We Raise Foundation, in Partnership with the MIGMIR Fund, Renews Support of the MAAFA Redemption

Itasca, IL – We Raise Foundation, in partnership with the MIGMIR (Much is Given Much is Required) Fund, has extended – and increased – its support of the MAAFA Redemption Project in Chicago, Ill., with a new three-year $400,000 GrantsPlus Grant.

The MAAFA Redemption Project is a faith-based residential institute for resilient Black and Brown young men and their families from the West Garfield Park community, which has one of the lowest life expectancies in Chicago. The project offers dormitory-style residential support, workforce training, character/spiritual-development, academic enrichment, and a host of wrap-around social services. MAAFA is also the organizing partner in local community revitalization programs and capital projects. Combining direct services with community development, MAAFA’s approach is creating both individual and communal impact. By investing in the neighborhood’s young people and their children, they are laying the foundation for a community reimagined and redeveloped.

“The impact MAAFA and its program are having in their community is inspiring and we are humbled to play a role in their ongoing work,” said Paul Miles, president/CEO of We Raise Foundation. “This grant brings the total support from We Raise and MIGMIR to $700,000, the largest investment we’ve made in a single organization since our repositioning in 2018. MAAFA Executive Director Marshall Hatch is a wonderful example of servant leadership, passionately investing in the men of West Garfield Park and we are proud to stand with him in support of this worthy organization.”

“It’s truly a blessing to have funders who get it,” said Rev. Marshall Hatch, Jr., executive director of the MAAFA Redemption Project. “We Raise Foundation and MIGMIR have come to our campus to spend time with us, listen first-hand to our young people, and see us as we see ourselves. They understand our work to be God’s work. This is why we were elated and grateful to hear that our partnership will continue for three more years. With joy and humility, we accept this grant award and look forward to what’s to come; for ‘eyes have not seen, ears haven’t heard, neither can we imagine’ what God has in store for us.”

MAAFA’s approach is built on the understanding that basic human needs must be met to create an environment where transformation can begin to happen. The men live together as a cohort in a safe, stable, dormitory-style home for nine months. At the MAAFA house, they work with life coaches and support each other to build a sense of community, belonging, and shared responsibility.

MAAFA recognizes the potential of the men to become community leaders and invests in them by creating a pathway to education. The men take courses online for their GED, or with a partner organization, Southern New Hampshire University, to earn their Associate or Bachelor’s degree. All participants also complete a MAAFA-designed curriculum, which includes financial literacy, civic empowerment, historical/cultural identity development, and health/nutrition courses.

The men also learn soft and technical job skills through rigorous training in the construction trades and landscaping as well as through their leadership roles in the residence. MAAFA provides the men with a stipend that mirrors real-world employment and incentivizes their engagement for the duration of the program. The men are also offered internship opportunities through MAAFA’s partnership with a variety of employers.

Finally, helping the men become active participants in the civic life of the community is central to MAAFA’s approach. The men engage in volunteer service-learning activities, discuss their experiences in group meetings with local law enforcement and community leaders, and go on participatory group visits to observe civic processes at the city, state, and national levels. Recent trips have included Washington, D.C., to visit the Museum of African-American History and Howard University; Memphis, Tenn., to visit the National Civil Rights Museum; and Montgomery, Ala., to see the Equal Justice Initiative Legacy Museum.

The MAAFA Redemption Project continues to be a catalyst for the redevelopment of their West Garfield Park community. In 2023, MAAFA and their partners in the Garfield Park Rite to Wellness Collaborative were awarded the Pritzker Traubert Foundation’s “Chicago Prize,” a $10 million investment for the development of the Sankofa Wellness Village.

The Village will be a series of interconnected capital projects and social enterprises that will create safe, community-informed and owned, culturally empowering services. It will include The MAAFA Center for Arts & Activism, where the MAAFA Redemption Project is housed, The Sankofa Village Wellness Center, The K Entrepreneurship Development Hub, and The Community Grocer Initiative.

We Raise GrantsPlus grants support new and innovative projects in Chicago, St. Louis, Milwaukee, and Oakland/San Francisco working at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality. In addition to the grant award, We Raise will also provide the MAAFA Redemption Project with critical capacity building services, including a resource development assessment, incentivized crowdfunding campaign, and research, to help strengthen and sustain their program.

About We Raise Foundation
Motivated by the belief that freedom is grace in action (Galatians 5:1a), We Raise Foundation partners with Christian nonprofit organizations and emerging leaders working at the intersection of poverty, violence, and inequality. We have a preference for funding solutions within the areas of education, workforce development, and criminal justice and employ a unique approach to our investing by coupling program funding with a variety of robust value-added services that empower our grantees to grow their solutions. As a result of these value-added services, every $1 that donors invest through We Raise multiplies into more than double the benefit to the organizations we support. To learn more, please visit weraise.org. You can also find We Raise on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.