Welcome to Minds Matter of Chicago

We’ve been committed to making college education a reality for accomplished high school students from low-income families since we first opened our doors in 2006. This year, 140 volunteers from the Chicago area will be helping 43 mentees from 11 area schools!

Minds Matter of Chicago is a chapter of the national Minds Matter organization. Since its founding in New York City in 1991, the effectiveness of Minds Matter has been affirmed - 100% of the students have been accepted into 4-year colleges. Our organization has expanded to 8 cities including Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Los Angeles, New York, Portland, and San Francisco.

Spring for the Students a Huge Success!

Thank you to everyone who joined Minds Matter of Chicago to make Spring for the Students a fantastic evening! Attendees enjoyed music and remarks from our honoree, former Bears player and founder of 88 Wayz Youth Foundation, Desmond Clark, in the beautiful River East Arts Center.

A special thanks to our corporate sponsors who helped make the evening possible, including: Citadel, DRW Trading, GTCR, Hale Company, Invesco, Kaplan, Madision Dearborn Partners, and RBC.

Back to College Party: An A+ Evening

A record 200 people came out to support our Back to College Party on November 12 at District Bar. Through event and raffle ticket sales, we brought in $5,500 in proceeds, making a big impact in paying for our students' learning materials and summer program costs.

The party, which included 3 hours of open bar at District's upscale sports lounge, transported us back to college for the evening. Decked out college gear, we played corn hole and beer pong and dance the night away.

And for our two raffle winners, the fun continues! Mentor Mike Stehle and friend of Minds Matter Katie Skogmo each won a pair of 100-level seat tickets to the upcoming Chicago Blackhawks vs. New York Islanders game. Go Hawks!

A sincere thank you to all who made the fundraiser a success: ticket buyers, attendees, Sterling Partners for their generous raffle prize donation, and Minds Matter of Chicago Co-Directors of Fundraising Hannah Hale and Luke Marker for planning a great event!