Recognizing the potential for a spike in violence in Chicago this summer, the Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities awarded 120 grants for activities designed to promote peace, build trust, and strengthen relationships between residents and law enforcement. The awards total roughly $850,000. Grants ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 were awarded to grassroots and local groups working in one of the Fund’s prioritized 17 communities. View a full list of 2017 organizations.
Supporters of the Fund include MacArthur, The Chicago Community Trust, the Joyce Foundation, the Polk Bros. Foundation, the Woods Fund Chicago, and other philanthropic institutions that are also engaged in larger, long-term efforts to address violence and community safety. The Fund was not meant to be a quick fix to the complex problem of violence; rather, its targeted investments supplemented each funder’s long-standing efforts to develop systemic responses to the root causes of violence. Last year, MacArthur also joined other funders in support of immediate intervention to deter violence and promote peace in Chicago neighborhoods over the Labor Day holiday and through the beginning of the school year.
