Check out the latest insights from our program team and grantees.
Grantees

Congo Square Play Promotes Healing, Catharsis in Chicago
Congo Square Theatre is an ensemble dedicated to producing transformative work rooted in the African Diaspora. For 20 years it has committed to telling stories by and for Black people.
Grantee
Congo Square Theatre Company

Building collective power through research
Black Researchers Collective was founded in 2019 with a mission to train and equip communities with the research tools necessary to be more civically engaged and policy informed.
Grantee
Black Researchers Collective

The nation’s first Black arts museum
South Side Community Art Center is the nation’s first Black arts museum that develops and showcases some of the nation’s most influential Black artists.
Grantee
South Side Community Art Center

Chicago violence prevention leader joins Justice Department as senior adviser
READI Chicago Director Eddie Bocanegra Joins Justice Department as Senior Adviser
Grantee
Heartland Alliance

Engaging to protect our water
Fifty years on, Alliance for the Great Lakes expands environmental justice advocacy through inclusion and partnerships.
Grantee
Alliance for the Great Lakes

Pivoting to a reimagined stage
The Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project adapts and endures, rethinking performance space and how to reach audiences and students through a pandemic.
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Programs
Michigan Advocates Celebrate “Transformational” Environmental Investment
$5B bill infrastructure bill designed to improve drinking water, sewers, parks and other essential measures considered the largest and most beneficial environmental investment in Michigan in decades.
Fairer Redistricting Initiatives Advance in Michigan and Ohio
Joyce grantees in Michigan and Ohio have played integral roles advancing policy for fairer implementation of legislative districts for all citizens in those states.
Illinois receives $226 million for project to block invasive carp from Great Lakes
A landmark environmental project championed by Joyce Foundation grantees and many other partners to keep invasive carp out of the Great Lakes has received critical federal funds.
Illinois makes history against climate change
The Foundation congratulates all of its grantees and coalition partners who worked for years with perseverance and commitment to pass a historic new Illinois law making the state a national leader in the battle against climate change.
Firearms fix
Saving lives by stemming gun violence is the goal of a new law in Illinois that will strengthen background checks, shore up the state’s outdated gun-license system, and invest in mental health services for impacted communities.
Getting the lead out
Illinois lawmakers mandate that utilities replace toxic lead water lines, a decades old threat. New legislation provides for state grants and technical assistance and prioritizes communities at highest risk–Black and Latino.
Energy efficiency
Under-resourced communities in Minnesota soon will receive a jolt of financial support for energy efficiency, thanks to newly passed legislation to help the state achieve its decarbonization goals equitably.
K-12 “toolbox”
School districts across Illinois have received a “toolbox” of recommendations for helping teachers and students rebound from lost learning after a year of interruptions during the COVID 19 pandemic.
Fairness in redistricting
Michigan residents have a chance to help craft fairer, more equitable legislative districts, and a coalition of nonprofit organizations is banding together to help community groups take advantage of the opportunity.
Federal funds for violence prevention
Akron, Ohio, is among cities planning to use federal stimulus dollars for violence prevention initiatives. Akron Mayor Dan Horrigan said he intended to use “significant resources" from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan (ARP) to combat gun violence.
Keeping out carp
With new funding and approvals, planning and design is moving forward on a long-envisioned, comprehensive project to help block invasive Asian carp from reaching the Great Lakes.