Tag: #fight

Recap: Unpacking White Privilege

How to Be a White Ally and an Anti-Racist

When we choose to be anti-racist, we become actively conscious about race, racism and anti-Blackness AND take actions to end racial inequities in our daily lives. Being anti-racist is believing that racism is everyone’s problem, and we all have a role to play in stopping it. There is no neutral.

We hosted this conversation, a first in our series, with two leaders about their own anti-racist journeys and the actions others can take to be a White ally and take action now.

Watch the hourlong discussion below and click the link below to download our resource toolkit and continue your own journey.

Recap: Incarceration and COVID-19 with the University of Chicago Institute of Politics

On Tuesday May 26, 2020 The University of Chicago Institute of Politics hosted a virtual panel to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 across the country, and how the pandemic might shape our views of incarceration moving forward. Our Leader in Residence, Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia was invited to be a panelist along side Van Jones, CEO of REFORM Alliance; Host of the CNN Podcast “Incarceration Inc.” the panel was moderated by Cheryl Corley, Correspondent, NPR National Desk.

When asked by Corley, how optimistic they are about seeing some of the operational changes that have happened in result of COVID-19 actually become permanent Dr. Tapia responded, “the more that we continue to push these conversations and indict not people, not the people who are the elected officials, but the criminal justice system itself, we can turn this thing around.”

Watch the full panel discussion below.

Read our Leader in Residence Dr. Nneka Jones Tapia’s published op-ed in the Chicago Tribune calling on leaders to show more consideration to those inside jails and prisons during this unprecedented time. Click here to read the full op-ed.

To read more about our Beyond Incarceration initiative click here.

Chicago Beyond Joins #WeMatterToo Campaign

Today Chicago Beyond has announced its partnership on the new #WeMatterToo campaign launched by Imagine Justice, the social impact organization founded by award-winning artist/activist and Chicago-native Common.

Unveiled this week, the #WeMatterToo campaign aims to help incarcerated people as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout America’s jails, prisons and detention centers at an alarming rate. In Chicago’s Cook County Jail, the infection rate is reportedly higher than most anywhere else in the country, underscoring the urgency of addressing the rapid spread of the virus amongst system-involved men, women and youth.

“COVID-19 has both highlighted and exacerbated the deep systemic inequities that existed long before the crisis hit, heightening the importance of finding solutions and building coalition across sectors to support individuals and families,” said Liz Dozier, Founder and CEO of Chicago Beyond. “People of color across the country continue to be disproportionately impacted by this pandemic, those of us in social impact spaces have a moral, social and economic obligation to act with urgency and compassion. Chicago Beyond is proud to stand with Common, Imagine Justice and the many partners who have joined forces behind the #WeMatterToo campaign. Now is the moment to demonstrate solidarity and exercise our humanity by showing up for all of society.”

Prior to the outbreak of COVID-19, Chicago Beyond partnered with The Cook County Sheriff’s Office, The Chicago Children’s Museum and The Center for Childhood Resilience at Lurie Children’s Hospital to launch Beyond Incarceration — a program to reconnect incarcerated individuals with their children and loved ones in a safe, family-friendly environment. The growing public health crisis has heightened concerns about the high risk of exposure to COVID-19 that currently incarcerated people, as well as those who are returning home to their families and communities, face. As part of the Going Beyond COVID-19 relief initiative, Chicago Beyond focused part of its efforts on providing hygiene supplies and food for individuals being released from Cook County Jail.

“The reality is that far too many people remain unnecessarily incarcerated in our jails and prisons, where social distancing and preventive measures like handwashing with soap and use of hand sanitizer are difficult to implement and sustain. This truth combined with the fact that many of these men, women and children have compromised immune systems makes the exposure risks that much more dire,” said Nneka Jones Tapia, Leader-in-Residence at Chicago Beyond and former warden of Cook County Department of Corrections. “Our hope is that the #WeMatterTooCampaign will help to further amplify the obligation to drastically reduce the number of people who are incarcerated using guidelines for safety and improve the living conditions within correctional facilities for those who remain.”

