Since 2020, Northwestern has awarded more than $2 million in grants to over 40 community organizations through its Advancing Neighborhood & Community Health, Opportunity & Resilience program.
NU’s Office of Neighborhood and Community Relations spearheaded the program, which facilitates collaboration between partners at the University and community organizations to promote health equity, economic and social empowerment and children and youth learning in Evanston and Chicago. Over $500,000 is awarded annually, with 10 organizations awarded in its latest cycle.
“What makes this program so much more successful is that we’re not just focusing on the financial elements, such as writing a check,” Dave Davis, senior executive director of Neighborhood and Community Relations, said. “We’re trying to really cultivate a strong relationship with our grantees that ultimately leads to trust.”
Women Initiating New Directions, a Chicago nonprofit that provides resources to currently and formerly incarcerated women, has received ANCHOR funding nearly every cycle. The grant has backed facets of WIND’s Bridge Program, which helps women in reentry find employment and community service opportunities.
Recent funding has allowed WIND, in collaboration with the NU Prison Education Program, to develop a feedback-tailored program where system-impacted women develop workplace skills and experience as WIND apprentices.
“That just feels like an amazing thing to be able to witness and to be able to support women who deserve it as they pursue their goals and realize their dreams,” WIND Program Executive Director Nicole O’Connell said.
Northwestern Settlement, a Chicago-based nonprofit that combats generational poverty through resources like school and youth programs, received ANCHOR grants in 2021 and 2025. The money initiated and supports its Early Childhood Education Program’s Project Literacy Empowerment Access Partnership, which addresses racial disparities in children’s literacy outcomes.
In partnership with NU’s Child Language Lab, it hosts workshops for parents and meetings between teachers and parents.
“Being involved in a project like this helps build confidence in parents, develop(s) their knowledge around early childhood illiteracy, and share(s) it with other families,” ECE Assistant Director Irma Rodriguez said.
Open Communities, an Evanston-based fair housing agency, also received grants in 2021 and 2025. Its 2025 project works with NU’s Department of Computer Science to develop a tool that scans for local lenders engaging in modern redlining.
Its team, collaborating with NU students and professors, compares how well lenders serve minority populations and investigates housing disparities, Open Communities Director of Fair Housing Dominic Voz said. He said he hopes it can be developed into a public resource used by fair housing organizations across the country.
“Communities of color have been held back from having equitable access to good jobs, and transit and healthy communities in part because of this history of discriminatory lending,” Voz said. “We see a huge value in helping other people across the country have access to a tool like this.”
Ladies of Virtue, an organization that prepares Black girls in Chicago for leadership through mentorship programs, received its first ANCHOR grant in 2025.
It is working with the Human Development and Social Policy Program at the School of Education and Social Policy to investigate and address school discipline policies that disproportionately target Black girls.
“Our ultimate goal is to bridge that gap so that the disproportionality discipline that’s happening with Black girls doesn’t exist,” LOV Lead Researcher Deidra Bibbs said. “We want all children to be treated fairly and equally, and we all want all children to feel safe in school.”
The James B. Moran Center for Youth Advocacy, a nonprofit providing community-based legal, social and restorative services for Evanston youth and their families, received ANCHOR funding in 2021 and 2025. It used the 2025 grant to hire trained students from NU and Evanston Township High School to serve as program managers and circle keepers and lead restorative practices in classrooms at Oakton Elementary School.
The funding allowed them to expand the program to multiple classrooms of various grade levels, Moran Center Executive Director Patrick Keenan-Devlin said.
Now, the center has applied for renewed ANCHOR funding, hoping to expand further, Keenan-Devlin said.
“If we really want to build a restorative community, we can’t just concentrate on one school,” Keenan-Devlin said. “This one school can be a real example of what is possible when you are thoughtful about whole school restorative justice implementation.”
Childcare Network of Evanston, a local social service organization committed to ensuring all children have access to quality early education and childcare, has received ANCHOR funding for the past three years. Its 2025 project is in collaboration with the Infant and Child Development Center and Institute for Policy Research at NU to address bias in preschools.
Before receiving funding, it developed a tool to track classroom interactions between teachers and children. With the grant, it will analyze data and begin co-developing an intervention to disrupt bias.
“We’re making it a community effort,” CNE Executive Director Carol Teske said. “It has really made a big difference in our community and a big difference in many children’s lives in our community.”
For the 2026-27 cycle, Davis anticipates that ANCHOR will award up to 10 grants ranging from $25,000 to $65,000, according to Northwestern Now.
Moving forward, Davis added that he hopes the program will grow to award more money and expand its impact to the greater Cook County area.
“What I’’m most proud of is I feel like we’re doing this the right way, and we’re making a difference in Evanston, in Chicago,” Davis said.
Email: [email protected]
Related Stories:
— Dave Davis works to strengthen town-gown relations between Northwestern and Evanston
— By the Numbers: How Evanston has spent NU’s Good Neighbor Fund money
— Climate Action Evanston, Evanston Grows receive Sustainable Communities Grant
