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

We the People of Detroit
We the People of Detroit is a grantee partner of Joyce’s Environment Program. Learn more about the organization here.

They Got NEXT — Chicago Sinfonietta Celebrates 35 Years
During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Chicago Sinfonietta, like so many organizations, was forced to reimagine itself, pivoting programming and performances to a fully virtual space.
Grantee
Chicago Sinfonietta

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
All Insights
-
Content Type
-
Programs
Lightfoot expands year-old program aimed at bridging digital divide
One year after launch, Chicago Connected will expand to continue to high-speed internet service to students in Chicago. The Joyce Foundation supported the launch of the program in June 2020.
Source
Chicago Sun-Times
New leadership for Joyce’s Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform program
Nina Vinik will be stepping down as director of the Joyce Foundation’s Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform program at the end of June. Her successor is Tim Daly, currently the senior program officer overseeing Joyce’s gun-policy portfolio.
A conversation with 2021 Joyce Award recipients
2021 Joyce Awards winners together for the first time discuss their projects– four impactful collaborations spanning the visual, performing, and multidisciplinary arts that engage diverse communities in Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee.
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.
Joyce “going long with new, longer 5-year plan”
Inside Philanthropy explores the Foundation’s longer new strategy, and what’s behind it.
Who bought guns during the pandemic
Foundation-funded research is turning a spotlight on a protracted gun-buying surge by Americans, which accelerated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.

Foundation’s Cisar to advise EPA on water
The Foundation is excited to announce that Elizabeth Cisar, co-director of our Environment program, has been invited to serve for a year as a senior advisor in the Office of Water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

2021 Joyce Awards Announcement
Announcing the winners of the 2021 Joyce Awards! Four impactful collaborations between BIPOC artists and organizations spanning the visual, performing, and multidisciplinary arts that engage diverse communities in Chicago, Cleveland, and Milwaukee.
Sanford Biggers unveils monolithic sculpture at Rockefeller Plaza
The work is part of a campus-wide exhibition exploring themes around European and African mythologies.
Source
The Art Newspaper
Grantee
2015 Joyce Awards recipient Sanford Biggers
COVID, George Floyd spur $250 million Joyce pledge
The foundation said today that it has committed the money over five years for racial equity and economic mobility.
Source
Crain's Chicago Business
Behind Our New Strategy
The Foundation has launched a new grant-making strategy through 2025 for its programs in Culture, Democracy, Education & Economic Mobility, the Environment, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, and Journalism.

For 25 years, building the case for keeping us safe
For more than a quarter century, researchers at Johns Hopkins University have built a global reputation for pursuing data and policy to reduce gun violence. The team marked its 25th anniversary this year in 2021.
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.