A total of $4.3 million was given to hundreds of Illinois organizations to help with a certain type of community bonding.
The Healing Illinois grants help nonprofits with projects that focus on racial healing.
Maritza Bandera, the project lead for the Healing Illinois initiative, said this grant cycle will focus three things.
“Healing through dialog," she said, "which is a lot of community building, or projects where residents come together to have conversations and connect with one another. Healing through storytelling, and then the last one was healing through place.”
She said healing through place will focus on how forest preserves, parks, historic buildings and other spaces are looked at.
Bandera said they will also offer technical help to the organizations. This would include helping with reports, and other required tasks.
Malik Joseph is an account executive at Rudd Resources, a communication agency. He said organizations will get help with media relations and social media.
“We provide our own kind of template for them to talk about their program," he said, "and relate it back to the overall initiative as well. As you know, it just helps us, document who exactly is covering and what kind of coverages they get across the state.”
He said this ensures each organization has similar talking points when speaking about the initiative.
The Healing Illinois initiative started in 2021. It’s made possible by the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Field Foundation.
Nearly 200 organizations received funds for the 2025/2026 cycle. Some local ones include Elgin’s Side Street Studio Arts, Rock Valley College and Freeport’s Hope Haven. Here’s the complete list.