The #WeMatterToo campaign kicked off with the premiere of a new short film produced in collaboration between Anti-Recidivism Coalition (ARC), Imagine Justice and the MacArthur Foundation that is directed by filmmaker Savannah Leaf and executive produced by Common. The film showcases the voices of those currently incarcerated at facilities around the country to amplify their stories and illustrate what’s going on behind the walls of the U.S. criminal justice system as COVID-19 continues to spread.

“Let this time show us that we are all interconnected. We have to be there for our vulnerable communities including our people who are currently incarcerated. Our fates are tied together so we must be courageous and act now. I’m proud to launch #WeMatterToo today alongside 60+ organizations who have dedicated their time and energy to supporting our brothers and sisters currently in prisons, jails and detention centers around the country during this scary and uncertain time. Every single life matters,” said Common, Imagine Justice Founder and Emmy, Grammy and Academy Award Winning Artist.

Chicago Beyond joins a coalition of local and national organization supporting the #WeMatterToo campaign, including Color of Change, ACLU, Alliance For Safety and Justice, Chicago Votes, For Freedoms, The Gathering For Justice, The Sentencing Project, United We Dream, Vera Institute For Justice, and many more.

ABOUT #WEMATTERTOO CAMPAIGN

#WeMatterToo is a grassroots movement, started by Imagine Justice and Anti-Recidivism Coalition, composed of organizations, artists and thought leaders who have dedicated their time and energy to supporting our brothers and sisters currently in prisons, jails and detention centers around the country during this scary and uncertain time. #WeMatterToo will look to change the national narrative around COVID-19 and our criminal justice system, pressure public officials to take action to remedy the situation, amplify the voices and stories of people who are incarcerated and empower communities to be agents of change. For more information, visit www.wemattertoo.co.

ABOUT IMAGINE JUSTICE

Centered at the intersection of art and activism, Imagine Justice is dedicated to leveraging the power of art to advocate for communities around the country, to fight for justice and equality and to stand united against injustice wherever it appears. Common’s Imagine Justice focuses on criminal justice reform, coalition/community building, immigration, bringing humanity to communities who are often dehumanized in society, civic engagement and leveraging the power of art to inspire and spark change. For more information, visit www.imaginejusticenow.com.

Recap: Tech on the Block -Educational Tech Inequities and COVID-19

Play Video

On Thursday, April 23, 2020, Chicago Beyond hosted Tech on the Block: Educational Tech Inequities and COVID-19.

Chicago Beyond’s Founder and CEO, Liz Dozier, moderated a conversation with Jennie Magiera, the Global Head of Education Impact at Google, and Miyoshi Knox, the Principal at Stagg School of Excellence in Englewood, Chicago. These education leaders provided us with insights on educational challenges that many young people faced prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, which are now exacerbated during COVID-19 due to a number of inequities. They also shared strategies and opportunities for taking radical change right now to shift the playing field for all young people, especially those in the hardest hit communities of Chicago and other cities like ours.

You can watch the conversation above.

In addition, please see below for thoughts to some of the questions raised during by the audience that we were not able to get to during the actual conversation.

Technology Access

Several questions were asked on the availability of technology access for our students. For example,

How many students in Chicago currently have laptops? How many are lacking devices and/or internet access? Have students been able to learn remotely?

As of April 22, 2020, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) has given out 61,000 computers that were in stock and will hand out the remaining 43,000. There will be 100,000 computers and tablets distributed. CPS has also ordered 10,000 more devices.

Estimates show that 115,000 students need devices. CPS reported that about 146 schools out of its 640 schools had a device for every student.

Sources: WBEZ, Chicago’s NPR News Source, Chicago Tribune

Resources for Teachers, Parents and Students

What are some resources for people to help find specific information and ideas for learning at home, teaching via technology, creating learning opportunities for low-income, etc.?

Google for Education has provided numerous tools and resources for parents, teachers, and students. A good starting point is: https://teachfromhome.google/intl/en/

Additional resources could also be found at: https://en.unesco.org/covid19/educationresponse

How to get involved

What can I do right now to help kids who are facing challenges with online learning?

Becoming more aware of the challenges and the inequities is critical to supporting our youth and our communities. Some additional reading: One in Five Chicago Students Lack Broadband

Explore ways to close some of the divides, such as donating to organizations that are providing hotspots and internet services, e.g., Children First Fund’s Compassion Fund.

