Cultural Center is comprised of an alternative high school, childcare center, literacy program for women and children, a museum of Puerto Rican culture, Batey Urbano café and cultural space for youth, and the Vida/SIDA HIV/STD prevention project.

$3,000 (DA)

Senn Referendum Follow up Group requires the Chicago Board of Education to establish a formal process to receive community input regarding Rickover Military Academy at Senn High School. $500 (EM)

HUMAN & WORKER RIGHTS
Chicago Area Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee aims to preserve the 1960 to 1966 student movement history through archiving material at the Woodson Regional Library and an oral history project featuring the original members. $3,000 (Seed)

Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights provides education, advocacy, and coalition building in defense of the Bill of Rights. Their recent focus is on unconstitutional police infiltration and surveillance. $1,000 (DA)

Chicago Jobs With Justice works to improve working people’s standard of living, fight for job security, and stand up for workers’ right to organize. $1,000 (EM) Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, a coalition of workers and groups, organizes for day laborers and immigrant rights through public education, worker trainings, and litigation on behalf of adversely affected workers. $10,500 (Seed, DA)

Hands Off Assata Campaign brings together organizations and individuals concerned with Assata Shakur’s situation and use her case in discussions/ education on issues ranging from the prison industrial complex to current U.S. foreign policy. $710 (TA)

National Boricua Human Rights Network works to raise awareness of human rights issues facing the Puerto Rican community, including the situation of political prisoners, and emphasizes building youth leadership. $5,500 (Seed, DA)

No More Deaths is a humanitarian organization comprised of individuals, faith communities, human rights advocates, and grassroots organizations working for social justice in the borderlands. $4,000 (DA)

IMMIGRANT ISSUES
Chicago Metropolitan Sanctuary Alliance is inspired by the 1980’s Sanctuary Movement, which offered shelter to Central American refugees. It brings together a diverse group of religious leaders and congregations to create a network of support for immigrant families facing deportation and to raise awareness of mmigrant issues in different communities. $2,000 (DA)

Korean American Resource and Cultural Center challenges Koreans in the greater Chicago area to engage in meaningful civic participation to solve community issues, with a particular emphasis placed on youth programs and intergenerational activities. $5,000 (DA)

La Familia Latina Unida is composed of and serves families facing separation due to current immigration laws. $500 (EM)

Southeast Chicago Community for Immigrant Rights organizes the immigrant community of Southeast Chicago and parts of Indiana to push for comprehensive immigration reform, respond to immigration raids and deportation, and protect the human rights of immigrants. $4,000 (Seed, DA)

United African Organization, a coalition of African organizations in Chicago, works on social justice, civil rights, civic participation, and empowerment of African immigrants and refugees. $3,000 (Seed)

INTERNATIONAL POLICY & ADVOCACY
Chicago Palestine Film Festival exhibits and promotes films about Palestine or by Palestinian directors to encourage objective public dialogue. $2,500 (DA)

Committee for a Just Peace in Israel & Palestine works toward a better understanding of and resolution to the continued Israeli-Palestinian conflict through public education forums, an annual walk for justice, and a Community Friendship project. $4,000 (Seed)

8th Day Center for Justice is part of the Encuentro project, an annual gathering of North and Latin American peace and human rights activists working on issues of environmental degradation and the illegal seizure/use of land. $1,000 (TA)

LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/TRANSGENDERED ISSUES
Affinity Community Services serves African American lesbian and bisexual women and youth in Chicago by providing a safe space while addressing issues related to race, health, poverty, and education. $7,000 (Seed)

Amigas Latinas advocates and provides services for the Latina lesbian, bisexual, and questioning (LBQ) community of metropolitan Chicago. $3,000 (Seed)

Illinois Safe Schools Alliance (Formerly Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation and GLSEN Chicago) have merged to further their shared mission of training school personnel, social service providers, government employees, youth, and community members to address anti-gay violence in Illinois schools. $9,500 (Seed, DA, TA)

