OUR STORY
Lighthouse Foundation of Chicagoland was founded in 2019 and grew out of a community need observed by members of Lighthouse Church of Chicago UCC, a predominantly Black and Queer, LGBTQ+-affirming faith community. A number of racist incidents involving Boystown businesses came to light, and the members started organizing in response. In the process, two things became clear. One was the sheer depth of macro and microaggressions, threats to safety, and deep unwelcome experienced by Black Queer Chicagoans in Boystown and beyond. The other was the overwhelming support from those outside of the church community and their desire to join us in this movement. This led to the creation of Lighthouse Foundation.
CARE & THE BLACK QUEER CAUCUS (BQC)
Lighthouse Foundation invests in Black LGBTQ+ liberation internally by developing BQC Leaders, a cohort that builds community, sets goals, and creates public programming for Black Queer people. Wel also focus on leadership development, capacity building, and economic sustainability to grow Black power through institutional longevity.
We work for Black LGBTQ+ liberation externally by pursuing community organizing campaigns that challenge institutions to invest in Black communities, address Black needs, and follow Black leadership. Our CARE Leaders are a Queer, multiracial cohort who direct the broader Coalition of Accomplices for Racial Equity (CARE), where non-Black supporters follow our lead by donating, amplifying our work, and showing up for direct actions. BQC Leaders identify targets of our racial justice campaigns, and CARE Leaders move targets through the following stages: development/assessment, training, initial actions, escalation, deeper actions, and evaluation, all with input from BQC.
OUR LEADERSHIP
Click our team's headshots to read their bios.