Grants

Grant Recipient

Osmosis Education Mentoring Initiative

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $10,000

For over two decades Osmosis Education Mentoring Initiative, hereafter Project Osmosis, has been at the forefront of the call for diversity and inclusion in the art/design professional by providing youth, teens, and aspiring young designers from historically underrepresented populations, currently African Americans represent less than 5% of art/design professionals, with the tools, resources and support required to successfully navigate the barriers and obstacles impeding them from entering this critical profession. As we say at Project Osmosis, art/design is a problem solving tool and all human beings have the right to be creative! Therefore, if entire segments of society are denied access to one of the most influential and powerful professions, a profession which directs and impacts every single aspect of human existence, simply because they lack education, exposure, creative spaces for expression, and mentoring, Project Osmosis stands boldly in that gap and serves as a bridge into the art/design profession for hundreds of traditionally underrepresented and excluded members of society. We are committed to expanding opportunities for creative and artistic expression to everyone with a specific emphasis on African Americans and women. In our view, the lack of diversity and inclusion in the applied arts has crippled global efforts to end wars, violence, poverty, hunger, starvation, sexual exploitation, and other ills which negatively impact our planet. For when we silence and ignore certain voices and viewpoints we stifle our collective creative energies and deny creative expressions which may save us all some day. Creativity cannot be harnessed or confined to corporate board rooms or design studios, because by its very nature art/design is expansive and explosive, and if not given space to express itself, it will show up as graffiti, tags of trains and buses, and in music and poetry. In reality there is no container or box which can retain human creativity. Project Osmosis is a safe haven and breeding ground for creatives who are traditionally excluded from the applied arts due to lack of exposure, education, and opportunity. We use the applied arts to open dialogues with young people about the challenges they face on a daily basis, changes like unprecedented violence, generational cycles of poverty, gender and sexual orientation bias, and global warming with its focus on climate change. Yes, we recognize that art/design is a problem solving tool, but we as know that those closet to those challenges and/or problems are best equipped to design solutions. We are ready to take our understanding of then creative process to new levels and award of this grant will allow us to collaborate with like-minded organizations and share what we have in over two decades of service.

Grant Recipient

Health and Medicine Policy Research Group

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $66,000

Grant Recipient

United States Curling Association

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $75,000

We are seeking this grant from the Chicago Community Trust to provide support to the Windy City Curling Club as it prepares to host the 2025 and 2026 Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Nationals, to support our Ice Breakers program and other diversity efforts, and help aging facilities improve infrastructure to allow for continued access to our sport among all ages and backgrounds.

Grant Recipient

LIFT INC

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $150,000

LIFT-Chicago's mission is to break the cycle of poverty by investing in parents. We do this by partnering with parents to achieve economic stability and mobility through our holistic, two-generation coaching model with wraparound supports, including financial capabilities workshops and quarterly cash infusions. With the support of Bridges to Brighter Futures, LIFT-Chicago will: (1) Engage 75 student-parents in LIFT’s coaching program to provide cash assistance and help young parents enroll and persist towards their education goals (2) Expand our capacity to track members’ education outcomes so that data can be leveraged to support policy and advocacy centered on the experiences and needs of student-parents.

Grant Recipient

Inner-City Computer Stars Foundation

Awarded: October 2023 Awarded Amount: $150,000

The Inner-City Computer Stars Foundation (i.c.stars) is requesting $150,000 from Bridges to Brighter Futures to fund our Chicago programming with a focus on supporting the following areas: 1) Our hybrid technology job skills training, which results in living wage jobs in technology 2) Career advancement through ongoing support for graduates and 3) Educational partnerships discovery to enhance our curriculum, skills assessments and credentialing. i.c.stars works to activate a technology community of change agents to power social and economic freedom. Working with low-income young adults, i.c.stars runs a four-month project-based training program followed by a 20-month case-management supported residency that prepares them for a career in tech. Further, i.c.stars works to build networks between rising talent and tech professionals through quarterly events and networking activities. By doing so, i.c.stars transforms not only the lives of young adults but also their communities and workspaces.