Chance The Rapper is known for his music and for his social, political, and charitable engagement in Chicago. His charity, SocialWorks, focuses on bringing much needed improvements to underfunded Chicago Public Schools.
Earlier in the week, Chance announced his most recent successful initiative in an Instagram video.
The video showcases an elementary school on Chicago’s South Side. The elementary school’s arts curriculum was lacking due to a longstanding funding deficit. Chance’s charity awarded the school a New Chance Arts and Literature Fund award. The grant helped the school complete much-needed improvements to their auditorium, and gave students a space to express themselves through art and performance.
Students of the elementary school were grateful for Chance’s charitable actions. One student said the grant made them feel special.
“It makes us feel important,” one student said. “He could have chosen all the other schools and he chose our school.”
Chance highlighted the importance of an updated auditorium in his Instagram post. “As an additional benefit, for the first time in 20 years, the newly renovated auditorium at the Mahalia Jackson Elementary school was able to host ALL of the student graduations,” the caption stated. Along with the auditorium updates, Chance’s grant helped the school with updates to their dance studio, upgrading the computer lab, and more.
Since the charity’s foundation, Chance’s SocialWorks has raised more than $4.2 million and awarded over 40 Chicago Public Schools with grants to help their students succeed.
SocialWorks announced their organization will be partnering this year with music festival Woodstock 50. Chance The Rapper will be headlining the festival.
