Lever for Change announced nonpartisan civic engagement nonprofit IGNITE as the recipient of a $10,000 grant to support partnerships to shift power to young women to become the next generation of social justice leaders.
(Chicago, IL) November 4, 2022 – Today, nonpartisan civic engagement nonprofit IGNITE was announced as the recipient of the Jack Dilenschneider Award for Social Justice. IGNITE will receive $10,000 in recognition of its work to empower thousands of young women across the United States to flex their political power as voters, activists, policymakers, commissioners, and candidates.
The Jack Dilenschneider Award for Social Justice is an annual grant funded by the Dilenschneider family in honor of John J. "Jack" Dilenschneider to recognize outstanding organizations working on social justice. This annual $10,000 award will be made to one of the top teams that applied to a recent Lever for Change competition.
Lever for Change is a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, which emboldens donors and organizations tackling the world’s greatest challenges to think big.
Building on the success of MacArthur’s $100 million challenge, 100&Change, Lever for Change designs and manages customized competitions for donors. The top teams from these competitions become members of the Bold Solutions Network, which focuses on elevating organizations and catalyzing further funding. The Jack Dilenschneider Award recipient has been selected from these member organizations. IGNITE was an awardee for the Equality Can’t Wait Challenge in 2021.
"Empowered young women have the power to impact their communities and the world," said Cecilia Conrad, CEO of Lever for Change. "As we look to the future, IGNITE is working to empower more young women from every background and enable them to take action to make their cities better places to live.”
IGNITE utilizes training, toolkits, mentorship, active college and professional networks, and grassroots organizing to provide women and girls across the country the tools to advance community action on topics such as gender and racial equity, voter access, and civic engagement. With 10,000 active program participants nationwide, IGNITE’s program shifts power to young women to become the next generation of social justice leaders.
A committee composed of Lever for Change and MacArthur Foundation staff evaluated proposals from Lever for Change’s Bold Solutions Network based on four qualifying criteria: clarity of issue and impact, community-informed, social justice, and equity.
More information about IGNITE can be found at https://leverforchan.ge/IGNITE.
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Lever for Change
Lever for Change connects donors with bold solutions to the world’s biggest problems—including issues like racial inequity, gender inequality, lack of access to economic opportunity, and climate change. Using an inclusive, equitable model and due diligence process, Lever for Change creates customized challenges and other tailored funding opportunities. Top-ranked teams and challenge finalists become members of the Bold Solutions Network—a growing global network that helps secure additional funding, amplify members’ impact, and accelerate social change. Founded in 2019 as a nonprofit affiliate of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Lever for Change has influenced over $1 billion in grants to date and provided support to more than 145 organizations. To learn more, visit www.leverforchange.org.
The Dilenschneider Award was awarded to one Bold Solutions Network Member in 2021 and 2022 to recognize outstanding organizations working on social justice.