A Letter from Our Founder & CEO

Calling Out

New data released in the past week on the COVID-19 crisis has exposed what many of us working for racial equity and justice had felt in the pit of our stomachs for weeks: that people whose household income is low and people of color, specifically African Americans, would suffer disproportionally and in great numbers. In Chicago, Black people make up a staggering 70 percent of those dying from COVID-19, yet represent less than 30 percent of the city’s population.

Along with those statistics, it is important to understand why this is happening: there is no vaccine that will insulate one from the effects of structural racism.

Like a virus, the impacts of structural racism have permeated parts of our city for generations, where vast disparities in health, economic mobility, education access, and housing set the stage long ago for the devastation we’re seeing now.

In fact, by laying over the latest map provided by the city on COVID-19 infection rates by zip code to a historical map showing Chicago’s history of redlining, you can begin to visually see the linkage of past discriminatory practices and the compounded effects of what we’re seeing today.

Watch the moving visual to see inequities in plain sight.

This, of course, is true not just in Chicago, but in hundreds of communities across the country. As we worry about the near-term implications of COVID-19 and meeting people’s basic needs, we must also look to the long-term. We must plan for recovery. Not just recovery in the aftermath of this virus, but a holistic recovery. We must plan a recovery that affirms a transformative shift for our fellow humans inside those red lines on the map above.

Seemingly overnight, the world has fundamentally changed, giving us the opportunity to throw out the playbook for “how it’s always been done” and completely shift our way of thinking and doing. While disruption is revealing deeper problems, it has also created opportunities.

The point is this – we have a chance to call out and take on the red lines – a chance to truly build an equitable playing field.

The map shows in full color where our systems have fallen short over time.
Systems are made up of people.
People have choices.
People also create opportunity with those choices.
Let’s not squander our opportunity.

In solidarity and strength,

Liz Dozier
Founder & CEO, Chicago Beyond

P.S. Chicago Beyond launched Going Beyond to support those on the front lines, not merely in times of crisis, but as a matter of course. It’s also reflective of six core equity principles that anchor our COVID-19 approach, which we hope can also serve as a tool for others forming their approach right now. Click here to learn more.

Six Core Equity Principles in Responding to COVID-19

Edo, Freedom. 2019.

We have been asked: How have you pivoted to respond to COVID-19? And what about the work that was planned before?

We have been spurred to move with even greater urgency due to the crisis, but the work that needs to be done is still what always needed to be done. We have asked ourselves though – how can we re-orient?

Below are some of our reflections as it relates to this movement, and what guides us as we respond to not only this current, urgent moment, but as we think about the collective work in the long-term.

The foundation is trust—recognizing our relatedness—and consciousness that our own assumptions and biases determine what is possible.

1. The full potential of all humans remains our north star, with equity as our light.

Chicago Beyond has always been dedicated to the fullest potential of young people, focused on those up against the most barriers.

Implications with COVID-19:

Who does not have the privilege of “staying at home?” What about those who do not have homes? How do we reach those who are not otherwise reached?

The so what:

Simply put, if we do not intentionally focus on equity, we are almost guaranteed to generate more inequity.

Therefore, we are hyper-focused on who we can reach, and who is employed in the process.

2. May we lift up workers who have always been essential – who risk their lives, well beyond their job description – remembering how essential relationship support is.

We have seen again and again – outreach workers, social workers, organizers, counselors, teachers – they are the frontline for our young people. These are the people who often build and tend to relationships with young people.

Implications with COVID-19:

In this age of having to be physically distant, with many important community structures and safe spaces for our young people needing to physically close down, these essential workers are critical to maintaining and intensifying relationships with those who institutions often find difficult to connect with. Disruptions of these relationships, especially those nurtured over time, will exacerbate challenges as these connections are hard to replicate once interrupted.

The so what:

While we do our duty to be less physically proximate wherever possible, we must invest in, strengthen, and deepen social connection. We have intentionally focused on delivering basic needs supports through hyperlocal organizations, like IMAN, the Institute for Nonviolence Chicago, RAGE, and more. We believe that investing in keeping networks and relationships alive between organizations and residents will help more people over the long-term.

