Over a decade of change across New York City and beyond
The Illumination Fund has undertaken numerous high-impact initiatives, each of which has been focused on distinct issues and had multiple grantees. In addition, the Illumination Fund has supported special projects at individual organizations. Here are examples of impact.
In 2018 the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund launched Arts in Health, a $10-million multi-year initiative to support organizations working on health issues that impact New York communities and that utilize the arts as a tool for healing. The Fund is supporting the expansion of programs that work at this intersection, with special attention to increasing access for underserved communities and addressing disparities.
Building on previous giving to healthy food initiatives such as the NYC Green Carts, in 2013 the Illumination Fund launched its Healthy Food & Community Change initiative, a $15 million, 5-year commitment in New York City.
The Illumination Fund funded the launch and growth of the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s (DOHMH) NYC Green Cart Initiative in 2008 with a leadership grant of $1.5 million to increase the availability of fresh fruits and vegetables in neighborhoods where access is a challenge and there are high rates of diet-related diseases. The goals of the NYC Green Cart Initiative, a bold blend of public policy, private philanthropy and grassroots entrepreneurship, are to increase access to healthy food and to create jobs.
In 2008, the Illumination Fund made Service one of its first focus areas. The Illumination Fund has made grants of approximately $4 million for service-related organizations and initiatives. The Illumination Fund’s Service initiatives included support for a national mobilization and infrastructure, and multiple initiatives in New York City in partnership with City agencies and nonprofits.
In addition to the Illumination Fund’s initiatives, the Fund has played a catalytic role in transformative projects and institutional change.
Arts in Medicine is about engaging patients, clinicians, caregivers, and staff in different types of healing connections. Visual arts, performing arts, theater, and literary arts help tap into imagination, creativity, and expression as part of improving health.
The Cardozo School of Law’s Loan Repayment Assistance Program provides financial support to enable the school’s graduates to embark on public service law careers. In 2008, the Laurie M. Tisch Illumination Fund made a five-year commitment to endow the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) in order to create opportunities for highly skilled advocates to enter careers to provide the underrepresented with access to justice.
The Children’s Museum of Manhattan (CMOM) uses creativity and the arts to help kids learn, express, and grow. The Illumination Fund played a catalytic role in supporting the development of CMOM’s health education initiatives, including programs, exhibitions, learning hubs in community sites across the City, and early childhood development curriculum that have been disseminated nationally.
In 2013, the Illumination Fund joined City Harvest to increase the scope and scale of the Healthy Neighborhoods Initiative. Healthy Neighborhoods was designed to take a geographically targeted, integrated approach to focus on five high-need neighborhoods – one in each borough – and to meet a range of food needs, from emergency food to healthy food retail.
Green City Force provides workforce training and leadership development for residents of public housing, ages 18 to 24, through an AmeriCorps public service model. The training focuses on environmentally linked skills for jobs in the “Green Economy.” Green City Force’s Urban Farm Corps members gain skills and receive additional training to launch their careers and become community leaders. In 2015, the Illumination Fund made a three-year grant to the Fund for Public Health, a City-affiliated nonprofit, to launch and the Green City Force program as “Farms at NYCHA.
The Illumination Fund and Hunter College created the Joan H. Tisch Community Health Prize in 2011, as part of a multi-faceted project to honor Joan Tisch’s legacy of leadership and philanthropy, including her key role in expanding Gay Men’s Health Crisis. The annual prize honors not-for-profit organizations and individuals for distinguished accomplishment in the field of urban public health. Since the first prize was announced in 2011, the Tisch Prize has become an increasingly sought-after honor, known throughout New York City as the award for leaders of grassroots public health organizations. The Prize validates and empowers these unsung heroes and their vitally important organizations, leading to increased recognition and influence.
Lincoln Center Scholars Alternative Teacher Certification Program. In 2014, Lincoln Center Education (LCE), the NYC Department of Education (NYC DOE), and Hunter College (Hunter) created the Lincoln Center Scholars Program to reduce disparities in access to arts education in NYC public schools. Since its launch, LC Scholars has trained 61 new arts teachers. This represents nearly one quarter of the total new arts teachers hired by the NYC DOE between 2014 and 2018.
August, 16, 2022 – Benefits of Dance/Movement Programs on Mental Health and Well-Being in Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence. First Randomized, Controlled Trial on the Impact of Movement for Survivors of Intimate Partner Violence
The Whitney Museum’s Laurie M. Tisch Education Center, which opened with the museum’s new building in 2015, was the Museum’s first permanent dedicated space for education in its history. The Laurie M. Tisch Education Center serves as the hub for expanded programming featuring a broad spectrum of activities designed to engage diverse audiences.