become a cue fellow
THE CUE MODEL
The CUE Equity Fellowship is a year-long program designed to bring together 15-20 leaders across identities, neighborhoods, and perspectives in government, media, research, philanthropy, storytelling, organizing, and advocacy, to strengthen their racial equity practice. This diverse group of Fellows is a powerful learning community that serves as both a catalyst and support to build a more equitable Chicago by reimagining its structures, policies, and practices through a racial equity lens.
THE cue fellow
CUE Fellows are leaders, innovators, disruptors, and healers of all different kinds. We look for Fellows to come into this work with:
Driven
A driven leader with a deep love for Chicago
Collaborative
Collaborative, generative thought partners
Commitment
Committed to racial equity and wiling to have difficult conversations about racism
Clarity
Clear in their analysis of equitable systems change
Courage
Courageous catalysts and drivers of positive outcomes
Collaborative
THE cue CUrriculum
CUE is a critical reflective learning community. Our best learning happens through relationships and action. We work to cultivate a community of change agents with shared frameworks, strategies, and tools to create change.
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Our Fellowship creates opportunities to analyze, explore, and implement:
Racial equity frameworks
to set a shared vision of equity, highlighting the Racial Equity Impact Assessment (REIA).
policy tools
to study and address racial disparities in our communities.
civic change strategies
that have been successful in the past.
Community organizing
to put our values into practice.
The racial Equity project
As bell hooks reminds us, “one of the most vital ways we sustain ourselves is by building communities of resistance, places where we know we are not alone.” At CUE, we cultivate this community as a space to reimagine systems, vision together, and develop new ways to move our city forward.
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Throughout the Fellowship, this collective visioning leads to projects that tackle systemic inequity and drive change, with each Fellow defining a Racial Equity Project to reimagine a structure, policy, or practice through a racial equity lens.
PAST CUE FELLOWSHIP PROJECTS
1
Deepening Political Analysis in Philanthropy
This pilot program fosters a deeper understanding of power and its role in systemic change. The program equips leaders to challenge harmful norms and advance a more just philanthropic sector that supports BIPOC communities' self-determination and addresses the sector's role in maintaining racial and economic inequities.
2
Chicago Public School’s Non-Citizen Advisory Council
This project aims to establish the Non-Citizen Advisory School Board for the CPS Elected School Board, so that non-citizen families and community members can have their voices heard and advocate for non-citizen students.
3
Building a Survivor-Centered Chicago
This project aims to increase civic engagement between Chicago City Council Members and survivors most impacted by gender-based violence in order to develop policies and solutions rooted in survivors’ lived experiences.
Partnering organization
For the CUE Fellowship, our learning community extends beyond the Fellow to the partnering organization. The approach is for the Fellow’s equity project to be embedded in the organization’s ongoing work, not as an individual effort, but as part of the institution’s priorities. For this reason, having a pre-existing relationship (as a board member, staff, or longstanding collaborator) is important. This shared commitment between the Fellow and the organization is essential to ensure the project’s lasting impact.
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We are looking for partner organizations that are helping reshape Chicago's civic institutions through:
DECISION-MAKING
Partner organizations have the power to influence and reimagine policies, programs, or processes within campaigns, government, or law.
NARRATIVE-SHAPING
Partner organizations have the power to shape narratives in the arts, media, philanthropy, or research.
MOBILIZING
Partner organizations have the power to mobilize in advocacy, coalitions, or organizing.
Partnership fee
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Our FELLOWS Say
