The Together We Heal Creative Place Program (CPP) recognizes the importance of the arts in promoting health, healing, and safety for communities. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the systemic racism in Chicago’s economic and public health system that created the underlying conditions of low-income communities experiencing a disproportionate rate of infections and mortality.
Donor Name: Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE)
State: Illinois
City: Chicago
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 07/20/2022
Size of the Grant: $25,000 – $500,000
Details:
Together We Heal began the Year of Healing 2022 which aims to advance three core goals: (1) Reflect on their past – Seeking to educate and engage about past and present racial injustices and structures of racial inequality; (2) Reclaim their present – Seeking to bring community members together to identify lessons learned of the past that will inform new values and norms that shift power; and (3) Reimagine their future – Seeking to vision a more inclusive future state and design policies and practices that produce and sustain more equitable outcomes.
This program is part of the Chicago Recovery Plan, the City’s plan to amplify once-in-a-generation federal funding to create an equity-based investment strategy to catalyze a sustainable economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Required Project Components
To be considered for funding, projects must be place-based and must meet the following criteria:
- All project work and programming must be free to the public.
- All projects must have a robust community engagement plan or strategy that outlines how residents, businesses and other local stakeholders will contribute to the vision and development of the project.
- Projects should also result in a tangible physical improvement to a publicly accessible space like a plaza, park, vacant lot, or other underutilized community space.
- For cultural programs that will happen in multiple neighborhoods, a tangible physical improvement is not a required component.
Other Considerations:
- Applicants are encouraged (but not required) to consider other elements in their program design:
- Preservation of local cultural assets and sites of memory that protect the histories, relationships, and impacts of local heritage and culture keeping practices
- Cross Sector Initiatives including partnerships with organizations and agencies focused on housing, environment, immigration, public safety, health, youth development, transit, etc. that activate the arts alongside other quality of life issues and sectors to propose creative solutions benefitting communities.
Funding Information
Grant requests can range from $25,000 – $500,000 across two funding tiers:
- Activation Grants: $25,000 and $45,000 grants for neighborhood-focused projects such as walking or bike tours or performances and other activations that may result in temporary or permanent changes to the built environment or physical character of a place
- Transformation Grants: $100,000, $250,000 and $500,000 grants represent substantial community projects that are ready for full implementation with the necessary partners, community support, and funding to complete and result in a transformative physical improvement
Grant Distribution: The total number of grants to be awarded at each level are as follows:
- Activation Grants: 20 – 30
- Transformation Grants: up to 20
Eligibility Criteria
Only one application submission per collaborative pair (i.e., artist and community collaborator) will be accepted. To be eligible to apply, partner applicants must meet the following criteria:
- Must reside in the city of Chicago with a valid street address.
- Must reside in or show evidence of significant connection to the neighborhood/community area where the project will take place. It is preferred, but not required, that at least one member of the collaborative pair be a current resident of the neighborhood where the proposed project will take place.
- Must be at least 18 years of age.
- One of the partner applicants must be a nonprofit or the partner applicants must select a nonprofit fiscal sponsor. Fiscal sponsors must submit a copy of the signed agreement with the grantee as part of the contract paperwork.
- Projects must take place in a qualified location. The City will work with applicants to identify alternative locations if necessary due to American Rescue Plan requirements.
- The following entities may apply:
- Individual artists, cultural producers, or curators.
- Individuals/collectives applying with a nonprofit fiscal sponsor with 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) status.
- Any nonprofit organization, Special Service Area (SSAs) or Chamber of Commerce with 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(6) status, including religious institutions that provide significant services to the community that are non-religious in nature.
- National nonprofit organizations with a Chicago branch.
The following entities cannot be listed as one of the lead applicants on a proposal. However, collaborations with these entities are welcome.
- For-profit organizations.
- Municipal departments and their affiliate 501c3s, including libraries, parks, transit, and family services agencies
- Organizations and individuals receiving other forms of DCASE support remain eligible to apply; however, priority will be given to those not receiving other DCASE support.
For more information, visit DCASE.
