“Surprise.” “Amazing.” “Fantastic.” “So exciting.” All are words used by some of the 10 recipients of the Field Foundation’s Leaders for a New Chicago award, announced Tuesday by the foundation, in partnership with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
The awards — centered in areas of art, justice and media/storytelling — are part of Field’s ongoing investment in individuals’ and organizations’ ongoing efforts to address racial justice and systemic bias in Chicago’s marginalized and underserved communities. Launched in 2019, the MacArthur Foundation committed $4.2 million to recognize and support diverse leaders from communities affected by Chicago’s history of structural racism, discrimination and disinvestment.
The $50,000 award is divided in half — $25,000 for the recipient’s personal use and $25,000 for the affiliated organization’s general operations.
American Indian Association of Illinois (Katherine Wiese), avery young, teaching artist with Urban Gateways (Elyse Blennerhassett), and Antonio Gutierrez, strategic coordinator and co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations (Greater Good Studio).
Emily Blum, executive director of Disability Lead, a nonprofit that develops and connects leaders with disabilities to civic and professional opportunities, said the money will be earmarked to expand the organization’s model to areas outside of Chicago and to advance conversations around diversity within venues such as Disability Lead’s Collab forum (a virtual space where practitioners of racial equity can connect with practitioners of disability justice, for relationship building and working together).
Born as a Chicago Community Trust program for the 25th anniversary of Americans with Disabilities Act, Disability Lead was formed to create a bench of leaders with disabilities in the Chicago region, Blum said.
“We were created to expand that network,” she said. “We have more than 200 positive disrupters, people with disabilities representing the diversity of disability, the diversity of Chicago, and we help them lead. I think our opportunity is really around culture change. How do we change people’s understandings, ideas around disability … and change people’s attitudes and the stigma around it.”
Blum, who said a big part of her leadership is showing up proudly as a person with disabilities, is one of 10 leaders chosen for the awards. Other recipients include:
Kevin Iega Jeff, co-founder of Deeply Rooted Dance Theater and creative/executive director of Deeply Rooted Productions;
Scheherazade Tillet, co-founder and executive director of A Long Walk Home, an art organization that empowers young people to end violence against Black girls and women;
avery young, award-winning artist, composer, and producer, a teaching artist with Urban Gateways, which helps youth overcome social and economic barriers to access Chicago’s artistic and cultural vitality;
Antonio Gutierrez, strategic coordinator and co-founder of Organized Communities Against Deportations, an organization that defends its communities, challenges the institutions that target and dehumanize them, and builds collective power;
Dixon Romeo, de facto leader of Not Me We, a community organization focusing on housing, organization education, and mutual aid (which evolved from weekly mutual aid grocery distribution and tenant organizing in 2020);
Tanya Watkins, executive director of Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation, a multi-issue, faith-based, social justice organization that assists residents in building power;
Dorene Wiese, chief executive officer of the American Indian Association of Illinois, an urban-based nonprofit dedicated to transforming American Indian education into an experience founded in Native culture, language, and history;
Trina Reynolds-Tyler, director of data for Invisible Institute, whose mission is to enhance the capacity of citizens to hold public institutions accountable;
Irene Romulo, development and community engagement coordinator and co-founder of Cicero Independiente, a hyperlocal, bilingual news outlet focused on government accountability and cultural presence in Cicero.
Wiese, an Ojibwe tribal member, plans on using her award money to start a scholarship fund for American Indian students in public colleges and universities. Since the Native American Educational Services College, an urban and reservation American Indian college, lost its accreditation in 2005, she’s been trying to get it started again. In the interim, college programs for American Indian students in Chicago have been taught in collaboration with other universities. Wiese’s focus is building an educated community with a pipeline of students from elementary to college and getting the school its accreditation back.
“I think that the Higher Learning Commission did not really get a sense of how important it was for American Indian people to develop their own institutions of higher education,” Wiese said. “It’s really been difficult for our community since we lost our college. An urban college is important because most Native people live in urban areas today, over 70%, living off reservations.”
Tillet will be using her part of the award money to help her buy a home. The money for A Long Walk Home will go toward taking youth on a trip to a West African conference about gender-based violence this month. Photography and art workshops will be curated in Sierra Leone with girls from all over Africa.
“Awards like this allows a bigger platform for your work to be seen, specifically the work I do with Black girls,” Tillet said. “As we give opportunity to girls not only nationally, I think as we’re doing this work, we’re connecting to the continent, and having this conversation of Black girlhood globally, which is very exciting. What does Black girlhood mean here in Chicago? What does it mean in a global sense, as well?”
A committee comprised of 2021 awardees, facilitated by Field and MacArthur staff members, oversaw the process of reviewing nominations and recommending award recipients. Field Foundation Leadership Investment Program Officer analía rodríguez, a member of the inaugural 2019 Leaders cohort, said the selection committee was overwhelmed by the leadership of all the nominees.
“I’m humbled to experience this process and commitment of the nominees to make Chicago a better place for all,” rodríguez said.
