In 2026, The Siragusa Family Foundation embarked on a two-year participatory grantmaking effort that seeks to support efforts to address community violence on the south and west sides of Chicago. This work is guided by a nine-member community advisory group titled, The Investing in Movements for Prevention and Action for Community Transformation (I.M.P.A.C.T) Council. The Council consists of artists, policy experts, youth advocates, social workers, and community psychologists.

The I.M.P.A.C.T Council believes community violence is not only physical harm. It is also the intentional use of force, power, and systemic inequities such as poverty, racism, disinvestment, and exclusion that cause harm by undermining the safety, dignity, well-being, and connection of individuals or communities. Community violence is normalized by the absence of addressing it when seen or experienced. We also believe that solutions to address these conditions should be care-centered/human-centered and grounded in supporting an individual’s stability and connection.

The I.M.P.A.C.T Council seeks to strengthen protective factors, increase opportunity, foster belonging, and support community-driven solutions that address the conditions contributing to violence while helping communities build safer, healthier, and more connected futures. With these themes in mind, we seek applications from organizations whose work is aligned with at least one of the following focus areas:

Arts and Culture: We seek to support organizations and programs that use creativity or cultural expression to help people process deep emotional pain/grief and to recover from systemic and historic community trauma.

Community Connections: We support efforts that intentionally bring neighbors together to build trust, wellness, address shared concerns, identify solutions that lead to action(s) related to eliminating community violence, and ultimately transforms into a safer community committed to supporting pathways to peace.

Power Building: We support resident-led organizing that builds leadership, civic engagement, and collective power to address neighborhood issues that decrease community violence and take action toward solutions.

Community
A community is one where there is a sense of purpose and shared consequences, geography, history, identities, interests, investments, disinvestments, and disenfranchisement that are collectively experienced.

Black People/Blackness
Black people are not monolithic and represent a broad and diverse spectrum of physiological, geographical, cultural, and political traits and histories. We define Black and Blackness as people of African descent, many of whom were moved to specific regions in the world through the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

Latine People
Latine people are not monolithic and represent a broad and diverse spectrum of physiological, geographical, cultural, and political traits and histories. We define Latine people as individuals from Latin America.

Black/Latine serving
Those that serve individuals from predominantly Black and Latine communities or whose total number of program participants are predominately Black or Latine.

Eligible applicants:

• Are those that are Black or Latine-serving, responsive to and rooted in Chicago communities primarily on the west and south sides or where there are Black or Latine people primarily, and whose work aligns with at least one of the three focus areas.
• Are encouraged to collaborate and design for and with the community/neighborhood.
• Previous and current fiscal year organizational budgets must be less than $1,000,000. If your organization does not have its own 501(c) 3, please provide information for your fiscal sponsor.
• Grant recipients cannot use these funds for lobbying, for profit businesses, individuals, contributions to political candidates, research, capital support, or scholarships.

Please note: Grant recipients in The Siragusa Family Foundation’s other grant programs are not eligible to apply.

Types of support:

• Funding can support the main mission of your organization if you are in the community violence ecosystem, or
• New or existing programs that align with one of the three focus areas listed above

Grant term and grant amounts:

• Grant award amounts will range between $5,000 and $20,000
• Grants are for one year
• An organization may only submit one request for funding per year

Step 1: Go to The Siragusa Family Foundation Portal to create an account. You will need an EIN (TAX ID) number to register. If you do not have an EIN number and you will require a fiscal sponsor, please enter 00-0000000 in the EIN field during the online registration process.

Step 2: Gather the following documents as you will need them to either answer a question or to upload them with your application in The Siragusa Family Foundation Portal:

• Organization’s address, phone number, and website, if applicable
• Name and contact information for the organization’s Executive Director/CEO
• Name, title, phone number, and email address for the person who is the primary contact for the grant application submission
• Copy of the organization’s logo, if available
• Applicant’s operating budget (revenue and expenses)
• Applicant’s previous year’s operating budget (revenue and expenses)
• Program budget (revenue and expenses), if applicable
• A photo that captures the essence of your organization or its program(s) (jpeg)

Step 3: If you are applying with the assistance of a fiscal sponsor (Fiscal Sponsorship*), please know that we will need documentation confirming the fiscal sponsorship arrangement between them and your organization as the sponsored project/organization. For more details, see the application itself or contact us with clarifying questions.