None on Record, an audio documentary oral history project, gathers histories and stories told by and about LBGTQ Africans all over the world – from neighborhoods within large cities like Chicago to smaller towns and villages of African countries. $1,000 (FTT)

Yellow Armbands organizes in solidarity with transwomen by educating attendees of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival on the benefits of inclusion, and encourages their participation and comfort at what is thought to be the pinnacle of women’s free space in the U.S. $1,000 (FTT)

WOMEN & GIRLS
All Hail Project engages African American women in a broad spectrum of issues that affect them and their well being. $1,000 (TA)

Beyondmedia Education partners with under-represented women, youth, and communities to create and distribute alternative media and arts. $10,000 (MJF, DA)

Chicago Abortion Fund provides low-income women of color access to safe, affordable abortion services while advocating for reproductive and social justice. $3,000 (TA)

Chicago Friends of WE-ACTx - Rwanda is a pooled fund to benefit the WE-ACTx HIV/AIDS clinics in Rwanda. WE-ACTx serves HIV positive genocide widows, rape survivors, and orphans and is a model of care and of international/local collaboration. $211,000 (DA)

Chicago Women’s AIDS Project — through the “Give a Day to World AIDS” Campaign, Crossroads Fund partnered with Chicago Women’s AIDS Project and WE-ACTx — Rwanda to raise money for women living with AIDS in Chicago and Rwanda. $19,000 (DA)

Chicago Women’s Health Center is a collective of health workers who provide health education, advocacy, and affordable, accessible gynecological and mental health care to women in the Chicago area. $2,500 (Ron Sable Award)

Female Storytellers Igniting Revolution to End Violence is a multiracial and intergenerational grassroots anti-violence organization working with women and girls. $1,000 (FTT)

Global Girls, Inc. uses performing arts as a medium to develop strong communication, leadership, and life skills for girls between the ages of 8–18. $2,500 (DA)

Women & Girls Collective Action Network raises awareness of images in the media that promote violence against women and encourages young people to hold corporate media responsible for negative representations of women and minorities. $6,000 (TA, MJF)

Women’s Voices Fund provides programs that promote feminist dialogue through book discussions, author readings, and community events. $3,056.85 (DA)

Young Women’s Empowerment Project is run by and for women and girls with life experience in the sex trade and street economies. $1,000 (FTT)

YOUTH
Chicago Freedom School was founded to develop and support a new generation of critical and independent youth activists through an annual summer freedom school, mentorship, and youth-focused social justice activities. $3,000 (Seed)

Cooperative Image Group creates public art education for youth while connecting them to local groups who support youth media. Grant supports their mobile media lab, an after-school program in which youth use portable audio equipment to create sound projects about their lives. $1,000 (FTT)

Crib Collective brings together Latino youth from Little Village and African American youth from North Lawndale, a geographic area that is divided by race. Youth are involved in performance art, philanthropy, and program development. $2,000 (FTT, TA)

CURE Foundation, a hip-hop music program in three Chicago Public Schools, allows students to create a positive alternative to what mainstream music offers to define their life and culture. $2,000 (Seed)

Education for Liberation Conference brought together students, educators, parents, and community members from across the country to share strategies for connecting education, social justice, and activism. $2,000 (TA)

Kuumba Lynx is a youth development program that preserves, promotes, and presents urban (hip- op) culture as an art and a social justice movement. Grant supported their Arts Explosion Day, which used activism workshops and civic engagement discussions to focus on immigrant rights for youth. $1,000 (FTT)

Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team is a youth-led, adult-supported social change organization involved in leadership development and youth organizing around street harassment and violence against women and girls. $4,500 (Seed, DA)

Southwest Youth Collaborative, a network of youth and community development organizations, works in five diverse neighborhoods on the southwest side of Chicago to provide opportunities for youth to be activists. $2,500 (DA)

Teen Living Program partnered with the Chicago Park District to hold workshops and distribute message oriented CDs by youth to youth. The project was geared towards encouraging youth to avoid dropping out of school, expressing themselves, and building healthier relationships. $1,000 (FTT)

Young Chicago Authors encourages self-expression and literacy through creative writing, performance, and publication. Grant supports the Kings of Poetry workshop series in which young men explore gender sensitivity and write essays and poems commemorating the lives of women for web and print publication. $1,000 (FTT)

2006 Grantees

In 2006, Crossroads Fund gave out $361,526 in grants, to 45 groups working for social change across a spectrum of issues. We are particularly interested in groups with a racial justice and anti-oppression analysis.

