AMARA Illinois

08/18/2026

August 6, 2026, forever marks an important milestone in our history. Reintroducing ourselves as AMARA Illinois to our partners and community members at Chicago African Americans in Philanthropy's (CAAIP) annual Connecting Philanthropy & Community celebration, we reaffirmed our commitment to supporting Black community power building in Illinois. Special thanks to Norman Clark, CAAIP’s Executive Director, for your partnership and vision in helping to make this important milestone in AMARA’s history so meaningful and memorable.

For the inaugural AMARA Black Power Building Award, we were proud to recognize Tanya Watkins as the honoree. From her organizing with Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation to her current work strengthening power-building organizations across Illinois at the Illinois Community Power Fund, Tanya has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to building the relationships and collective power needed to create lasting change.

Congratulations Tanya! We are inspired by your leadership and excited to celebrate the impact you are making across Illinois. Read more about Tanya’s transformative organizing and what’s next for AMARA at the link below!

https://amarail.org/amaras-first-public-step-honoring-black-power-building/

08/06/2026

Why AMARA: A Letter from Sharon Bush

Becoming AMARA began with listening—to our staff, board, partners and the Black-led communities that have shaped our work for three decades. In this deeply personal reflection, President Sharon Bush shares the long, deliberate journey behind our new name, the meaning it carries across cultures and generations, and the public commitment it makes to repair, Black Abundance, power, liberation and justice.

Read the full story of how AMARA became our name—and the promise we intend to keep. https://amarail.org/deep-roots-new-name/

08/03/2026

An idea took root. A movement grew.

Across Illinois, people are organizing, creating, healing, building and imagining new futures every single day.

Today we begin our next chapter as AMARA. Guided by repair and Black Abundance, we invest in community-led and community-centered organizations because we believe the leadership already lives here.

Thirty years deep, and we're just getting started.

Learn more here: https://amarail.org/

02/27/2026

Celebrating Illinois' Black History. Investing in Its Black Future. - https://mailchi.mp/grandvictoriafdn.org/gvf-summer-newsletter-6430228

02/25/2026

Pembroke Township × Black Abundance
Pembroke Township holds one of the most remarkable and unique Black histories in Illinois — a story rooted in land, resilience, and self-determination.
Founded by formerly enslaved Black families, Pembroke became a place where land ownership, farming, and community building shaped generations. Here, Black families cultivated not only crops, but autonomy, dignity, and legacy. Agriculture was never simply labor — it was independence, stewardship, and survival.
For decades, Pembroke stood as one of the largest Black farming communities north of the Mason-Dixon Line. Fields nourished families, sustained livelihoods, and connected rural Black Illinois to broader regional food systems.
This legacy continues today through community stewards and organizations like Black Oaks Center, where land restoration, knowledge sharing, and sustainable practices carry forward generations of wisdom and care.
Pembroke reminds us that Black abundance has always taken many forms — including land ownership, environmental stewardship, intergenerational resilience, and community rootedness.
This is not simply history.
This is Black abundance rooted in land, legacy, and community.
🖤✊🏾

02/18/2026

East St. Louis holds one of the most powerful Black histories in Illinois — a city shaped by migration, culture, creativity, and community influence. During a three-day immersion in East St. Louis, the Grand Victoria Foundation team connected with local leaders, organizations, and community members to deepen our understanding of the heart of this city and the ways philanthropy can support transformative work rooted in place and legacy.

From music and arts to food, sports, and entertainment, East St. Louis has produced generations of excellence and influence. The city’s impact is reflected not only in global figures like Miles Davis, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, and Layton Greene, but also in the culture, pride, and talent that continue to emerge today.

This legacy is visible in places like East St. Louis Senior High School, a source of community pride and athletic excellence, earning the city its name — the City of Champions. Athletics, like music and the arts, are not just activities here — they’re expressions of resilience, identity, leadership, and collective power.

This is not simply a story of endurance.
This is a story of contribution, leadership, and cultural legacy.

This is Black abundance — created, carried, and sustained through generations, and still being shaped by community leaders, artists, athletes, and changemakers across East St. Louis.

🖤✊🏾

02/10/2026

During the Great Migration, Black families arrived in Chicago carrying vision, skills, culture, and collective power. They didn’t come empty-handed. They came prepared to build — and they did.
Neighborhoods formed. Institutions rose. A Black metropolis emerged.
Bronzeville became more than a place to live; it became a center of economic, cultural, and political life. Churches, schools, newspapers, music halls, and theaters weren’t just responses to exclusion — they were expressions of creativity, leadership, and self-determination. Spaces like the Regal Theatre and The Chicago Defender generated culture, amplified voice, and expanded what was possible.
Today, that legacy is visible in Bronzeville’s streets, murals, and public spaces — reminders that Black history is not frozen in time. It is living, evolving, and rooted in place.
This is not just the beginning of the story. It is an expression of Black abundance—created through vision and labor, shared through institutions and networks, and sustained through intentional investments in human capital and organizational infrastructure. The Grand Victoria Foundation’s Abundance movement reinforces this perspective by affirming that communities already possess the assets necessary for growth. It is the role of philanthropy to recognize, support, and scale those existing strengths.

02/03/2026

Black History Is Black Abundance. Black history is not only something we honor — it’s something we continue to build.
For generations, Black communities have created systems of care, resilience, and economic survival in the face of exclusion. That legacy lives on today through organizers, families, and leaders advancing people-powered solutions rooted in dignity and justice.
This Black History Month, we celebrate Black abundance — past, present, and future.
🖤✊🏾

01/29/2026

Join Yamani Yansá Hernandez, CEO of Groundswell Fund and Eveline Shen, author of Choosing to Lead Against the Current for an evening of community and conversation about courageous leadership and navigating uncertainty. RSVP at the link below!

https://lnkd.in/eHF9rnhx

01/20/2026

We’re proud to celebrate our new grantee partner, The TRiiBE, whose co-founders have been named 2026 Community Builder Award Honorees for their powerful work reshaping the narrative of Black Chicago.

Through bold, community-centered journalism, The TRiiBE continues to elevate stories that matter, amplify local voices, and strengthen civic engagement across Chicago and beyond.

Join us in congratulating Morgan Elise Johnson and Tiffany Walden as they are honored at the 2026 Community Builder Awards on Saturday, January 24, 2026.

We’re honored to support leaders who are building informed, empowered, and connected communities.

Learn more and register to attend: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/4th-annual-community-builders-awards-2026-tickets-1979667639200?aff=oddtdtcreator



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Onni Group and The Intelligence Group presents the 4th Annual Community Builders Awards at The Bell