Eight community-rooted leaders who are artists, journalists, storytellers, and organizers received the Leaders for a New Chicago award. This year, the Field Foundation in partnership with MacArthur doubled the no-strings-attached award to individuals to $50,000, with an additional $25,000 general operating grant for the leaders’ affiliated organizations.
Now in its seventh year, this initiative underscores a deep belief in the vision, creativity, and power of individuals who are redefining civic leadership and shaping a more equitable Chicago. Selected by their peers for driving change in areas ranging from the arts, journalism and storytelling, and justice—these Leaders for a New Chicago break through traditional power structures to reimagine our city’s future in new ways.
2025 Leaders for a New Chicago
Jhmira Alexander, President and Executive Director, Public Narrative
Enneréssa LaNette Davis, Founder and CEO, Praize Productions, Inc.
Alice Kim, Founding Director, Beyond Prisons Initiative at the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture
Cheryl Miller, Health Justice Organizer, Southside Together
Andrea Ortiz, Organizing Director, Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
Nissa Rhee, Co-Founder and Executive Director, Borderless Magazine
Dave Spencer, Co-Executive Director, American Indian Center
Hac Tran, Co-Founder, HAIBAYÔ