3. Fully step into what we can control, and have the humility to understand the limits of what we can see.

At our core, our organization is designed for adaptation, for challenging dogma (i.e. the way it’s always been done), and practicing something new. To us, this is essential to equity work—because the systems we have inherited are designed to reproduce inequity. If we were to adopt their practices, however good our intentions, further inequity is the result. For example, please check out our approach to evidence and knowledge.

Implications with COVID-19:

With COVID-19, we have seen many moments of the “we never do this” and “we can’ts” falling away. At the same time, given the novel nature of this virus, we are learning new things every day, and being challenged to quickly adapt.

The so what:

We are getting out of our own way, leaning into the energy of “just get started.” This week, we collaborated with a hotel supplier, American Hotel Register to get hygiene supplies to street outreach workers to start conversations about the virus of COVID-19 and violence.

We are in supply chain relationships we could not have imagined at the start of the year, connecting to diapers and food and trucking.

We are taking this chance to go deeper on challenging dogma and “how things get done.”

We have assembled cross-domain, flat teams with authority to move with the working assumption that in a few weeks needs may be different, and our response must adapt.

4. Approach the long-term with wisdom, understanding the slow crisis beneath the fast crisis, and embracing that the long-term starts now.

There is a fast crisis we are focused on, and there is a slow crisis beneath it. This virus shows us how we have been doing on building an equitable society. The long-term work was always crucial, and we have an opportunity to re-orient.

Implications with COVID-19:

Especially in a time when we may be unsettled, grieving, looking for something familiar or something to distract ourselves, it is easy to just recreate on videoconferencing platforms, like Zoom, patterns from before. It is easy to jump to a solution.

The so what:

Start from clarity of thought.

We are having structured, intentional discussion on equity and history of crises with our team, as we act.

We have always developed our strategies acknowledging uncertainty and the importance of learning and pivoting. We do quick-and-dirty strategy updates: knowing what we know now, what do we change? What are new opportunities to serve? How do we just get started? And design our actions so we learn as we go?

The focus stays on the long-term ecosystem, on holistic work.

Complexity sometimes gets confused with diversity. Coordination is important, but monoculture solutions are partial. Who is left out? Who are the smaller nonprofits that might have the critical trust, but are not necessarily perceived as “having capacity,” particularly in crisis?

We are cognizant that we must be vigilant in our support for hyper local non-profits, especially during this time. There is imbedded knowledge and relationships that can help ensure no one is left behind in the immediate or long term.

5. Be thoughtful in calling in and collaborating, while we are unwavering in speaking up—against racism, our narratives of “us” and “the other."

We have a chance to take on our history and our present – a chance to truly disrupt society. The map of the virus’s impact shows in full color where our systems fall short.

Implications with COVID-19:

With COVID-19, old narratives of “us” and “other” are reborn and new ones created. In personal conversations, in public policy, in public narratives.

The so what:

We must fall together, so we are paying attention to coordinated efforts throughout the city, and seeing how we can contribute.

And, we must not entertain assumptions that drive us apart. We endeavor to use our voice, for example this Op-Ed piece about those in the jail whose voices are muffled.

There is no “other”. There is only us.

6. May we heal. May we exhale what does not serve us. May we re-become whole.

Human relatedness and healing was the core of the restorative justice models at Fenger, in how Beyond Incarceration brings children and incarcerated parents together, in the holistic work of many of our investments. It is critical in how we move forward from here.

Implications with COVID-19:

COVID-19 and the shutdown adds just another layer of stress and complexity. How can we heal holistically during and after COVID-19?

The so what:

Healing is not a self-centered act or a luxury. This is part of taking seriously the work of liberation. Taking seriously the idea of self-determination and fullness of potential in every human.

In our investing, we are focused on healing of adults who support young people, their families, our communities.

We are holding space in our personal interactions and many texts, calls, Zoom calls, messages with partners for breathing, and for love. This was always the case, but all the more important now.

Click here to download the six principles.

2019: A Look Back

A Year of Backing the Fight

Since day one, Chicago Beyond’s work has been rooted in backing the fight for Chicago’s youth – from investing in innovative ideas to tackling systemic injustices that affect young people nationwide. And 2019 was no different.

