The Transformative Power of Shared Experiences

Realizing the vision that we have for our community requires many hands and many voices.

Informing ourselves about the way other people experience the world is the cornerstone of progress. The Acting Up award winners below help Chicagoans engage with and advocate for one another, by designing shared experiences with the power to transform local politics, women’s rights, cross-cultural relations—and even their own backyards.

Chicago Film Screening to End Sexual Harassment

The filmmaker of the documentary “The People’s Girls” will use her award to hold a Chicago premiere on DePaul University’s campus. Women’s rights activists, women’s advocates and other influencers will join a student audience to engage in discourse on social and political strategies to counter sexual harassment, and how women in Egypt are fighting back.

DIVAS in the City

The Digitally Innovative Voices of Advocacy Sisters (DIVAS) program will enable girls aged 11 to 16 from Chicago’s south side to experience the city’s breadth of communities and culture, while engaging with their peers and a wider audience by producing video blogs that document their experiences. The collaboration between Girls Like Me Project, Contexture Media Project, The African Life and The Africa International House will culminate at the African Festival of the Arts, where the youth participants will display their video work.

Indigenous Peoples’ Day Celebration

The Mitchell Museum of the American Indian in Evanston will put their award to work by hosting a day of community engagement and celebration. Their Acting Up prize will help them to plan and promote the event, and to bring in performers for a free day at the museum where the community can come together to discover the heritage and cultures of indigenous people of our region.

Light Up the Night, London Town Houses Co-op

The community of London Town Houses, on Chicago’s southeast side, came up with a simple plan to make their area safer at night: Enlist residents to keep it lit. Their award will fund all the materials and resources to make sure that members of the co-op will have bulbs to keep their courtyards, sidewalks and alleyways brighter and safer.

North Lawndale Youth Summit

This leadership summit for youths to discuss how they can improve their neighborhood will provide guidance to develop their vision. The award will fund the summit event this fall, where they will discuss and develop changes they can make happen through community involvement.

YOUTHink Politics – Chicago

The YOUTHink program was proposed by students on Chicago’s west side to help bring a fresh, youthful voice to political discourse in our community. Their engagement workshop for local high school students presents a non-partisan approach to getting kids involved with politics on the local and state level. The program has already been adopted for use with students in the Champaign-Urbana area; this award will help to fund their first workshop in Chicago this December.