In the following list, grantees are categorized based on one primary focus of their work. The listed grantees received funding from any of our four grantmaking programs, or the Chicago Community Organizing Capacity Building Initiative, a funders’ collaborative of which we were a member. A notation to their name indicates from which program(s) they received funding. The programs include the Seed Fund (Seed), Donor Advised (DA), Emergency Fund (EF), Technical Assistance Fund (TA) or the Chicago Community Organizing Capacity Building Initiative (CCBI). Unless noted, grants were used for general operating support.

 

ARTS & CULTURE
Center for Immigrant Resources and Community Arts (CIRCA) $4,000 (Seed)
CIRCA develops and popularizes community arts programs that speak to the immigrant experience within the changing multicultural landscape of America and that are produced and performed by youth.

Chicago Palestine Film Festival $6,500 (Seed, DA)
Chicago Palestinian Film Festival exhibits and promotes films about Palestine or by Palestinian directors to promote objective public dialogue. Grants will support interracial dialogue through hip-hop by bringing together local and Middle Eastern hip-hop artists at a screening of the documentary SlingShot Hip-Hop.

HotHouse Center for Performance & Exhibition $15,000 (DA)
HotHouse provides a venue and support for local and international art forms, artists and progressive social movements whose work would otherwise remain under-recognized and isolated.

Neighborhood Writing Alliance $500 (DA)
The Neighborhood Writing Alliance encourages adults to write, publish and perform works about their lives, to identify issues facing them as individuals and their community which then leads to collective social action and community involvement.

 

CRIMINAL JUSTICE
Ad Hoc Committee on Chicago Police Torture $400 (EF)
The Ad Hoc Committee on Chicago Police Torture works in coalition to bring justice to the cases involving use of torture by former Chicago Police Commander John Burge and his officers. The grant assisted the committee in presenting their case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Citizens Alert $7,500 (Seed, DA)
Citizens Alert holds Chicago metropolitan police accountable and works for systemic change in law enforcement agencies while advocating for victims of police brutality and misconduct.

Long Term Prisoner Policy Project (“Warehoused Prisoners”) $5,000 (Seed)
Long Term Prisoner Policy Project investigates the problems faced by prisoners serving virtual to actual life sentences in Illinois prisons, and pushes for changes in law, policies, and practice to promote offender rehabilitation and public safety.

DISABILITY RIGHTS
Chicago ADAPT $2,000 (TA)
ADAPT engages in direct action and grassroots organizing to advocate for the independence of people with disabilities from institutional and cultural barriers in everyday life. Grant will be used to provide website maintenance training in an effort to better utilize their website in campaigns.

Next Steps, NFP $2,000 (TA)
Next Steps organizes homeless and/or mentally ill individuals to be advocates in public programs designed to serve them. Grant will assist in strategic planning efforts.

 

ENVIRONMENT & COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Chicago Community Organizing Capacity Building Initiative (CCBI) $5,000 (Seed)
The CCBI initiative supports community organizing groups in the Chicago Metro area through convening, information sharing, collaboration and capacity building. CCBI is a funders’ collaborative which includes support from Ford Foundation and local foundation partners.

Digital Development Corporation & Oversight Committee $2,500 (Seed)
Digital Development works with Chicago’s west side community residents, technology providers, and school personnel to demand community access and training in digital technology.

Fund for Southern Communities $7,000 (Seed, DA)
The grant supports an initiative of the Funding Exchange network for Hurricane Katrina relief. The initiative will re-grant to grassroots groups in the hurricane-affected Gulf Coast region to support relief efforts and social change organizing.

