$25,000 In Grants To Be Awarded By Skokie Community Foundation

SKOKIE, IL — The Skokie Community Foundation is accepting applications for grants of up to $10,000 for its 2022 grant cycle. The foundation plans to award $25,000 in grants this year.

Foundation officials want collaborative proposals with two or more organizations collaborating on behalf of Skokie residents, with one of them required to be a nonprofit or government body.

While applicants do not have to be based in Skokie, all proposals must address issues or opportunities for the village and its residents related to the coronavirus pandemic and its aftermath, according to the foundation's request.

Foundation officials plan to give preference to applicants that recognize the racial, social and economic inequalities that were "exposed and exacerbated" by the pandemic, according to the request for proposals.

Proposals should directly address how they are going to help residents with issues like returning to the workplace, and school settings, challenges faced by students from remote learning and dealing with the psychological effects of the pandemic.

Proposals will be accepted until Sept. 8, and foundation officials plan to award several recipients a total of $25,000 in November.

An interfaith music program involving the students from the Muslim Community Center Academy and the Klezmer Music Foundation, substance abuse prevention programming for Niles North High School students and education for middle schoolers and educators were among the last pre-pandemic recipients of the grants, according to the foundation's website.

Last year, village employees contributed more than $19,000 to the foundation amid the coronavirus pandemic. According to a newsletter from village staff, employees took part in golf and miniature golf charity outings and, in September, held a luncheon at a Skokie Fire Department station.

In November, the foundation announced it was distributing $28,000 in grants, including $10,000 to provide free dental, vision and mental health services to uninsured and underinsured students in Skokie School District 69, $8,000 for an Oakton Community College pilot program to provide short-term certificate programs for people out of work due to the pandemic and mental health programs for youth and families.

Founded in 2010 and formerly known as the Skokie Community Fund, the foundation has awarded $175,000 to 34 local grantees since 2015, according to a release.

For the fiscal year ending last June, the foundation received $333,674 in contributions, up from $267,314 the prior year and $47,810 in 2017, according to its most recent public filing.

As of July 2020, the foundation had more than $400,000 in assets, up from less than $220,000 a year earlier.