2021 Funding Announcement
Bright Star Community Outreach (BSCO) is excited to share the news of an award we received from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Nearly 4 years ago, BSCO and other community organizations were awarded grants from MacArthur to support work in our various communities. Since the award, BSCO has been ensuring that, programming and capacity in Greater Bronzeville is being strengthened.
As convener and not competitor, in 2019 BSCO awarded $208,000 of the $1 Million Dollar grant that we received and committed to give away a total of $624,000 in two (2) grant cycles. The current Request For Proposal (RFP) is now available for Community Grants that will be awarded in December 2021. We will provide two opportunities for the community to gain additional information on the application process as well as the Greater Bronzeville Community Action Plan that is the framework for the grant proposals through informational sessions. Both sessions will take place on Friday, November 12th one at 9 AM and one at 1 PM. Follow this link to register and to receive information for this virtual session.
As a part of the application process, community organizations will be invited to participate in capacity building seminars. BSCO has listened to those of you who attend our 2019 capacity building seminars and have partnered with experts in Youth Engagement, Diversity & Inclusion and IT / Technical Management. These partners include, but are not limited to: School of Social Service Administration at the University of Chicago (CCYVP), Chicago Community Trust, Forefront and United Way of Metropolitan Chicago. These seminars are available to any community partner in an effort to provide support whether they submit a full Request for Proposal or not. join us for our first capacity building seminar, to be held virtually on Monday, November 15th from 4:00 - 6:00 PM. You can register here.
As we consider the work that we will embark upon in the future, we are encouraged by a quote by Cesar Chaves. “We cannot seek achievement for ourselves and forget about progress and prosperity for our community... Our ambitions must be broad enough to include the aspirations and needs of others, for their sake and for our own.” BSCO endeavors to embody these words. We desire to intentionally build up the Greater Bronzeville Community and beyond by providing financial support, in-kind resources as well as relationships and connections to additional funding opportunities.
We are thankful for MacArthur’s contribution that is allowing us to begin making grants in our community. We are convinced funders in the philanthropic and corporate communities are seeking to make local impact through collaborative partnerships. We envision MacArthur’s support as the beginning of an abundance of resources that will be used to support the residents within our reach.
In His Service,
Pastor Chris Harris