- 2021
1863FWD
Helping people exact their free will and determination by centering their strengths to overcome adversity and create wellness in all aspects of their lives for the whole person and the systems in which they engage.
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Funding to those closest to the issues
Chicago Beyond’s Rapid Response Fund quickly delivers unrestricted grants to hyperlocal organizations and individuals with solutions for their own communities. Our investments in those closest to the issues strengthen partners’ wide-ranging work, including employment services, food security, re-entry supports, LGBTQIA+ safe spaces, art classes, environmental justice, wellness, and more. Our Rapid Response Fund began in 2021 as an evolution of our COVID-19 response initiative, through which we provided tens of thousands of families with basic necessities during the pandemic.
Rapid Response Fund Impact
$9.4M
Since 2020, Chicago Beyond has distributed $9.4M in Rapid Response funding.
91%
91% of Rapid Response Fund grants have been made toward BIPOC-led organizations.
190
Chicago Beyond has distributed grants to 190 Rapid Response Fund partners.
“As we gained more funding, anything we got came with restrictions, until Chicago Beyond’s award. It’s freedom and less of a stressor. It enables us to put more time into building and sustaining relationships with others."
Jarvis Buchanan, Founder and Director, Legacy Disciples: Hood Heroes
“Grants can be very programmatic. With one, I can’t even buy someone a biscuit. With Chicago Beyond’s grant, I can feed people when they attend programs. Other grants don’t think of the social aspect that sharing food and breaking bread together builds community.”
Celia Colon, Founder, Giving Others Dreams (G.O.D.)
"With the unrestricted award, we are reaching out to more BIPOC disabled folks of color and organizations that share our vision. We also have constant access to resources such as plain language materials, ASL interpreters, and live captioning. We wouldn’t have done it without the support of Chicago Beyond."
TIMOTHEUS “T.J. GORDON, JR. AND JAE JIN PAK, CO-FOUNDERS CHICAGOLAND DISABLED PEOPLE OF COLOR COALITION
Our Rapid Response Fund Partners
- 2021
360 Nation
Emphasizes relationship building, gifts, and talents to promote self-determination in the Black community. 360 Nation’s philosophy calls for returning back to the essence of the human experience, but through a critical lens.Visit Site
- 2022
A New Day Mental Wellness Center
Mental health and social justice-focused private practice counseling group, established for the purpose of offering individuals, couples, family, and other group therapy to teens and adults.Visit Site
- 2022
Access Freedom
Access Freedom's vision is to empower, equip, and encourage the youth to unlock the greatness that has been placed on the inside of them and mobilize them from a place of poverty to an oasis of prosperity in every facet of the word.Visit Site
- 2022
ACT Yoga
ACT Yoga is steeped in Awareness, Change and Triumph. We assist people with building and maximizing a pathway to mental, physical and spiritual balance.Visit Site
- 2021
Affinity Community Services
Affinity Community Services promotes the wellness of the Black LGBTQ community through advocacy, education, and health services.Visit Site
- 2021
AirGo
AirGo is a weekly podcast and movement media hub in Chicago that reshapes the culture of the city and beyond for the more liberatory and creative.Visit Site
- 2021
Allen Metropolitan CME Church
Allen Metropolitan CME Church seeks to improve the quality of life of families and the community. The Church under the leadership of the pastor, responds creatively to the needs of the community offering innovative, wholistic social ministries that address injustices, relieve suffering and brings healing to the masses.Visit Site
- 2021
Amor Al Arte
Amor Al Arte builds community by providing art activities to the Back of the Yards neighborhood.Visit Site
- 2021
Ayodele Drum and Dance
Ayodele Drum & Dance exists to foster community from a feminine perspective through the study and performance of diasporic African drum and dance.Visit Site
- 2023
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering
BElovedBIRTH Black Centering is a "by us for us," midwifery-led. group prenatal care program addressing the Black maternal and infant health crisis. Beloved empowers Black women and community members to lead health system innovation and redefine perinatal care for the Black birth justice movement, working to eliminate racism-based disparities in Black birth experiences and outcomes.Visit Site
- 2021
Black Brown + Breathing
Black Brown + Breathing hosts healing-centered activations at sites of resistance, protest, and collective trauma throughout Chicago. BBB holds space for people in the city to gather, breathe, create, and celebrate in community. Through these activations, we come together to reclaim these spaces as our own, to share in one another’s healing, and to spread awareness of ongoing injustices.Visit Site
