
Pockets Change's mission is to build intergenerational financial resilience with students, families and educators. Their belief is that financial education is about much more than numbers, it’s a means for self-care and social justice. Through hip hop pedagogy, which focuses on understanding self-identity in relation to the whole, their programs occur in classrooms and communities where learners face individual challenges as well as institutional barriers.
Heart and Soul Design Center (HAS Center) is a 501(c) 3 youth and community based organization designed to be a pillar in the community for resources, programs, and training. Our Mission is to use multimedia and other programming to create a platform to promote education, training, exposure, social advancements, and opportunities. We offer these services with the intention of providing job skills, life-long learning skills, and an overall support network to increase self-confidence.
Making photographs transforms people’s lives. For eight decades, the Josephine Herrick Project (JHP) has done just that. We teach photography to and exhibit work by people from a broad range of under-resourced communities. Our program participants include children in culturally diverse and low-income neighborhoods; immigrant and refugee teens; youth and adults with cognitive, emotional, or physical disabilities; military veterans; vulnerable seniors; and people of all ages living in public housing. We show their photography in public spaces and places, including cafes, libraries, galleries, streets, and parks—both in the communities where they live, study, or work and outside their neighborhoods, where they may draw larger, more diverse audiences to their work.
TA98 is a nonprofit organization that tackles unemployment by providing young adults with meaningful career development. TA98 serves youth of color ages 16-24 who reside in Chicago—with the majority coming from the city’s south, west, and northwest side communities. Through their programs, youth are able to hone in on their interests by creating projects and organizing events that utilize creative skills such as photography, graphic design and digital marketing. They also provide coaching and the safe space necessary for youth to further explore their passions and identities.
STEM Greenhouse’s mission is to grow STEM proficiency in vulnerable children to cultivate education and career success. The organization serves K-12 students, in low-income, minority neighborhoods in Grand Rapids, Michigan and targets schools that lack science teachers or adequate support for STEM education in the classroom. The organization offers a number of programs, including its signature afterschool program, STEM Scholars.
By developing and offering creative educational programs that are inclusive and accessible, and that promote excellence and empower youth to strive toward their highest potential, New Era Creative Space is on a mission to nurture the next generation of visionary thinkers. Through collaboration with a multi-disciplinary team of local organizations, artists and families, New Era Creative Space delivers programs that are creative, experiential, promote problem solving skills, social emotional learning and a sense of citizenship.
The Firehouse Dream provides mentoring in film, photography, social media strategy and brand identity, along with financial wellness workshops and resume and narrative writing within communities that identify as BIPOC located in the Proviso District and Chicago. These mentorships aim to teach the next generation of creatives who have experienced disinvestment to challenge the starving artist narrative and help them know that the industry is thriving yet significantly underrepresented.
Totem Star has become a place for those artists to build life skills in critical thinking through their creative pursuits in music production and performance, communication and collaboration. This creates an environment for young recording artists to thrive in a community that is inclusive and encourages them to learn about music production and performance. The Totem Star Studio program empowers artists to compose and record original songs. The Stage program gives artists an opportunity to perform at open mics that they plan, promote and produce. The Story program is a unique monthly program where youth can attend panels and connect with culturally relevant guest artists and other industry professionals.
Reading Quest's mission is to offer children who are significantly below grade level in reading in the Santa Fe community the opportunity to substantially improve their ability and confidence. Reading Quest does this by providing individual and group tutoring services that are tailored to give the children the best chance to build confidence in themselves socially and academically.
What started as a small after-school program serving 50 students has grown to provide students opportunities far beyond the initial offerings. The programs that Youth Beats offer include animation, film and television training, all taught by accomplished industry professionals. There are also summer programs, giving students yet further opportunity to learn and grow.