The Utopia Connect Foundation will reimagine how we improve the quality of living standards through the investments we make in women and girls. We will do this through strategic projects, mentorship programs, community engagement, and by designing spaces that create pathways for beneficiaries to connect their life dots. 

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The Utopia Connect Foundation (UCF) is a 501 (c) (3) public organization that connects people to opportunities within Chicago by either creating or heightening resources. We work in marginalized communities and build close relationships with youth; families; women and girls; and other invested entities to advance community wellness. We do this by engaging the whole community through various projects and by catalyzing people to become their best selves. Our ultimate goal is to help shape a city that is safe and resourceful because we invested our energy in empowering its people.

We believe that access and empowerment is the key to healthier communities; therefore: 

• We have liaised with and supported select non-profits in reaching their vision by helping them to connect more effectively with the community at large.

• We've helped young people to navigate relations with law enforcement and help them to deter the detriments of attaining a criminal record by intentionally engaging them in community projects and reported back to the courts.

• We continue to nurture leadership skills in young people through our Young Executive Impact Board, allowing them to be drivers in determining some of the solutions to the problems in their own city. 

• One of Utopia’s greatest aspirations is to empower women, youth, and their families. To date and in our work with young people and communities, we see this empowerment manifest itself in the degrees of knowledge being gained and in the ability of the people we work with to gain transferrable skills.

Calling for gender equality,  this quote from Michelle Obama helps us put our work in perspective and keeps us pushing forward no matter how grim the landscape may seem. Obama says, "No, it will not be easy.  If we can make this kind of project — progress in just a year — in just a year — if we keep putting in this effort and this investment that these girls deserve, we can get this done.  I know we are all up to the task.  I know we are.  I see it in your eyes.  I know you feel that burning sensation, that sense of unfairness.  Turn that into action.  Turn that passion into something real.  Those girls will be so grateful, because they are all of us.  They are my daughters, and they are you.”

 

Obama made the speech while encouraging movement on International Women's Day 2020. Be inspired too!

 

We encourage your support in helping us reach our vision.