Chicago Beyond

She has been called the toughest principal in America after we've seen her combat high school gang violence on CNN's "Chicagoland"... now, Liz Dozier has a new project that is investing millions to help Chicago's youth. She stopped by to tell us about Chicago Beyond.

Chicago Beyond launched with a mission to increase opportunity for Chicago's young people. The new organization announced an innovation challenge which will award up to $2 million to each winning program. Chicago Beyond is a new, privately held organization launched with the goal of creating opportunity and access that the young people of Chicago deserve in school, career and life. Led by Liz Dozier, Chicago Beyond will invest in innovative ideas and programs that impact two areas: youth safety and educational attainment.

Supporting College Matriculation and Graduation: programs that dramatically increase high school students on a path to complete two and four-year college degrees.

Re-engaging Youth in Work and School: targets 16 to 24-year-olds who are disconnected from both work and school and who are living in neighborhoods most impacted by violence. Programs should be designed to prevent involvement in violence by providing paid employment, workforce skill development, and/or educational re-engagement.

Chicago Beyond will focus on two kinds of investment initiatives: the GO Innovate challenge and GO Together investments. GO Innovate will have Chicago Beyond invest in and test new ideas from nonprofits, while GO Together will focus on expanding existing programs. Chicago Beyond will partner with the University of Chicago Urban Labs to evaluate the impact of initial investments in order to better understand what works, for whom, and why.

Chicago Beyond has invested in four nonprofit organizations that received funding from its GO Together initiative: SAGA Innovations, OneGoal, Youth Advocate Programs, and After School Matters.

The deadline for GO Innovate submissions is April 29.

Website: ChicagoBeyond.org