Grants

Grant Recipient

Hyde Park Art Center

Awarded: September 2023 Awarded Amount: $2,500

The 2023 Gala brings to leaders in Chicago's cultural, civic, and business communities to celebrate Hyde Park Art Center's work and raise $525,000 in support of its programs.

Grant Recipient

Chicago Community Foundation

Awarded: September 2023 Awarded Amount: $25,000

Grant Recipient

The Chicago Community Trust

Awarded: September 2023 Awarded Amount: $50,000

Grant Recipient

Big Shoulders Fund

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $60,000

Grant Recipient

Light of Loving Kindness

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $10,000

Light of Loving Kindness (LOLK) has a successful track record of creating, developing, implementing, and managing programs. The communities we serve are often victimized by poverty, high violence rates, and lack of resources. We work within black and brown communities that are low-income, disenfranchised, suffering through health disparities, and underserved. Many residents in these neighborhoods lack resources, which can fuel violence. We all know how difficult teenage years can be. Today, many children in our schools are living lives filled with trauma of one sort or another, trauma that is often beyond their control, according to the Center for Disease Control. For the youth population that Light of Loving Kindness serves from underserved and underrepresented areas on Chicago’s West and South sides, society’s most strenuous challenges are also interwoven into that young adult’s everyday life. Our programs address the mental health challenges and social-emotional needs perpetuated by violence, poverty, toxic stress, stigma, racism, unequal resources, trauma, health disparities, and other elements negatively affecting people of color. We provide integrated, holistic tools for the mental and physical needs of African Americans and BIPOC communities, youth, and women. To address the challenges and respond to the needs of mental health services, we have a growing network of community programs and partnerships, rooted in holistic trauma-informed care. This year, we will be adding a program for women, who are the nexus of families and communities. Prioritizing a woman’s health alongside their children will help to create a springboard in which entire families and communities develop a keen focus on their mental and physical wellness. At LOLK, we visualize a future in which young people, regardless of race, economic status, gender, sexual orientation, and/or background see themselves as unique, creative, and powerful human beings. At LOLK, we are trained, certified, and experienced practitioners specializing in science-based integrative, complementary, and alternative solutions for mental and physical wellness. We emphasize understanding, respecting, and responding to the effects of trauma in individual and group settings with trained psychologists and mindfulness-based practitioners. Our interactions are to help youth believe in themselves, to develop resilience and to heal in a gentle way that allows them to release layers of trauma, while focusing on a brighter future. Soon, we will expand these services to focus on Black women. Over the years, we are pleased to share that LOLK has become a hub for convening community partners to create collaborative solutions around the health and well-being of our community’s youth. LOLK teams with local organizations and practitioners to offer opportunities for our youth in need, from mental and physical health to lifestyle education. Once a client is within one of our programs, they have access to all of our programs - meaning we provide wrap-around services but more importantly, connectivity and longevity to a youth’s care. The construct of our program is made to support activities that are proven to reduce involvement in the criminal or juvenile justice system, while reducing symptoms of mental health challenges like anxiety, depression, self-harming, suicidal ideations, and trauma recovery, and support related mental health services for youth, and in extension, their families and communities. All three organizations involved in this proposal are Black-Led and Black-Serving, committed to improving the quality of life of Black people throughout Chicago’s metropolitan region. Light of Loving Kindness is a 501(c)3, non-profit organization, whose mission is to empower the next generation of conscious leaders by providing access to internal streams of awareness, through holistic solutions, mindfulness-based tools, social-emotional learning, and human connection, delivered through specialized programming and community services, culminating in the self-esteem and confidence needed to pursue their life’s purpose. To strategically plan our impact and organizational direction, we follow an Operating Model, a Strategic Plan, now in year two, and have External Goals and Objectives for our work in the community, as well as Internal Goals and Objectives for our work as a business entity. A philanthropic contribution from the African American Legacy Fund and Chicago Community Trust towards our operating dollars will facilitate both the programming and collaborating aspects of our Operating Model, while helping us to launch A Woman’s PEACE Gathering and our newest youth program, Teen Mental Health First Aid Certification.. LOLK’s approach to qualitative and quantitative data collection and data management is strategically tied to our program delivery, community responsiveness, and directional goals and objectives. We conduct formative assessments, cumulative assessments, Strength Deployment Inventory, and Personal Data Collection with our participants. The use of our data provides a big-picture overview of how LOLK is currently performing. This results in a more well-intentioned nonprofit and influences our decision-making going forward.

Grant Recipient

New LIfe K.N.E.W. Solutions Mental Health Community Center

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $20,000

New Life Knew Solutions is a minority-owned and operated Community Mental Health Center established in 2019. NLKS's current client population is 90% comprised of the target demographic for this funding opportunity. Treating individuals and families desiring therapeutic services is an investment in Chicago's Westside neighborhoods. Operational funding through the Mental Health Strategy will support the need for accessible mental health services while addressing the challenges. Challenges include inadequate numbers of Licensed practitioners who specialize in Cognitive Behavioral, Expressive Art, Behavioral Health, and Emotionally Focused therapies and retention and growth for mental health professionals of the BIPOC community.

Grant Recipient

MUSICAL ARTS INSTITUTE

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $10,000

In response to the AACL strategy that supports STEAM through arts enrichment programs, the Musical Arts Institute is requesting general funding to support continued services for the "Chicago Music Reach" CMR and the Musical Arts Institute Music Conservatory.

Grant Recipient

Girls Like Me Project

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $20,000

GLMPI is applying for general operating funds that would support leadership development, resource development, hiring, strategic partnerships, data collection and evaluation.