The holiday season is approaching. Yes, it’s a time for showering our friends and family in gifts and love, but it’s also a time to give back and pour into the people and communities that don’t often get the support they need throughout the year.
For #GivingTuesday this year, consider donating to some of Chicago’s Black-led organizations that routinely support our underserved communities in need of food shelters, housing and more.
Since its start in 2012, #GivingTuesday has grown into a worldwide philanthropic event where people lend their support to organizations and causes that work to ensure that communities worldwide thrive.
#GivingTuesday is on Nov. 30 this year. There are an endless number of Black organizations to support in Chicago; too many for us to name here. But, we did our best to list out 10 Black Chicago organizations to support this #GivingTuesday and beyond.
Website: https://www.affinity95.org/
Phone: (773) 324-0377
Location: 2850 S Wabash Ave Suite 108, Chicago, IL 60616
For the last 25 years, Affinity Community Services, a Black-led, queer-led organization on Chicago’s South Side, has been dedicated to social justice in Black LGBTQ+ communities. The organization supports education, wellness and safety, advocacy, organizing and civic engagement.
Website: https://www.bravespacealliance.org/
Phone: 872-333-5199
Location: 1515 E 52nd Place, Chicago, IL 60615
Brave Space Alliance is the first Black-led and trans-led LGBTQ+ Center on Chicago’s south side, and its mission is to create and provide affirming resources, programming and services for the LGBTQ+ community on the South and West sides. In addition, the organization has a food pantry and food delivery program, emergency housing relief and relief funds for trans people of color.
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Website: chigivesback.com
Phone: 708-628-8709
Email: contact@chigivesback.com
Location: Chicago, IL 60601
ChiGivesBack is a non-profit that’s all about paying it forward to those in need. ChiGivesBack hosts an annual toy drive, the “Chicagoland Toy Drive,” to collect gifts for children in the Chicago area. ChiGivesBack is keeping the tradition going this year. Details about this year’s Chicagoland Toy Drive can be found: here.
Website: https://www.youngblackandlit.org/
Email: info@youngblackandlit.org
Location: Chicago, IL
Young, Black & Lit is a nonprofit organization dedicated to increasing access to children’s books that center, reflect and affirm Black children. Young, Black & Lit offers programming that focuses on providing free, new books to students in pre-K through eighth grade.
Website: https://www.chifreshkitchen.com
Phone: 773-595-1044
Location: 135 N. Kedzie Ave, Chicago, IL 60612
ChiFresh Kitchen is a cooperatively Black-owned food service and contracting business founded and managed by formerly incarcerated women. The organization makes fresh and healthy meals, and works with other community organizations to distribute meals to children, seniors, nonprofits and other residents. A partnership with Urban Growers Collective also helps with preparing and delivering meals to those in need. Additionally, ChiFresh Kitchen makes hundreds of meals weekly for people dealing with food insecurity on the South and West sides.
Website: https://www.johnwaltfoundation.org/
Location: Chicago, IL
The John Walt Foundation is a nonprofit organization that empowers youth and supports young people in Chicago interested in the arts. JWF was formed after the death of Pivot Gang rapper John Walt. JWF has been a source of support for communities on the West side by hosting food drives in neighborhoods like Austin that are considered food deserts and school supply giveaways for school-age children in need.
Website: http://stonetemplechurch.org
Phone: (773) 762-0013
Location: 3622 West Douglas Boulevard Chicago, IL 60623
On the West Side, Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church provides free soup to West Siders in need every Monday through its Soup For the Soul, a collaborative program with other neighborhood groups in North Lawndale. In addition, Stone Temple has a Love Fridge situated right outside the church and accepts fresh fruits, vegetables, and meat to place in the fridge. The Love Fridge is open 24/7.
Website: https://dionschicagodream.com/
Phone: (312) 509-4909
Location: Chicago, IL
Dion’s Chicago Dream is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to create financial, physical and emotional stability for community residents by combating food insecurity. Initiatives such as the Dream Fridge, which offers fresh fruits, vegetables, and water, plus its food delivery program, provide community residents with access to fresh foods.
Website: https://chicagolanddpocc.wordpress.com/
Location: Chicago, IL
Contact: chicagolanddpocc@gmail.com
DPOCC was founded in 2018 by T.J. Gordon, Jr. and Jae Jin Pak, the Chicagoland Disabled People of Color Coalition unifies disabled, autistic, Deaf, and neurodivergent people of color while also encouraging them to have pride in being disabled people of color and helping them in developing advocacy skills. DPOCC is sponsored by the Institute on Disability and Harm at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
To donate to DPOCC, visit https://ahs.uic.edu/alumni/give-to-ahs/. Be sure to click on the “UIC Disabled People of Color Coalition (DPOCC) Fund” in the list of funds to donate.
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Website: https://www.blackrootsalliance.org/
Contact: info@blackrootsalliance.org
Location: 5055 S. Prairie Chicago, IL 60615
BlackRoots Alliance was founded in 2015, and the organization’s mission is to support the safety and liberation of all Black people. Black Roots Alliance is dedicated to connecting people to the ballot box so that they can become policy and decision-makers. The organization also champions other causes such as decarceration, police accountability, restorative justice, affordable housing and healthcare, food insecurity, education, employment, and wealth stabilization for Black people.