Illinois Humanities is pleased to announce the fifth round of Activate History micro-grants. This initiative, created in early 2020, is meant to support small organizations as well as professional and amateur historians alike in engaging communities with the archives and collections they steward. Applicants get a stipend of $500 to carry out programs, as well as access to free training in facilitation by Illinois Humanities (in partnership with the Covey Group). Applicants can also request an additional stipend of as much as $250 to help make their events more accessible to all audiences.

This round consists of 9 projects; of these 5 are in Cook County and 4 elsewhere in the state of Illinois. They include:

• eve bridges / Making the White City: The B.F. Ferguson Fund’s Influence on Chicago Public Squares (Cook County)
• Flossmoor Veterans’ Memorial, Inc. / Honoring Flossmoor Veterans Past and Future (Cook County)
• Forest Preserve Friends Foundation / D.B.A. Museum / A History of Healing Virtual Speaker Series (Champaign County)
• History Center Lake Forest Lake Bluff / Deeply Rooted and Rising High: African Americans’ History in Lake Forest (Lake County)
• Lawrence County Illinois Historical Society / “Toys from the Attic” (Lawrence County)
• Mary Frances / Dennis Williams: Prominent 19th century African American Artist in Springfield, Ill. (Sangamon County)
• Muslim American Leadership Alliance / Muslim American Heritage – Joffrey Ballet – The Legacy, Heritage, and Life of Robert Joffrey (Cook County)
• The Urban Ark / The Evolution of Footwork – Past, Present, Future: Catalyst for Change (Cook County)
• Woman Made Gallery / 30th Anniversary Program: Reflecting on Abandoned Margins (Cook County)

The next deadline for Activate History micro-grant applications is September 1, 2022. For more information, visit ilhumanities.org/micro-grants or reach out to Mark Hallett at mark.hallett@ilhumanities.org.