HEALING ILLINOIS: Building a bridge to a racially equitable Illinois

Healing Illinois is a racial healing initiative led by the Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), in partnership with The Chicago Community Trust, designed to distribute $4.5 million in grants to organizations across the state to activate the work of racial healing.

Healing Illinois grants will fund programs in four areas:

  • Promoting Dialogue: conversations to build understanding and empathy
  • Encouraging Collaboration: activities that bring people together in-person or virtually to connect, act together on a project or idea
  • Facilitating Learning: activities designed to build or enhance knowledge
  • Seeding Connection: racial healing circles, peace circles or restorative justice activities

There are many ways to address racial disparities. Healing Illinois is a call to action we can initiate right now, and every Illinois resident can be involved. Healing Illinois is a step toward the larger mission of fighting poverty and ending racial inequality for all Illinoisans.

We invite all organizations interested in working on racial healing to consider applying. If your organization is not eligible to apply for a grant, there are opportunities to work with intermediary organizations. Please contact us at healingil@cct.org for more info.

COVID-19

All projects must be able to follow the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) health and safety guidelines related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Application Tools

Contact Information

Healing Illinois email: healingil@cct.org