Joyce Foundation awards $14.2 million in grants to reduce gun violence, broaden educational and economic opportunity, achieve cleaner air and water in Great Lakes

Strengthening democracy and supporting artists of color and community arts programs also focus of Chicago foundation's spring grant making

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The Joyce Foundation

May 01, 2018, 04:42 ET

CHICAGO, May 1, 2018 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Joyce Foundation has awarded grants of $14.2 million in its latest round of grant making, the first since refocusing its funding priorities on advancing racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes region. The grants support policy research, development, and advocacy to help reduce gun violence, broaden educational and economic opportunity, and achieve cleaner air and water.

Joyce also is investing in organizations working to strengthen American democracy, as well as artists, organizations, and communities traditionally underrepresented in Chicago's cultural landscape. The following are selected grants among 60 approved at the April 25 meeting of the Joyce Board of Directors:

Education & Economic Mobility: $4.2 million (16 grants)
The Education and Economic Mobility Program works to ensure equitable access to high-quality education and jobs for the region's next generation, especially young people of color and those from low-income communities. Three grants support the program's goal of improving the quality of teachers and principals through policies focused on educator preparation, building career ladders for teachers, and raising the voice of teachers: Stand for Children-Indiana ($300,000, 2 yrs); Ed Allies of Minnesota ($435,000, 2 yrs); and The Aspen Institute, $450,000, 2 yrs). Nine grants support policies in college access, readiness, and completion, including: the Ohio Association of Community Colleges ($200,000, 2 yrs); the Institute for College Access and Success ($250,000, 1 yr); and the Education Trust ($500,000, 2 yrs). The Education Trust will convene coalitions in Illinois and Ohio to help build policy agendas around equity in higher education, including low-income and minority student access at public flagship institutions.

Environment: $3.5 million (13 grants)
The Joyce Environment Program supports science-based policy to address two critical long-term environmental goals: accelerating the transition to clean energy and ensuring the next generation will have clean water from lake to tap. Grants to the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance ($280,000, 2 yrs) and Ceres, Inc. ($480,000, 3 yrs) will support ongoing implementation of major clean energy legislation in Midwest states.

On the water side, Human Impact Partners received a grant ($110,000, 1 year) to conduct a health equity analysis of policies to prevent lead exposure in drinking water; and the National Parks Conservation Association ($600,000, 2 yrs) was awarded a grant to support ongoing advancement of federal Great Lakes policies such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform Program: $3.2 million (12 grants)
Approved funding includes grants to support policy advocacy in Great Lakes states, and for research to inform gun violence prevention policy and practice. The University of Texas at Austin ($308,277, 18 mos) will study college students' attitudes and awareness about gun violence, to inform efforts to reduce the next generation's exposure to gun violence. SocialSphere of Cambridge, MA ($265,000, 6 mos) will conduct public opinion research into attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors of the "Columbine Generation" (15-29) around guns and gun policy. The American College of Preventive Medicine ($190,000, 1 yr) will increase awareness of and support for the National Violent Death Reporting System to protect increased funding approved earlier this year for this vital repository of state-level data that informs violence prevention policies.

Democracy Program: $1.5 million (8 grants)
The Joyce Democracy Program seeks an informed, engaged, and representative democracy through fair elections and vibrant public-interest journalism. In its Fair Elections focus area, it invests in expanded access to the ballot, an end to partisan gerrymandering, and an accurate count in the 2020 census. Media grants support public-interest journalism that informs voting and policy making and holds government accountable. Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago ($150,000, 2 yrs) will work to protect the Asian-American community's right to vote and help empower it to create change; and a grant to the Illinois PIRG Education Fund ($150,000, 2 yrs) will support its program to promote democratic reforms, increase civic engagement, and train the next generation of leaders. Media grants were awarded to ProPublica Illinois ($400,000, 2 yrs) for its accountability journalism; Trace Media ($300,000, 2 yrs) for reporting on gun violence in the Great Lakes region; and City Bureau ($75,000, 1 yrs) to support its Civic Reporting Program, aimed at increasing coverage of Chicago's South and West sides.

Culture Program: $1.2 million (10 grants)
Grants recently awarded in the Culture Program address gaps in Chicago's cultural landscape, providing capacity-building tools for artists and arts organizations and expanding access to the arts for the next generation. A grant to the Chicago Artists Coalition ($225,000, 3 yrs) will support establishment of a pilot micro-grant program providing a new source of funding for individual artists, which was called for in Chicago's 2012 Cultural Plan. A grant to Free Street Theater ($75,000, 1 yr) will continue operations of The Storyfront, an innovative theater initiative and space set in Chicago's largely Latino Back of the Yards neighborhood. Originally launched as part of the organization's Joyce Award-winning commission of playwright, Ricardo Gamboa in 2017, The Storyfront addresses the critical need for more community-based theater venues on the city's south and west sides. Joyce also will become an inaugural funder of the newly created Teen Arts Pass with a grant to the Urban Gateways Center for Arts Education ($50,000, 1 yr). The program will provide deeply discounted tickets to some of Chicago's most respected arts presenters for 13- to 19-year olds and accompanying adults.

The Joyce Foundation is a nonpartisan, private foundation that invests in public policies and strategies to advance racial equity and economic mobility for the next generation in the Great Lakes states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin. It awards grants in five program areas: Education & Economic Mobility, Environment, Gun Violence Prevention & Justice Reform, Democracy, and Culture. The Chicago-based foundation was established in 1948 by Beatrice Joyce Kean, sole heir to a Clinton, Iowa family that built its wealth in lumber and related businesses. The Joyce Foundation has budgeted 2018 charitable disbursements of $50 million on assets of approximately $1 billion. For further information, please visit www.JoyceFdn.org, or follow us on Twitter or Facebook.