Chicago Cares

And just like that summer is winding down, and the new school year is welcoming us back with open arms! New learning, fresh pencil smell, and the opportunity to celebrate the young people in our lives.  This Back-to-School season, our partners are launching some amazing engagements to support the young people across our city. Many of our partners support Quality of Life plans that explicitly call out their commitment to youth in community and create roadmaps to improve young people’s lives.   Swipe to see the upcoming activations throughout the city and join us and serve this back-to-school season at https://lnkd.in/gbFtJJqK Creative Chicago Reuse Exchange (CCRx)

We’re inspiring the sector to do things differently! Last month, at the Points of Light Conference, our inspiring colleagues Rosie Drumgoole and Cheyenne Shelby-Petersen led an interactive session focused on community-centric fundraising. Chicago Cares practices an abundance mindset when considering how our collective resources might be utilized. Our fundraising lens is grounded in equity and encourages mutual support between our partners. As part of this work, Chicago Cares has influenced over $10 million to fuel the work of community plans! Want to learn more? Hear from Rosie on a virtual panel next week! Register at https://lnkd.in/gq4_F5By

Chicago Cares is redefining volunteerism. We offer volunteer experiences and educational forums that change hearts and minds by moving people from awareness and connection to empathy and civic engagement. All our programs are co-designed with community leaders to help fulfill their own Quality-of-Life Plan, ensuring that every action contributes to the community’s long-term goals and catalyzes impactful, long-term investment. Check out some of our exciting ongoing programming and find a cause you care about at https://lnkd.in/evmMhQZp This is just the start of your journey to long term civic love!

Civic Love is one’s love for community, expressed through a commitment to the common good. It is the belief that we are better together, and that when our neighbors thrive --- we all thrive! Here at Chicago Cares, Civic Love is seen through the service of our volunteers and the bridges built across lines of difference. At the 2024 Find Your Cause event, civic love will be practiced by connecting volunteer to volunteer, partner to partner, and dream to dream! Fall in love with your city and join us at Find Your Cause to learn your civic love sign! RSVP at https://lnkd.in/gyss4cZj

We are happy to congratulate our board member Joel Rodriguez, who received the CIBC Emerging Leader Award at LISC’s 30th Chicago Neighborhood Development Awards! Joel Rodriguez, a Community Organizer with the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP), stands as a passionate advocate for social change. Raised in the Southwest side, Joel’s career spans various roles within SWOP, from leading workforce initiatives, youth organizing efforts, to collaborating with the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability (GAPA). We are so proud of Joel and the incredible impact he has created in his tenure!

Do you want to deepen your commitment to your community? Do you have a cause that you’re passionate about? Join us at Find Your Cause and get inspired by the amazing organizations in Chicago’s South, West, and Northwest Side communities! On September 20th, come build relationships with community leaders, explore Palenque Liberating Spaces through Neighborhood Action’s (Palenque LSNA) Sanctuary City timeline, enjoy wellness and meditation activities, and treat yourself to a scoop of Ida’s Artisan Ice Cream. All while discovering your civic love language – now that’s a happy hour we can get behind! Register at https://lnkd.in/gyss4cZj

This week, we’re celebrating bold, collective action made possible through community-led change. Chicago Cares, UCAN (Chicago), and Students Demand Action (a part of Everytown for Gun Safety’s grassroots network) are celebrating our collective hard work as we close out a yearlong journey to reclaim safe spaces for youth in Chicago. Thanks to funds from the Everytown Community Safety Fund and the Vitalogy Foundation, these organizations worked in partnership to restore a community basketball court in the Chicago Neighborhood of North Lawndale.

It’s back! Get ready for an enriching experience at our upcoming 'Chicago Cares Volunteer Networking Hour,' co-hosted with our community partners, TEAMWORK ENGLEWOOD, at “the Englewood Breakroom.” This will be an opportunity not only to strengthen ties within our volunteer community, but also to deepen your engagement with leaders from the Englewood neighborhood. Attendance is free, but spots are filling quickly, and so register today at https://lnkd.in/g9jM2B-9 Can’t make this one? No worries! Keep your eye out for our next mixer in the coming months.

The true power of service is not the result of any one specific project; it is the journey that volunteers and companies take, in partnership with community, that leads to big, bold commitments. Thank you, Target, for joining us in taking bold collective action to transform an overgrown lot into a vibrant community hub! Stay tuned this week to see how we practice civic love with the North Lawndale community!

We are thrilled to celebrate our colleague and friend ángela munguía, Executive Director of AMPT: Advancing Nonprofits, for receiving the prestigious Leaders for New Chicago Award! This award seeks to build a more inclusive city by recognizing leaders who are designing new and impactful approaches to civic discourse and action. Awardees also included two of our partners on Chicago’s South side, Malcolm Evans (Urban Growers Collective) and Alia J. Bilal (Inner-city Muslim Action Network).