Grassroots Collaborative $500 (EF)
Grassroots Collaborative works in a coalition of ten community organizing groups and unions. The grant supported their efforts to convene a city-wide meeting to establish an agenda for all of Chicago’s residents and increase electoral engagement for the 2007 municipal elections.

Imagine Englewood if…NFP $3,000 (Seed)
Imagine Englewood if…organizes residents around issues related to finding a long-term solution to address lead contamination in the Englewood area.

Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), $4,250 (CCBI)
KOCO provides community development programs in the Kenwood/Oakland neighborhoods of Chicago. Grant will be used to study the impact felt when neighborhood schools are closed.

Organization of the NorthEast (ONE), $11,750 (CCBI)
ONE endeavors to build and sustain a successful mixed economic, multi-ethnic community on the north lakefront of Chicago. Grant will support the Balanced Development Coalition in their campaign for affordable housing.

People for Community Recovery, Inc. $6,000 (Seed)
People for Community Recovery engages community members in public housing (Altgeld Gardens) on tenant rights as well as on environmental justice.

Rogers Park Community Action Network (RPCAN), $3,000 (TA)
RPCAN organizes residents of Rogers Park on multiple fronts ranging from community control on Tax Increment Financing, affordable/accessible housing and tenants’ rights to ensuring the lakefront is saved for public use. Grant will be used for strategic planning.

Student/Tenant Organizing Project (STOP) $3,000 (Seed)
STOP confronts gentrification/displacement in Kenwood/Oakland through tenant organizing, action research, and alliance-building between tenants, homeowners and students.

Tax Reform Action Coalition (TRAC) $3,000 (Seed)
TRAC is a coalition of community groups, institutions and individuals organizing for fundamental changes in Illinois’ property tax system.

 

HUMAN & WORKER RIGHTS
Applied Research Center (ARC) $1,000 (TA)
ARC provides training to advance racial justice through research and advocacy. The grant provided scholarships for Crossroads Fund grantees to attend a two-day national conference on race, equity and policy.

Chicago Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN)
$11,750 (CCBI)
ACORN organizes communities in Chicago neighborhoods around a number of social and economic issues. Grant will support the Living Wage Coalition, a coalition of organizations working on living wage as it relates to large retailers.

Chicago Area Friends of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee $1,000 (TA)
Grant supported a conference commemorating the history of the civil rights movement and its connection to Chicago with an emphasis on bringing elders and students together for dialogue.

Chicago Committee to Defend the Bill of Rights (CCDBR) $500 (DA)
CCDBR provides educational, advocacy and coalition building in defense of the Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution. Recently, they have focused on unconstitutional police infiltration and surveillance.

Chicago Worker’s Collaborative $9,500 (Seed, DA, EM)
Chicago Worker’s Collaborative trains workers and develops worker leadership, while organizing for comprehensive changes in the day labor industry to end illegal and exploitative practices.

Interfaith Federation $5,250 (CCBI)
Interfaith brings different churches and races to address issues affecting the Northwestern Indiana region. Their current campaign involves increasing and improving public transit to allow access to better jobs for people in low income and minority neighborhoods.

Jane Addams Senior Caucus $7,250 (TA, CCBI)
Jane Addams Senior Caucus organizes low-income northside seniors to improve their quality of life and build a strong community voice. Grants will be used to upgrade their computer equipment and to advocate for increased homecare for seniors and people with disabilities.

National Boricua Human Rights Network $5,500 (DA, TA)
Grants support the overall work of a campaign to raise awareness of human rights issues facing the community with particular emphasis on building the leadership of youth.

San Lucas Workers Center $4,000 (Seed)
San Lucas Workers Center organizes U.S. born and immigrant day laborers around their rights in the workplace and access to permanent and regular work.

TARGET Area Development Corporation $8,250 (CCBI)
TARGET works on economic and public safety issues in the Auburn Gresham and Englewood neighborhoods of Chicago. Grant issued is for the Developing Justice Coalition, a coalition of social change and faith based organizations working on policies related to the administration of justice in Illinois.
 

