Grantmaking Webinar

As we have previously shared, almost 10 years after Woods Fund Chicago identified racial equity as a priority, we are taking an additional step to further our commitment by prioritizing this focus within our grantmaking guidelines. If you have not already, please read a note from our president here. You can also learn more about the key changes to our grantmaking guidelines by watching this webinar.

Woods Fund Chicago: Public Charge

As many of you are aware, on October 10th the U.S. Department of Homeland Security proposed significant changes to a long-standing tenet of federal immigration law that will adversely impact the health and well-being of millions of children and families across the country. The “public charge” rule change seeks to bar noncitizens from obtaining legal permanent residency status if the government determines that the applicant is likely to use public benefits, such as food stamps (SNAP), Medicaid, some parts of Medicare, Section 8 and other housing subsidies.

Our response to the proposed rule change is just one part of a collective philanthropic push to inform and engage our sector and our broader community about the adverse impact the change has had, and will continue to have if enacted, on immigrant families and communities throughout the state. Woods Fund grantee partners have added their voices to the chorus of opposition, and several local foundations are cosigning letters to local editorial boards and are submitting (or have already submitted) individual public comments to the Department of Homeland Security denouncing the rule change. Our collective advocacy is critical and does not constitute lobbying as this rulemaking is an administrative process by a government agency.

We encourage you to consider submitting your own public comment. Find out how here.

To learn more about the public charge issue, visit Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrant Rights for more information.

Vote Equity Project: What do we deserve from our government, Chicago?

Join in a campaign to reimagine Chicago to be a city built to serve all of us. Share your ideas to transform government, then vote on which ideas should guide the next mayor. You can follow along as Chicagoans United for Equity reports back on where each candidate stands on your priorities. Get ready to build a new Chicago together, one that allows us to thrive no matter where we are from or the color of our skin.

Willie's Warriors

Willie’s Warriors Leadership Initiative is creating a pipeline and network of Black women leaders committed to equity and justice in Chicago.

Created in honor of the Reverend Willie "The Little Warrior" Barrow, the Willie's Warriors Leadership Initiative at Chicago Foundation for Women continues Rev. Barrow's legacy of bringing women together to support and learn from each other.

Willie's Warriors is open to women who identify as Black from all sectors and industries interested in nurturing their leadership and building deep relationships with other Black women leaders in the Chicago region.

Applications are due Sunday, December 16, at 11:59 pm CST. Click here to apply today.

Congratulations, Dr. Barbara Ransby, The Angela Y. Davis Award Recipient for Public Scholarship

Historian, writer, long time political activist and Woods Fund Chicago board member Dr. Barbara Ransby was recently selected as the recipient of the American Studies Association’s 2018 Angela Y. Davis Prize for Public Scholarship.

The Angela Y. Davis Award for Public Scholarship recognizes scholars who have applied or used their scholarship for the “public good.” This includes work that explicitly aims to educate the lay public, influence policies, or in other ways seeks to address inequalities in imaginative, practical, and applicable forms. The 2018 prizewinner is Barbara Ransby, University of Illinois at Chicago.