Roy Flowers started his boxing club in 2021 in the hopes of creating healthy, supportive spaces for the youth in his community. “I just wanted to be the mentor that I wish I had.”

For many transgender people, finding an affirming place where they can simply be themselves isn’t something they take for granted. As transgender identities continue to be the subject of political and legal debates across the country, organizations like Brave Space Alliance say the demand for their services remains constant.

The grants come as thousands of Illinoisans are losing access to federal food assistance, placing more strain in local food pantries.

In an effort to combat suicide trends, two community-led organizations in Chicago — No Kids Die in the Chi and Soul Survivors of Chicago — are working to intervene early and provide young people with culturally grounded support.

Jess Michaels and Jena-Lisa Jones, survivors of abuse by late sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein, said that while Epstein survivors are still far from getting justice, they hope the increased attention on the Epstein Files — and the stories of survivors – will help others stand up to abuse happening in their own communities.

Not many Chicagoans can say they’ve lived in each of the city’s 77 community areas. But Jahmal Cole, CEO and founder of the nonprofit My Block, My Hood, My City, is looking to do just that.

According to a 2025 report by the University of Illinois Chicago Great Cities Institute, Latinos make up about 30% of the city and the majority of CPS students, yet only around 6% of philanthropic arts funding is directed toward Latino arts.

The Ravenswood shop isn’t just fixing cars — it’s working to fix an industry-wide gender gap. Founder Lisa Thompson said women make up just 2% of auto mechanics nationwide.

Quilen Blackwell, whose nonprofit Southside Blooms transforms vacant lots on Chicago’s South Side into flower farms that employ at-risk young people, is the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year.

The number of fundraisers started to help cover essential expenses such as rent, utilities and groceries jumped 20%, according to the company’s 2025 review, after already quadrupling last year. “Monthly bills” were the second fastest-growing category behind individual support for nonprofits.

Quilen Blackwell, whose nonprofit transforms vacant lots on Chicago’s South Side into flower farms that employ at-risk young people to grow, arrange and sell the flowers, is the 2025 CNN Hero of the Year.

OnLight Aurora, a city-supported nonprofit, aims to provide high speed internet to the west suburban community’s institutions, businesses and residents. It’s also in massive debt, with a long history of questionable expenditures.

Dozens of young women and girls from across the city filled the Kehrein Center for the Arts on Saturday as they gathered for the 14th annual Chicago Day of the Girl to celebrate the creativity, confidence and sisterhood.

Arts of Life is a place where creative people with intellectual and developmental disabilities produce works of art and earn an income. Now their colorful work fills the gallery at the Design Museum of Chicago in a group exhibition called “Community on the Make: Arts of Life 2000-2025.”

Nonprofit organizations around the country are under stress. They’ve seen cuts to their funding from the federal government — but the community needs they try to meet are more pressing than ever.

Most of the funding went to organizations outside the Chicago metro area. Nonprofit outlets received 30% of the money. The vast majority of news organizations in Illinois are for-profit.