IMMIGRANT ISSUES
Coalition for African, Arab, Asian, European & Latino Immigrants of Illinois (CAAAELII) $15,750 (DA, TA, CCBI)
CAAAELII is comprised of 20 agencies serving immigrants and refugees in the Chicago Metropolitan area. CAAAELII organizes immigrants around issues that affect them locally and nationally. Funding provided is for dialogues between immigrant communities and African-American communities, and to support an apprenticeship program.

Korean American Resource and Cultural Center $6,000 (Ron Sable, DA)
KRCC challenges Koreans in the greater Chicago area to engage in meaningful civic participation to solve community issues, with a particular emphasis placed on youth programs and intergenerational activities.
 

INTERNATIONAL POLICY & ADVOCACY

Chicago Friends of WE-ACTx – Rwanda $151,161 (DA)
This is a pooled fund to benefit the WE-ACTx HIV/AIDS clinics in Rwanda. WE-ACTx serves HIV+ genocide widows, rape survivors and orphans and is a model of care and of international/local collaboration.

Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (CJPIP) $4,000 (Seed)
CJPIP works toward a better understanding of and resolution to the continued Israeli-Palestinian conflict through public education forums, an annual walk for justice and a Community Friendship project.


LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/TRANSGENDERED ISSUES
Affinity Community Services $7,000 (Seed)
Affinity serves lesbians and bisexual African American women by providing a safe space while addressing issues related to health, poverty and education.

Amigas Latinas $3,000 (TA)
Amigas Latinas serves the Latina lesbian, bisexual and questioning (LBQ) community of Chicago and suburbs. The grant will be used to conduct a Latina community profile survey to gather more information and assess community needs around which to organize and advocate.

Coalition for Education on Sexual Orientation (CESO) $2,500 (DA)
CESO works in a statewide in a coalition of 41 organizations to train school personnel, social service providers, government employees, youth and community members to address anti-gay violence in Illinois schools.


WOMEN & GIRLS
Beyondmedia Education $5,000 (DA)
Beyondmedia Education partners with under-represented women, youth and communities to create and distribute alternative media and arts, including videos and websites, performances and exhibitions.

Chicago Abortion Fund $3,000 (TA)
Chicago Abortion Fund provides low-income women of color access to safe, affordable abortion services. Grant will be used to stregthen the internal structure of the organization.

Global Girls, Inc $2,500 (DA)
Global Girls uses performing arts as a medium to develop strong communication, leadership and life skills for girls between the ages of 8-18.

Women’s Voices Fund $4,215 (DA)
The Women’s Voices Fund provides programs that promote feminist dialogue through book discussions and author readings.


YOUTH
Metropolitan Area Group for Igniting Civilization, Inc. (MAGIC) $3,500 (Seed)
MAGIC organizes residents of Woodlawn and the surrounding areas to fight gentrification and racism while addressing the impact of the same on youth. Funding will be used in a youth led initiative that seeks to identify needs and resources available to youth in the community

Southwest Youth Collaborative $2,500 (DA)
Southwest Youth Collaborative challenges youth from five diverse neighborhoods on the southwest side of Chicago to be activists and take up issues that affect their communities.

Rogers Park Young Women’s Action Team (Y-WAT) $2,500 (DA)
Y-WAT is a youth-led, adult-supported social change project. It empowers young women to take action on issues with particular interest in addressing violence against women and girls.

Young Asians with Power! (YAWP!) $3,000 (TA)
YAWP! cultivates a new generation of Asian/Pacific Islander American (APIA) leaders, activists and artists. Grant will be used to develop curriculum.

