A special announcement from Elizabeth Galik, founding Executive Director of R CITY.
Dear Friends of R CITY,
This week following the national holiday, I'm writing with a heart full of thanksgiving. Eight years ago in the fall of 2015, we opened the doors of R CITY. While those of us starting the organization had been in the neighborhood for over ten years, we were starting everything R CITY from scratch. The logo, the supporters, the systems--even the bank account began at zero. But season after season after season, God blessed the work.
The first youth--now young adults--came and laughed and designed and innovated and handed off to the next year's youth. We did art and music. We did homework and parties. We welcomed the little brothers and sisters and dreamed up jobs for the graduating teens just so they could stay on with us. It was new and exciting and challenging and all-encompassing.
Then in 2017, we received another gift, bringing the staff and programs of Harambee Chicago Foundation into R CITY. We gained the immense faith and expertise of Michelle and Anthony Johnson and Charnesha Collier. Our fledgling apprenticeship ideas joined with the full-grown model of Harambee tuckpointing apprenticeships, and the match was immediate. R CITY's kindergarten to career continuum became a reality.
With the addition of Harambee's experienced founders, a staff leadership team was born that could last through myriad hardships--and it did. My year of working from Puerto Rico in 2018-19. The pandemic, scarcity, and racial pain of 2020. The remote learning lasting through 2021. My medical leave of 2022. The immense growth of the organization, receiving first foundation and then government grants, growing the staff team to 20 and annual income to $1M in 2023. And through it all, youth and more youth and even more youth: the smiles making every hour of work so very worth it.
It has been one of my life's greatest gifts to be right in the middle of this movement of God.
At the same time, God has been moving in my own life. My husband Charlie and I received opportunities to impact Chicago's lack of affordable housing by landlording buildings that came to us in strange ways--and so we did. We received the gift of guardianship, dozens of children who lived with our family for periods of time, leaving their impact on our hearts much longer than they were with us. They and their mommas became our Chicago family. And then came the day when one of those beloved mommas was called Home--and our home became filled for good with our new sons and daughters.
As these gifts of home ministry have risen, I have entered a season where they need to be my primary work. Thankfully, the magnificent staff leaders that have come so far with me are here now to carry R CITY into its next season of growth and innovation.
In January 2024, I will step out of the Executive Director role, remaining with R CITY as Finance Lead to continue managing R CITY's grants and finance. At that time, the Executive Director role will be filled by the magnificent Charnesha Collier. She will be supported by myself, our board of directors, and Michelle Johnson, Director of Administration.
This role is the culmination of years of leadership development for Char, who began as a youth in the Harambee program. Throughout the years, Char served as Assistant Crew Leader, Head Crew Leader, Assistant Director of Apprenticeships, Director of Apprenticeships, Acting Director of Programs, Director of Programs, and now Executive Director. Charnesha has her Bachelor's degree in Education from Concordia University and has trained in nonprofit ministry at Christian Community Development Association, the Axelson Center, and other nonprofit training partners. Having served as R CITY's Director of Programs for the last year, Char has shown herself to be an excellent leader for both staff and youth. It is my great honor to place the role I love so much in her hands.
As I step away into my finance spreadsheets, I go with one parting wish: to build the R CITY playspace. I believe so much in what we have built at R CITY, and I believe so much in what Char and our team will continue to build in the future. The children and youth will keep coming and growing there, and anyone who knows children know they need to run. But the local parks I have walked the children to for so many years have proven themselves too unsafe to continue to visit, and I want so much to give our team and our youth something better. If you would, would you celebrate this transition with me with a gift to our Building Together campaign? It would be my great joy to not only hand on a solid organization, but also a safe outdoor space for the many years to come.