This year, we published Why Am I Always Being Researched? and challenged power dynamics that get in the way of true impact for young people. We invested in the mental wellness of youth experiencing parental incarceration, and young men experiencing trauma, and built a new space – Chicago’s Home for Social Innovation.

All of these examples and more would not be possible without supporters like you, who also back the fight for creating a more equitable city for all young people. Please take a glance at our past year in the video above.

Thank you for being a part of the fight for Chicago’s youth – here’s to 2020 and beyond.

We Are Here. Chicago’s Home for Social Innovation.

Chicago's Home for Social Innovation.

Chicago Beyond’s new space in the Fulton Market neighborhood was designed to serve the public in its openness to contemplation and conversation. It is a space that amplifies unlikely voices, radically reimagines individual participation in our collective liberation, and seeks to unabashedly stand for our youth.

We hope what transpires in our space and beyond calls out injustice, calls in equity, and points the way toward a more fair and just future. A future that is embedded in the radical understanding that “I am not free until you are free.” And we all deserve to be free.

In the bustling hub of the new development in the West Loop, our new space symbolize the idea that we are here and we all belong.

Watch the short video above to learn more about our new space!

Justice, not charity: Liz Dozier thinks philanthropy should be rooted in equity and solidarity

By Sabrina Vourvoulias
This article ran in Generocity Philadelphia on October 29, 2019.

Before she founded Chicago Beyond, Liz Dozier was the principal of one of Chicago’s most violent and underperforming high schools.

Charged with turning the school around, Dozier and her team employed restorative justice, social and emotional learning and academic interventions to bring the school’s dropout rate from 19% to 2% and prompt double-digit increases in attendance and the school’s state graduation rate.

Now, as CEO of the impact investment organization focused on youth equity she founded, Dozier is changing the way people think about philanthropy: justice, not charity, is how she sees the work of funding transformation.

Dozier will be the keynote speaker at Philanthropy Network Greater Philadelphia‘s Sparx Conference, taking place from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Thursday, October 31 at the Hilton Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing.

“I’ll be talking about a couple of things centered on how we can do philanthropy more equitably,” Dozier told Generocity. “I’ll be talking about our work, and our philosophy of ‘whole philanthropy,’ which is really grounded and rooted in the idea that if we really want to get to the answers and support people in communities, we have to show up in different ways.”

“We have to show up in an equitable way,” she added, “[understanding] the bias we bring to the table, the orientation we bring. We have to show up in a way that is rooted in solidarity, not rooted in compliance metrics or inauthentic things.”

Dozier gives the example of one of Chicago Beyond’s partner organizations that received a grant to serve 200 young people, but because of infrastructure limitations was only able to serve 150. “Working outside of solidarity [the funder] would penalize the organization for noncompliance,” Dozier said. “But showing up in solidarity, the thought is ‘how can we be of service?’ It sounds simplistic, but … what undergirds all of this is humanness; we can’t lose sight that we are all on the same team, we need to be supportive of one another so that all young people have access to their full human potential regardless of zip code.”

Rethinking the power structure of traditional philanthropy and the ways that is expressed in practices is a significant part of Dozier’s work. Chicago Beyond produced a guidebook, “Why am I always being researched?“, that is premised on the idea that “if evidence matters, we must care how it gets made.”

The book unpacks the power dynamics between funders, researchers and community organizations, and according to Dozier, has been downloaded in “50 states, 75 countries, and has caught the eye of a lot of different folks.” Among those who have noticed the work are Bill and Melinda Gates, who found the principles for research of particular importance for the K-12 cohort the Gates Foundation serves. In fact, Dozier will be copresenting with the Foundation on the topic of the guidebook at an event next month.

This year’s iteration of the SPARX Conference has as its theme “Igniting the Power in Community“, and Dozier’s experience and work is particularly suited to it. Chicago Beyond recently opened a new space in the West Loop of Chicago, home to historical meat-packing and industrial factories which, according to Dozier, gave rise to Chicago’s labor movement and some of the first protests against police brutality took place in the 1800s.

