Last month, on January 20, a powerful gathering took place at Malcolm X College in honor of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday and the National Day of Racial Healing.
The event, We Carry the Light, sponsored by the City Colleges of Chicago, Healing Illinois, Solidarity Heals, and the Haji Healing Salon, was more than a celebration — it was a sacred space. Marking ten years of truth-telling, reflection, and collective restoration, the gathering centered on one enduring truth:
Storytelling heals.
Storytelling breaks down barriers. Storytelling connects communities. And at few moments in recent memory has connection felt more urgent than it does right now.
Illinois recognized that urgency. Under Governor J.B. Pritzker, the state has made racial healing a priority — and one of the most significant efforts is Healing Illinois, an initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
In partnership with the Field Foundation of Illinois, Healing Illinois has now distributed more than $4.3 million in grants for the fourth consecutive year, supporting nonprofits across the state working to foster racial healing and strengthen community bonds.
The work takes many forms: healing through storytelling, healing through
dialogue, and now, healing through space.
A Growing Vision for Healing
Much of the program’s success is guided by Maritza Bandera, Healing Illinois Program Lead, whose knowledge and commitment have helped shape the initiative year after year.
For its first three years, Healing Illinois focused primarily on storytelling and dialogue. But Bandera says the program has evolved.
“This year, some adjustments have been made to ensure we are connecting racial healing work to community healing and community building work,” she explains.
That adjustment includes the addition of placemaking — healing through the spaces we share.
“Last year we framed it like media and storytelling,” Bandera says. “This year, although storytelling remains core, we’ve added placemaking.”
The shift was inspired by a funded project from the previous year, where communities created landmarks and public installations that told stories often left untold — stories of land, memory, and identity.
“When we think about our civic spaces, our public spaces, what is the story we want to tell from that space?” Bandera asks. “Are we talking about ownership over spaces? As we think about parks, Forest Preserves, civic buildings — how are we relating to these spaces?”
Healing, she emphasizes, is not only about history. It is also about what is happening right now — and how communities choose to move forward together.
Bandera remains deeply committed to supporting projects that create pathways for people to come together, even across disagreement.
Having difficult conversations requires trust, patience, and humanity — but Healing Illinois is built on the belief that dialogue keeps communities connected.
Through the program’s three priorities — storytelling, dialogue, and place — there is also tremendous opportunity for intergenerational healing.
Young people are able to connect with elders, capturing stories that too often disappear without ever being recorded or shared.
A Team Effort — and a Growing Demand
Although Bandera serves as Program Lead, she emphasizes that Healing Illinois is very much a team effort.
Her primary responsibility is Cook County, where demand for support has surged.
“Last year we had a total of four hundred applications,” she says. “This year we received six hundred — and Cook County alone accounted for four hundred.”
Beyond grant funding, recipients also receive technical assistance, including help with reporting and organizational requirements.
Still, the most difficult part is choosing.
“We could only choose 192 projects,” Bandera says. “And all of them were really good.”
Funded Projects Making an Impact. Among this year’s funded initiatives are:
Kuumba Lynx: Poetry Making Playground TRAIL
A citywide placemaking initiative bringing Chicago communities together through immersive poetry play, public dialogue, and cross-cultural healing focused on racial trauma.
Circles and Ciphers: Cut the Mic — Where Hip-Hop Meets Healing A six-month restorative arts and documentary project following young artists impacted by violence and incarceration as they explore creative expression, survival, and growth through hip-hop storytelling.
St. Sabina Church: Healing Racism from the Inside Out — Ubuntu Cohort Program
A six-month series engaging Greater Chicagoans in cross-cultural relationship-building, healing dialogue, journaling, poetry, and art-making.
The program culminates in a retreat and public spoken word celebration.
Ubuntu means: “I am because we are.”
Carrying the Light Forward.
Healing Illinois continues to prove that healing is not abstract — it is active. It is built through stories, through conversation, and through reclaiming the spaces where community life unfolds.
In a time of division and uncertainty, these projects remind us that restoration is possible — and that the light we carry is meant to be shared.
