Woods Fund of Chicago

Founded in 1993, the mission of the Woods Fund Chicago is to support and promote community organizing and public policy advocacy that advances racial equity and economic justice. A private foundation, the Woods Fund supports efforts that draw on the power of communities to fight the brutality of structural racism. A project of the Woods Fund, Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation (TRHT) Greater Chicago, is a comprehensive community-based process to unearth and jettison the deeply held, and often unconscious, beliefs created by racism. This award supports the programmatic work of TRHT Greater Chicago. Activities include training practitioners, hosting gatherings and webinars, and creating a multimedia series to inform Chicago residents about racial healing, policy, and collective actions.  This project continues to support an equitable recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic by increasing the presence of historically marginalized residents and their narratives.  

Established in 1941 as part of the Woods Charitable Fund, Woods Fund Chicago (Woods Fund) is a local foundation focused on the need for including communities that are most impacted by poverty and structural racism in the process of addressing issues that affect them. This award enables the Woods Fund to provide continued support for the Grassroots Alliance on Police Accountability (GAPA) for its work on a comprehensive community engagement strategy centered on policing and police accountability issues in Chicago. Through its community education and outreach activities, GAPA aims to create a better system of policing by ensuring that the people who will be most directly affected by the new accountability structures, policies and procedures play an active role in developing them.

Established in 1941 as part of the Woods Charitable Fund, Woods Fund Chicago (Woods Fund) is a local foundation focused on the need for including communities that are most impacted by poverty and structural racism in the process of addressing issues that affect them. This award enables the Woods Fund to support the formal organization of a community coalition (the Coalition) to develop a comprehensive community engagement strategy centered on policing and police accountability issues and its initial implementation. The outcomes include a formal structure for the community coalition; a specific two-year plan, budget, and proposal for full implementation of a community-driven effort to promote policing reform; and outreach and education activities in selected aldermanic wards in the city. Through the design and implementation of the process, the Coalition hopes to create a better system of policing by building public and political support for stronger accountability structures and promote trust in the Chicago Police Department by ensuring that the people who will be most directly affected by the new structures, policies and procedures play an active role in developing them.

In support of a local funders collaborative, particularly its participation in a national community organizing initiative sponsored by the Ford Foundation (over three years).