Every young person deserves the chance to dream, plan, and have someone believe in them — yet those with foster care experience often enter adulthood without the safety nets many take for granted. Nationwide, less than half of kids who experience foster care graduate high school, and less than 10 percent earn a degree from […]
More than 520,000 people in the Chicago area live with a disability — roughly one in 10 residents. Across the United States, an estimated 8.38 million individuals have an intellectual or developmental disability (IDD), and autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is on the rise. According to 2025 data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, […]
In moments of crisis, healing often begins with something simple: a warm meal, a quiet space, the sense that someone sees you. For those navigating homelessness, trauma, or identity-based marginalization, even these basic comforts are often out of reach. But when they are made available — intentionally, consistently, and with care — they can be […]
When Ballet 5:8 launched the BIOS Project, they didn’t start with music. Or costumes. Or a theme. They started with a question: What happens when we actually listen? Not just politely. Not in passing. But fully. With time. With no plan to fix, redirect, or explain away what we hear. The invited four women choreographers […]
When I first met Pierre Moise Louis in Jérémie, Haiti, 15 years ago, he had just finished university. Determined to help his family and his country, Louis had one goal: to build a business around breadfruit. He saw this humble, starchy fruit not just as a food staple, but as a solution to hunger, to […]
Chicago is in the midst of a silent crisis — one that affects thousands of its youngest residents every day. Families across the city are struggling to afford diapers, a basic but essential need for children. With diaper costs having soared by nearly 50 percent since the pandemic, and families facing cuts to Medicaid and […]
Imagine being 12 years old, lying awake all night while your parents scream at each other, break things, and slam doors. Your father is drunk and raging. You’re terrified someone might get hurt — or worse. You huddle with your siblings, trying to keep them safe. When morning comes, your mom has a black eye, […]
What if we rejected the messaging that has permeated our country and our schools: that the arts are a luxury for only the well-to-do, something to cut when budgets need to be balanced, creativity a skill meant for only those who can pay at the door? How would we see ourselves and the thousands of […]
“There is a vast difference between knowing the right thing to do and actually doing the right thing,” Nobel-winning economist Thomas Schelling once said. The evidence is unequivocal: early childhood education is one of the most impactful investments a society can make. Ninety percent of brain development occurs before the age of five, and decades of […]
I remember one of the first birds I ever worked with. His name was Saki, and he was a Bali myna. He would greet me every morning by saying “Hello, Saki” and “Hi.” I was so intrigued that I set out to learn more about the species. What I learned was disheartening. At that time, […]
