RDLF News: Issue 4

Welcome to Issue 4! In this newsletter you'll find what our staff has been up to in the community, amazing recent accomplishments by our partners, and some opportunities for organizations and individuals.

Foundation Updates

Who is Elgin-Bokari Smith?

Sabrina Boggs, Admin and Comms Coordinator at RDLF, recently interviewed Elgin-Bokari Smith about the long history and recent rebirth of Stomping Grounds Literary Arts Initiative (SGLAI). In addition to being the organization’s Artistic & Executive Director, he is also the Co-Creator of Pocket Con, the President of Elephant Rebellion, and a 2018 3Arts Awardee.

When asked what he wants the the world to know about SGLAI, Elgin said, "We are continuing work from an organization that’s been around for over 20 years now, but this is a brand new organization, and I’m treating it as such. It’s about what we’re doing now. It’s about the work that young people are gonna make from this point forward."

Read the full interview here.

Onward House Community Health Fair

On August 5th, Onward Neighborhood House hosted their third annual Community Health Fair. It was a rainy day, but that didn’t stop over 800 individuals and families from visiting the fair, making it the largest event in their 129-year history. Nearly 30 local organizations participated to provide services like health screenings, vaccines, yoga, Zumba, haircuts, clothing, and school supplies, and the Reva and David Logan Foundation (RDLF) provided 8000 pounds of fresh produce.?

The RDLF began their relationship with Onward House in 2021, when program officers Lyle Allen and Jessie Mott visited one of their food giveaways. They recall that Onward House was bursting at the seams, maximizing every single inch of their 9,735 sqft building. We had no doubt they would be able to do even more if they had a larger space, so we provided a 31,000 sqft building in the Belmont Cragin neighborhood for their expanding operations. The RDLF continues to provide in-kind donations to Onward House – produce for their food popups, as well as winter weather wear and personal care items.?

Read the full article here.

Grantee & Partner Highlights

Reveal from Center of Investigative Reporting

One of the longstanding organizations in the Foundation’s journalism portfolio and undeniably one of the best non-profit newsrooms in the country, Reveal,?from the Center of Investigative Reporting, recently won 3?National Edward R. Murrow Awards.?

• Investigative News: The Ballot Boogeymen
• News Documentary: My Neighbor the Suspected War Criminal
• Excellence in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion: Locked Up: The Prison Labor That Built Business Empires ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

The awards include homegrown investigations, an original partnership with the AP, and continuing coverage pulling from multiple hour-long episodes with both staff and freelance reporters.

This is a huge haul of awards for any newsroom but even more significant in a newsroom of this size. For comparison, NPR earned three awards this year. “This American Life” and American Public Media each earned one.

If you haven’t listened to Reveal before, it’s time to start. The investigations always “go deep” and cover a wide range of topics and interest areas.?Find out more about Reveal here.

One Million Experiments Film Premiere Party

One Million Experiments is a film exploring how we define and create wellness and reduce harm in a world without police and prisons. This Saturday, September 2nd, there will be a 10PM premiere screening of the film, live performances from Senite, Damon A. Williams, DJ Selah Says and DJ Empathy, and abundant celebration.

One Million Experiments is a project of Respair Production & Media, Interrupting Criminalization, and our grantee SoapBox Productions and Organizing .

This event is free and is 21+, due to restrictions of the venue. RSVP here.

Ending Disease Documentary

Ending Disease, a four-part documentary that follows patients and their doctors in the first generation of FDA-approved clinical trials for stem cell, CAR-T cell, and antibody therapies, is now available to watch online. The film received $50k in finishing funds from the RDLF in 2018.

More and more wins

Our partners have been absolutely killing the game this month:

• Miriam Goldberg Owens from The People's Music School was announced as one of 45 Signature Fellows of Leadership Greater Chicago
• The Logan Center and several of our grantees were recognized in the New York Times for the Chicago Black Dance Legacy Project initiative
• Dion Dawson , OTV | Open Television , Foster Progress , and El Tímpano each won an NBCUniversal Local Impact Grant
• Wisconsin Watch , Searchlight New Mexico , Center for Public Integrity , Cicero Independiente, Sahan Journal , and San Francisco Public Press each won an INNY

Grant Opportunities

Here are three opportunities from the City of Chicago that might benefit nonprofit organizations that are in the performing arts, that need funds for capital improvements, or that need to build capacity, respectively.

• DCASE Performing Arts Music, Dance and Theater Programming Submissions 2024?
• City of Chicago Small Business Improvement Fund
• City of Chicago Nonprofit Capacity Building

Job Opportunities

Here are some recently posted job opportunities from some of our partners.

• Illinois Prison Project : Director of Policy & Communications, Supervising Staff Attorney
• inewsource : Executive Director
• Covenant House Illinois : Chief Program Officer
• Youth Crossroads, Inc. : Community Counselor, School Based Counselor

Thanks for reading! If you are an RDLF partner and you would like to see your event, job opening, etc. in our next newsletter, please reach out to sabrina(at)loganfdn(dot)org. And don't forget to hit + Subscribe!