MacArthur announced $240,000 in new grants to help diverse Chicago organizations increase their international connections with four countries. The grants are the third set of awards from the Foundation’s International Connections Fund. Initially established as a one-year, $1 million program scheduled to conclude in March 2009, the Fund has been extended until the end of 2009.
“Chicago is a global city that benefits greatly from interaction between its citizens and organizations and their counterparts outside of the United States” said Foundation President Jonathan Fanton. “MacArthur’s International Connections Fund encourages greater sharing of experiences and international learning.”
The following organizations will receive grants:
- Community Justice for Youth Institute – A grant of $50,000 will help support an exchange between juvenile justice advocates in Chicago and South Africa so they can learn from each other’s strategies to rehabilitate youth offenders.
- Concert Dance, Inc. – A grant of $50,000 will help support an exchange program between the contemporary dance company and the Department of Music and Dance of Nanjing Normal University in China for performances, lectures, and classes.
- Latinos Progresando in partnership with Chicago Youth Boxing Club – A grant of $45,000 will enable youth and staff to visit a rural community in the central state of Guanajuato, Mexico that has been experiencing high levels of emigration. Chicago-area youth will engage members of a youth group in Guanajuato in a theatric exploration of immigration issues through Latinos Progresando’s Teatro Americano theatre group. Youth from Chicago Youth Boxing Club will conduct workshops in boxing, health and fitness, and leadership development, as well as equip a new fitness facility in partnership with the local community.
- Logan Square Neighborhood Association – A grant of $45,000 will support an exchange between parents, artists, and educators in Chicago and in the Mexican states of Veracruz, Mexico, and Hidalgo.
- ShawChicago Theatre Company – A grant of $50,000 will support the organization’s participation in the Annual Selcuk University International Theater Festival in Konya, Turkey in March.
Support from the International Connections Fund is available to nonprofit organizations in the Chicago area that have received a grant within the last three years from MacArthur or through the MacArthur Funds established at the Driehaus Foundation, the Prince Charitable Trusts, or through the New Communities Program directed by LISC/Chicago. Preference is given to those proposals that support a new or expanded program, promote exchanges with one of MacArthur’s focus countries (China, India, Mexico, Nigeria, and Russia), enhance or complement other work supported by the Foundation, and require funding that the organization may not otherwise be able to generate. The next round of grants will be awarded in April; proposals are due by February 1.