2005 Seed Fund Grants

Affinity Community Services

Serving lesbian & bisexual women of African descent in the Chicago area, focusing on the intersection of race, class, gender and sexual orientation. Current work is on developing an advocacy agenda, which includes organizing for domestic partner insurance for IL and access to healthcare for uninsured workers. $6,000 www.affinity95.org

Beyondmedia Education

Beyondmedia collaborates with under-represented women, youth and communities to create alternative media and arts, from video and websites, to performances and exhibitions. Current collaborations include work work with girls with disabilities and women & prisons. $8,000 www.beyondmedia.org

Chicago ADAPT

Chicago ADAPT uses direct-action and grassroots organizing to advocate for the independence of people with disabilities. Their current campaign aims to change Illinois’ policies of institutionalizing people with disabilities rather than supporting cheaper and more humane home or community care. $3,000 www.geocities.com/chicagoadapt/

Chicago Palestine Film Festival

The Chicago Palestine Film Festival counters mainstream media by giving voice to Palestinians and the Palestinian story. The Festival hosts filmmakers and scholars at its annual event, has screenings throughout the year, and is creating an online database and an archive to further promote Palestinian work. $3,000 www.palestinefilmfest.com

Citizens Alert

Organizes Chicago-area residents for progressive, systemic change in law enforcement. Citizens Alert is currently leading a city-wide effort to document and track incidents of police brutality and to strategize for bringing change in police practice. $5,000 www.citizensalert.org

Committee for a Just Peace in Israel & Palestine

Organizes public forums to educate and promote dialogue around the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.  CJPIP also advocates for change in US foreign policy in Israel and Palestine through meetings with legislators and community education. $2,000 www.geocities.com/cjpipwebsite/

Community Film Workshop of Chicago

A media arts group focusing on African American youth, Community Film Workshop offers programs in computer and digital technology, media production, community services projects, and individual media and multi-media productions. $4,000 www.cfwchicago.org

Day Laborer Collaboration

Trains workers and develops worker leadership, while organizing for comprehensive changes in the day labor industry to end illegal and exploitative practices. This year, they are focusing on building a legal services program and a worker cooperative, as well as participating in Governor’s panel to legislate safety regulations for day laborers. $5,000

GLSEN Chicago (Gay, Lesbian, Straight Educator’s Network)

Works with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender & questioning students across the Chicago area through support of student-led gay-straight alliances and semi-annual youth summits. $3,000 www.glsenchicago.org

Jane Addams Senior Caucus

Organizes the Northside senior community to advocate for their rights to affordable housing, affordable and just home health care, and increased access to social services. $8,000 773/404-6429

Korean American Resource & Cultural Center

Nurtures Korean American community leadership and activism to solve critical problems the community faces such as poverty, language barriers, socio-political discrimination, and under representation. $6,000 www.krccweb.org

Latino Union of Chicago

Organizes workers to improve working conditions of low-income and immigrant workers and day laborers, and to address systemic injustices in the day labor industry. Latino Union recently opened a workers’ center in Albany Park, a landmark victory. $5,000 773/588-2641

Metropolitan Area Group for Igniting Civilization (MAGIC)

A Woodlawn community-based organization that works to fight gentrification and racism and their impact on youth. Current work involves training youth on web design, community organizing and political analysis.  $4,000  

National Boricua Human Rights Network

Works in the Puerto Rican community on human rights issues, ranging from de-militarization of Vieques, and work on civil liberties in Chicago, to building a local political agenda for the Chicago Puerto Rican community. $5,000 www.boricuahumanrights.org

People for Community Recovery

An environmental justice organization located in the Southeast Chicago public housing community of Altgeld Gardens/Murray Homes. PCR targets economic development, housing advocacy, resident education, pollution prevention and resident organizing and empowerment. $5,000   773/468-1645

Pilsen Alliance

Organizes grassroots campaigns in the Pilsen community to fight gentrification and bring a community voice to development issues. Pilsen Alliance is currently conducting an independent zoning survey of the area to prevent future gentrification. $5,000 312/243-5440

Warehoused Prisoners: Long Term Prisoner Policy Project

Investigates and highlights the problems faced by the growing number of prisoners serving life sentences in IL prisons, and pushes for changes in laws, policies and practices to promote offender rehabilitation and public safety. $3,000