Announcing the New Advisory Board of the Disabilities Fund

The Disabilities Fund, an initiative of The Chicago Community Trust, is proud to announce its new cohort of advisory board members. The following members began their term in August 2024 under the leadership of interim co-chair Adam Ballard:

• Sadaf Ajani
• Bri Beck
• Gizelle Clemens
• Joyce Ozeh
• Jae Jin Pak
• Rafael “Tizoc” Rico
• Elon Sloan
• Katherine Vakil

Consistent with the slogan, “nothing about us without us,” the Fund’s advisory board reflects the diversity of the disability community of metropolitan Chicago and will shape the Fund’s work in directing resources to the community using a participatory grantmaking model. 

The new advisory board is the result of a year-long transformation and renewal process aimed at centering the perspectives of those with lived experience with disability. 

As Adam shared at the advisory board’s welcome dinner last month, “I am so excited to have reached this point. A new advisory [board] and a renewed focus to our work means that the Disabilities Fund can again serve as an important resource to organizations of all sizes looking to make an impact on behalf of disabled folks in Chicago and beyond… and take this work to a new level: Street level, where the leaders and voices that have historically been absent in disability spaces, including young people, people of color, and those with disabilities who are also part of the LGBTQ community, have been doing cutting edge work without adequate recognition or reward for a long time.”  

The Fund is grateful to our partners at Access Living, the Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition, and Disability Lead for their support and feedback in shaping this journey, as well as our consultant, Diana Samarasan.

Stay tuned for exciting updates as this new advisory board begins their journey to empower and support their community.