In the 1960s, Myra Alexander fought against racism.Bill Koza craved tolerance toward gay people.Della Reuther protested against war.Ben Bearskin preserved Native American culture.Mary Ward Wolkonsky promoted the civic role of women.Leon Beverly battled for union workers and neighbors.And Blanche Gates, a widowed mother of 15, kept her family strong.  The stories of these seven Chicagoans […]

From its gleaming white terra cotta façade to its enduring clock tower presence on Michigan Avenue, the Wrigley Building has long stood as a symbol of Chicago. But in the new book The Wrigley Building: The Making of an Icon, four of the city’s foremost historians and creatives reveal that this architectural marvel is far more […]

The town of Highland Park, a tight-knit community north of Chicago, has been grappling with the fallout of the July 4, 2022, mass shooting that turned a holiday parade into a scene of horror. Seven people were killed and nearly 50 others injured when a rooftop gunman opened fire with an AR-style rifle. Nearly three […]

On April 17, two people were killed and six more wounded as our nation experienced yet another mass shooting, this time at Florida State University in Tallahassee. The suspect — identified as a 20-year-old student and the son of a local sheriff’s deputy — used a handgun that once belonged to his mother and had […]

In a time when many nonprofits are struggling to sustain year-over-year support — and donors seek more transparency about where their money goes — a small church just north of Chicago has quietly built a model of grassroots philanthropy that’s helped dozens of local organizations not just survive, but thrive. Kenilworth Union Church’s approach might […]

Loneliness isn’t just an emotion — it’s a growing public health crisis. A 2023 Gallup Poll found that one in four people around the world report significant loneliness, while another 27 percent say they feel at least a little lonely. And surprisingly, it’s not just older adults who are affected. The highest rates of loneliness […]

This post was submitted as part of our “You Said It” program.” Your voice, ideas, and engagement are important to help us accomplish our mission. We encourage you to share your ideas and efforts to make the world a better place by submitting a “You Said It.” As a member of the American Red Cross Climate […]

Schools should be places that nourish dreams, not destroy them. Yet, on April 16, 2007, the unimaginable happened once again.  It was another school shooting, this time on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech). The first shooting was in a dormitory, then two and a half hours later in classrooms […]

For those of us who grew up with Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness as the soundtrack to our adolescence, its arrival this November on the Lyric Opera of Chicago stage doesn’t feel like a stretch, it feels like a full-circle moment. Thirty years later, the sprawling double album that always sounded like a symphony […]

With cutbacks to federal government programs and layoffs of civil servants around the country, there’s been a lot of confusion about funding for wildfire prevention and mitigation under the new presidential administration. Yet, Santa Rosa, California resident Lynn Garric feels encouraged. “I’m a very hopeful, optimistic person,” she explains. “I’m the one who came back […]

Ami Vitale has spent her career on the front lines of our planet’s most urgent crises, using her camera not only to witness the world but to change it. A National Geographic photographer, writer, documentary filmmaker, and Nikon Ambassador, Vitale began her career covering conflict zones — places where human suffering was raw and unrelenting. […]

This post was submitted as part of our “You Said It” program, and earned Conservation Nation a $1,000 and eligibility for more support from the Make It Better Foundation. Your voice, ideas, and engagement are important to help us accomplish our mission. We encourage you to share your ideas and efforts to make the world […]