The Joyce Foundation

07/30/2026

The Talking Drum is a revered instrument with origins in West Africa that replicates speech and is used to communicate messages, tell stories and make music. The national, traveling storytelling initiative The Stories of Us is launching 30 Talking Drum sculptures ​on July 31 at Navy Pier and across Chicago​. ​It includes the "Census Drum" created by arts collective
Englewood Arts Collective multidisciplinary artist Pugs Atomz and developed through dialogue with local community members, advocates, and census experts​ with Joyce Support. We encourage everyone to see these activations, including the Census Drum at EAC's Sculpture Village on 63rd & May in Chicago ​beginning on Sunday, August 2.

This project ​powerful​ly ​asks "Do You See Me?" and explores what it means to be seen, counted, and represented. It shows how powerful the combination of support for community-driven artists ​and creative civic practice can be.

07/27/2026

This month's Crain's Chicago Business Forum focuses on the high stakes of the rising electricity demand in Illinois. Policymakers and power providers are scrambling to create more sources of electricity quickly. Environment Program Officer Marisol Becerra, PhD offers timely solutions for building a more resilient power system in Illinois. ⬇️

The challenge is whether Illinois can follow through with implementation, so the electricity system can meet rising demand and mitigate increasing climate risks.

07/06/2026

On July 4th, the day that the nation celebrated its 250th birthday, a unique, Chicago-area news collaborative launched The Immigration Hub, a multilingual resource centering immigrants that features reporting, investigations and first-person immigrant narratives from 15 newsrooms: Block Club Chicago, Borderless Magazine, Chicago Reader, Chicago Sun-Times, Chinatown Spotlight, Independiente, Injustice Watch, La Raza, La Voz, Lumpen Radio, ProPublica, ReparationsMedia & Change Agents Journalism Lab, South Side Weekly, The TRiiBE, and WBEZ. The Joyce Foundation is proud to be one of the Chicago-area foundations to help fund this initiative. These stories about our neighbors are valuable and this resource deserves to be widely shared.

Your source for Chicago immigration news, guides and explainers.

06/24/2026

We are pleased to welcome our summer intern Joslyn Jenkins to the Foundation. Joslyn was selected through the Rogers Scholars Program in Finance at The University of Chicago and will be working with our Investments team. She is a rising junior at the University of Chicago majoring in Economics with a minor in Climate and Sustainable Growth.

On campus, Joslyn is actively involved in student leadership and professional organizations. She serves as president of the Organization of Black Students, Vice President of Communications for BlackGen Capital investments, and Engagement Manager for Pareto Solutions Consulting, where she has led client engagements with organizations including Samsung and CME Group Financial Services.

A native of of Chandler, Arizona, Joslyn says was drawn to The Joyce Foundation because of the Foundation’s ability to align its investment strategy with its broader mission. Through the internship, she says she hopes to deepen her understanding of institutional investing, learn how mission-driven organizations steward capital, and explore how investment decisions can influence economic outcomes for communities across the Midwest.

06/15/2026

We're proud to join "Generosity Builds: 250 Years of Charitable Giving"—a campaign celebrating people, organizations, and communities that make America stronger through generosity. Charitable giving helps solve problems, expand opportunity, and strengthen communities. It's a goal that inspires us and our philanthropy peers, and work we've tried to advance for more than 75 years with grantee partners in the Great Lakes region. Learn more about this campaign and explore stories from across the country at GenerosityBuilds.org

06/11/2026

Did you know that City of Chicago – Government, Cook County Government & the State of Illinois formed a partnership to invest in public resources for community safety? The Government Alliance for Safe Communities (GASC) has dedicated $350 million toward community violence intervention strategies designed to curb violence with targeted support services. We recently hosted a webinar with leaders from GASC and Northwestern University's Center for Neighborhood Engaged Research & Science (CORNERS) to unpack findings from a newly published impact report. Among them: Chicago communities with the highest average investment in public safety show the largest public safety gains. These resources are helping to create the safer and more just communities we all want.

During the webinar, researchers discussed a newly published report on Illinois’ Government Alliance for Safe Communities investment’s impact on community…

05/29/2026

Deep thanks to all who participated in ’s town hall meeting on policing and public trust at in Pilsen this week. This interactive conversation and WTTW’s ongoing in-depth coverage of policing and police reform is a meaningful contribution toward understanding how we can create a safer and more just Chicago.

05/29/2026

Deep thanks to all who participated. WTTW - Chicago PBS' in-depth coverage of policing and police reform is a meaningful contribution toward understanding how we can create a safer and more just Chicago.

05/21/2026

The New Jersey Attorney General's Office Statewide Affirmative Fi****ms Enforcement (SAFE) Office offers one example of how state-level civil enforcement can be structured to address firearm industry practices that may affect public safety.

Created in 2022, SAFE is a dedicated unit within a state Attorney General’s office focused on civil enforcement involving the fi****ms industry. In its first three years, the office has pursued a number of civil enforcement actions related to firearm industry conduct. Its work illustrates how dedicated state enforcement capacity can support efforts to better understand, assess, and address public safety risks associated with firearm industry practices.

Read more about SAFE’s approach and considerations for other jurisdictions in this new case study.

This report reflects interviews conducted with staff members of the NJ Jersey Statewide Affirmative Fi****ms Enforcement (SAFE) Office and others on the…

05/20/2026

Rigorous coursework shouldn’t be reserved for a select group of students. In this new report, our grantee The Education Trust-Midwest outlines how Michigan can widen the path for more students to take engaging, high-quality courses that catalyze college and career success.

Learn more about what Michigan can do to support all students: https://bit.ly/ETMReadyforRigor