The annual Crossroads Fund Seeds of Change benefit will honor three groups with awards this year: Invisible Institute, Coalition to Revitalize Walter H. Dyatt High School and Black Youth Project 100. The awards are April 8 at the Chicago Cultural Center, 77 E. Randolph St., Chicago.
The Ron Sable Award for Activism goes to Invisible Institute, a journalistic production company on the South Side of Chicago. Their work to hold public institutions accountable makes them a critical asset for movements. Their Youth/Police project holds space for young Black people to share how their lives are affected by the police presence in their neighborhoods. The newly released Citizens Police Data Project exposes officer misconduct and is a powerful resource for organizations across the city, especially in this movement moment.
The Donald F. Erickson Synapses Award goes to the Coalition to Revitalize Walter H. Dyett High School for their efforts to challenge the privatization of public education engaged students, parents, educators, and community residents. Ultimately, their direct actions successfully pressured Chicago Public Schools and Mayor Emanuel to re-open the doors of Dyett as a public, open-enrollment neighborhood high school. We congratulate them for their victory and applaud the Hunger Strikers in particular for their 34-days of courage and sacrifice.
The Lynda J. Tipton Memorial Award for Social Justice goes to Black Youth Project 100 ( BYP100 ), which speaks to the core of what so many youth of color in Chicago and around the country are experiencing. Their campaigns, Justice for Rekia Boyd, #StopTheCops, and Fund Black Futures are inspiring. Throughout their work, they center a black, queer, feminist analysis and stand in solidarity with other local struggles, such as the Dyett Hunger Strike. In the wake of large movement wins and the loss of more lives to police brutality in Chicago and beyond, we recognize their continued leadership and powerful organizing for Black liberation.
See www.crossroadsfund.org/ . Tickets here: donatenow.networkforgood.org/crossroadsfund .