Women of Color Leaders Need More Than Sleep. They Need Healing and Self-Care.

To say that Chicago’s already traumatized, disinvested communities on the South and West sides were adversely and disproportionately impacted by the duration and aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic would be an understatement. The devasting health and economic impact of the pandemic on Black and Latinx communities are particularly severe for the women of color leaders and freedom fighters who have been busy coping, pivoting, and re-directing significant aspects of their lives under tremendous, unprecedented amounts of stress…all while raising families, fighting to keep their doors open and keep food on the table. The pressures and demands of nonprofit leadership can burn out even the most passionate and motivated community leader, posing a risk to the well-being of these individuals, the organizations they lead, and the Chicago-based nonprofit sector.

In response, Truth, Racial Healing and Transformation – Greater Chicago (TRHT) – a cross-sector, community-driven initiative that believes in the power of community organizing towards transformational and sustainable change – is piloting the Supporting Exemplary Leaders & Freedom Fighters (SELFF) Care Sabbatical. TRHT creates a safe space and opportunity for real connections that foster a renewed and reimagined commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, sustainability, capacity building, and leadership development. In a word, healing. Women of color community and nonprofit leaders have intrinsic worth outside of their usefulness to their respective fields. The SELFF Care Sabbatical will support women of color leaders to step back from the challenges, exhaustion, and stresses of work to rest deeply, cultivate real healing, and reconnect to their vitality and balance. This opportunity affords women of color leaders to recharge and empower the leadership throughout their organizations as they take a vital step back from their day-to-day work to pursue a self-directed course of learning, travel, observation, and reflection. The result will be stronger and more resilient leaders who are better prepared to meet the unsustainable stress and overwhelming demands of rising community needs, inadequate budgets, and understaffed teams.

Congratulations to the 10 amazing leaders and freedom fighters on the front lines of care in their respective communities! They will each receive $5,000 in unrestricted funds, become part of a community of care that centers on healing and restoration, and help co-create the self-care movement-building strategies needed to make long-term change possible.

• Ariel Bland, Project Purity
• Aya-Nikole Cook, Haji Healing Salon
• Camesha Jones, Sista Afya
• Celia Colón, G.O.D. (Giving Others Dreams, Inc)
• Darryca Brim-Mims, Focus Fairies Mentoring
• Dionne Victoria Milton, The Healing Academy
• Gloria Smith, The Black Star Project
• Janell Nelson, Englewood Arts Collective
• María Velazquez, Telpochcalli Community Education Project (TCEP)
• Rosa E. Martínez Colón, Instituto ANCLA

TRHT’s pilot will run for one year. Throughout this transformational process, grantees will begin to move beyond selflessness and into self-love. The rigors of nonprofit and public sector work leave leaders little opportunity to dream on behalf of their respective communities and organizations. The SELFF Care Sabbatical directly supports the development of fresh and creative new approaches to community service and leadership. Upon completing this pilot program, grant recipients’ lived experiences will exemplify what self-care looks like when people are given the time and space to explore and connect with their authentic and inner selves. By converting to a self-care lifestyle, the women of this inaugural cohort will help create a precedence for long-term healing and transformation that will have a ripple effect far beyond this initial pilot. Maybe even for generations to come.