Sunrise Movement Chicago Fellowship
Update!!! Any money that is donated to this GoFundMe as of 5/18/20 will not go towards a Chicago hub fellowship, but rather mutual aid efforts to support communities in Chicago during this global pandemic.
Hi! My name is Dejah and I’m the fundraising team lead for the amazing Sunrise Chicago hub :)
If you’re not familiar with Sunrise, Sunrise Movement is a youth-led movement to stop the climate crisis and create millions of good jobs in the process.
Sunrise, founded in 2017, burst onto the scene after hundreds of young organizers sat, sang and rallied in Nancy Pelosi’s office to demand attention on the Green New Deal (GND), a resolution introduced by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ed Markey. Since then, Sunrise has expanded to over 300+ hubs across the country, including the local Chicago hub, has launched four regional summits to equip young people with the skills to mobilize, has organized, in collaboration with other environmental and social justice groups, climate strikes across the country, and now, we’re working to make the Green New Deal a reality, given the simple fact that we have 11 years to stop the climate crisis.
Locally, the Chicago Sunrise Movement is ready to take on the challenge of doing all that we can to organize and push through a Green New Deal. 
The Sunrise Chicago hub, since January of 2019, has:
-Hosted local actions pressuring our two Illinois Senators to co-sponsor the Green New Deal
-Organized a sold-out Green New Deal Town Hall, where guests such as Naomi Davis of Blacks in Green, Demond Drummer from the New Consensus and Representatives Chuy Garcia and Jan Schakowsky, spoke about the Green New Deal and what such visionary policy might look like in Chicago
-Attended the Midwest Sunrise Summit and action at the DNC Debate in Detroit, building our leadership and organizing capacity
-Recently hosted an action at the Democratic Party of IL offices, calling on State Party Chair Mike Madigan and the DNC to vote yes on a climate debate
-Held multiple leadership trainings and retreats locally to empower more people to get involved & rally together for a Green New Deal
-Led a robust endorsement process where we will be announcing Green New Deal Champions for congress and state office we will be endorsing
To expand upon the exciting work of the movement here in Chicago, the clear next step for our hub is to launch a decentralized fellowship program, supporting several organizers going all-in full-time for a Green New Deal.
Why a fellowship?
Over the last year, we’ve seen our movement and our hub grow and build capacity as we take on the crisis of our generation. In Chicago, we have pulled off amazing actions and events and built strong leadership and community, and it’s all been done by volunteers dedicating their time and resources after work and school, meeting up in libraries and community spaces. We have even bigger plans to build the kind of power needed to win and implement a Green New Deal. We know the only way we’re going to build the kind of capacity needed to win is if we have folks who are going all-in for a GND.
So, we want to cover the living expenses for young people fighting to win a livable future to enable them to go all-in for a Green New Deal. We want to pay folks to do the deep and important work of laying the groundwork for a local GND in one of the most segregated cities in America. Sunrise Chicago is also committed to including folks who might have been alienated from the climate movement in the past.
We've built a lot of power over the past year, but we want to do so much more! And as time runs out we want to be able to fund a fellowship that allows people to go full time in addressing the climate crisis at the level it demands.
What kinds of projects will people in the fellowship be working on?
Organize the Unorganized
Build a mass movement of people ready to participate in mass non-cooperation. Reaching 3.5% of Chicago’s population through presentations, tabling, canvassing, and support emerging high school and college hubs.
Build a Hub as Diverse as Our City
Build a more diverse hub, one more representative of the demographics of the City, which includes supporting the launch of South Side hub and investing in the leadership capacity of POC organizers.
Train and Level-Up Leadership
Train thousands of people so we have the kind of distributed leadership needed by November 2020 to take bold action at a whole new scale.
Build Local Power
Build and grow Chicago’s People’s Alignment and our partnerships with racial justice, labor, and environmental justice organizations. Support efforts to legislate Green New Deal Style policy on the city and state level. Unite social, economic, racial, and more groups to fight for a just and equitable future
What the funds will be used for?
All funds raised will go towards covering living expenses for 4 - 6 Chicago organizers, starting February or March of 2020. These organizers will be working on many of the projects listed above.
We are incredibly grateful for all of your support and contributions in helping us stop the climate crisis!