*A fiscal sponsorship relationship confers the sponsor’s 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status and certain administrative benefits onto a charitable project so that it can receive grants and tax-deductible contributions that it would otherwise be unable to receive.

Request for support
Provide concise responses to the following in the specific fields in The Siragusa Family Foundation Portal:

• What is the grant amount you are seeking?
• Are you seeking general operating support or program support?
• Which of the three focus areas aligns most with your organization or the project you are applying for (see Background/Focus Areas Section of the RFP for more details)?
  A. Arts and Culture
  B. Community Connections
  C. Power Building
• Project budget (if applicable)

Proposal Narrative
Please submit your responses to the following questions:

• How does the focus area you selected align with your mission/program(s)?
• How does your work and/or project effectively address community violence? Please be as specific as possible.
• How are you serving Black and/or Latine people and communities?
• What impact do you foresee this grant having on your organization/project and the people served?
• How does your organization intentionally include voices and communities that are often excluded from decision-making?

A recording from the September 29, 2026 virtual information session is available here.

You can view a copy of the Request for Proposals (RFP) here.

These responses include questions submitted in advance of the information session.

Is the $1M operating budget rule set in stone? Or is there leniency?
Given that this is a very small grant program, we will have to honor the criteria outlined in the request for proposal. There will be no exceptions made.

To what extent is the funder open to proposals that focus on organizing against violent systems like police and ICE?
This is a new request for proposal and initiative; thus, it is hard to know fully how the Council will react to the various perspectives on/interpretations of community intervention. As you will see by our definition of community violence (see paragraph 2 of the rfp), we believe that this issue is rooted in systemic practices and inequities. With that said, any proposed power building strategy must have at least two elements: 1) it must be resident-led and 2) it must be anchored in a specific solution.

How do I get an invite?
This an open application process. Any organization that meets the guideline is welcomed to apply by the October 26 deadline.

Can first time applicants apply?
As this is a new initiative and the first time we are issuing a rfp, everyone will be a first-time applicant.

Is this opportunity only for Chicago?
Yes, and more specifically, organizations that are Black or Latine-serving and responsive to and rooted in Chicago communities primarily on the west and south sides or where there are Black or Latine people primarily.

Can youth mentorship programs apply for the RFP?
Based on the three focus areas of arts and culture, community connections, and power building and the explanations for what is likely to be funded under each, it is not as clear how youth mentorship would align with these priorities.

Would funding be eligible to support reasonable compensation for our program staff, youth transportation, and stipends for teens?
Yes, if those line alignments are aligned with the program activities that are outlined in your application. As a reminder our largest grant that can be made is for $20,000.

Are collaborative proposals valued?
The Council welcomes collaborative proposals and is especially interested in supporting organizations that work directly with the community to develop a specific program/intervention for the community.

Does the Chicago Pre-College Science and Engineering Program qualify with its focus on “increasing opportunity”?
Based on the three focus areas of arts and culture, community connections, and power building and the explanations for what is likely to be funded under each, it is not as clear how a Pre-College Science and Engineering Program would align with these priorities.

Under the Community Connections focus area, would a youth-development program that intentionally builds belonging, trusted adult and peer relationships, wellness, opportunity exposure, and stronger community connections qualify even if the organization is not primarily identified as a traditional violence-prevention organization?
There are two factors to consider when thinking about the community connections program area. First, was this endeavor specifically sought out by the community? Second, what long-term solution is this effort seeking to solve for?

For program-support requests, is there a preference for supporting an existing program versus a newer program or expansion of an existing program?
Currently, we have no preference for new versus existing programs. Our focus will be on community desire and long-term impact.

Please feel free to contact us if you have further questions or require assistance.