“Twenty-five years ago people wouldn’t set foot in the West Loop,” Dozier said, “Then Oprah set her studio there and the neighborhood slowly began to change. Now it’s home to some of the best restaurants, Google, etc.”

In the process the neighborhood’s past was being erased, and Dozier sees Chicago Beyond’s move into the area as “literally and figuratively” holding space for community and community organizations that are heirs to the neighborhood’s reformist past. In the 10,000 square-foot-space, they’ve screened the “We are Witnesses” documentary videos on the criminal justice system, have trauma trained 100 frontline workers, and have become an active community hub.

Next year, Dozier will be releasing a book, Whole Philanthropy, based on Chicago Beyond’s holistic philosophy of impact investing. Chicago Beyond may be the model, she said, but the story of holding space for people and ideals, its focus on equity and justice, of making investments in individuals, and organizations and learning, is expansive.

It could be “the story across the country,” Dozier said. “Truly universal [in] how we, as philanthropists, engage.”

The Chicago Crusader: Chicago’s Lei’Anna Young says that gun violence-related trauma is real

This article appeared in the Chicago Crusader on July 11, 2019.

How gun violence impacts kids like 17-year-old Lei’Anna Young is not so obvious. Lei’Anna is quiet and spends most of her time alone. Unless she’s performing with her school dance team, she avoids attention. But if you give her time to trust you, she’ll open up and say a lot and her trauma will become all too real.

That’s what Youth Advocate Programs (YAP), Inc., Advocate Gia Cephas did back in March when she met the Chicago Vocational High School (CVS) junior. YAP’s paid advocate-mentors, recruited from the neighborhoods they serve, are trained to help young people identify and realize their strengths while connecting them and their parents/guardians to tools to help firm their foundation.

“Before YAP, I kept to myself; I didn’t like groups. I would have been a loner all four years,” Lei’Anna said. “I didn’t have a lot of friends. I was living a boring depressing life.”

YAP’s services are based on its core model, introduced more than 13 years ago in Chicago, as a community-based alternative to youth incarceration and other out-of-home placements. While YAP continues its partnership with local youth justice and child welfare systems, a growing number of schools and organizations working to reduce violence in the city also connect Chicago youth to YAP. Lei’Anna said she got involved when her school dean saw her potential. The referral came to the nonprofit through the school’s partnership with Chicago Beyond.

Lei’Anna said her grandmother, who is also raising her brother and sister, keeps the children inside as much as possible to protect them. “It can be really lonely,” Lei’Anna aid. “When it’s too quiet and I’m hearing or seeing something about murder, it’s depressing.

Gia heard and felt Lei ’Anna’s desire for opportunities to learn and grow and make connections. She also realized that the best way to support and mentor Lei’Anna was by ensuring that she had buy-in from her family.

“Gia met my grandmother the third week and my younger sister at the same time. She’s very open and she’s like family already. She’s easy to communicate with,” Lei’Anna said.

Gia connects Lei’Anna with resources to help her cope with her feelings and gives her outlets to identify, explore and realize her gifts and talents. In addition to the one-to-one mentoring, Gia gives Lei’Anna opportunities to interact with other YAP participants in group sessions and field trips.

“Now that I’m in YAP, I have opportunities to talk to people and have fun,” she said. “I’m meeting a lot of kids and learning that whether we’ve been in trouble or not, we all want more. Other programs might take you off the streets by putting you in a youth center or something; but YAP gives you tools you can use all the time.”

Lei’Anna told Gia she loves cosmetology and dance — in particular, choreography. Now she also realizes she wants to go to college so that she can learn how to bring both talents together and build a business where she can be her own boss and give jobs to others.

One of Lei’Anna’s most memorable YAP experiences so far was a recent visit to Springfield where youth and their advocates got an opportunity to use their leadership skills. It was a chance to show and tell lawmakers why they should support the intensive mentorship program.

“Being with other YAP kids, I don’t worry about whose around. I feel safe and I’m happy. I can see myself being who I really am,” she said. “I’m a good person, especially when I have the chance to do things that let me share and open up.

Beyond the fun and learning, Lei’Anna said her time in YAP makes her feel healthier, stronger and more empowered.

“With YAP — with Gia — life is just better. Every day is a session,” she said with a giggle.