About the Chicago Headline Club Foundation

The Chicago Headline Club Foundation is an IRS-recognized 501c3 nonprofit devoted to providing education and related services to Chicago-area journalism.

Its mission is to provide funding to professional, student and citizen journalists for the enhancement of responsible and ethical media practices.

The CHC and the foundation work together to fund and administer the Les Brownlee Memorial Scholarship, which honors the trailblazing journalist and educator, the first Black president of the Chicago Headline Club. Undergraduate journalism students at Chicago and Illinois colleges and universities can apply for the $5,000 scholarship. For more details about applying, see Scholarships.

Scholarship winners and internship grant recipients are selected by the Chicago Headline Club Foundation board.

The foundation holds at least one fundraising event annually. It also receives a portion of the revenue from the Peter Lisagor Awards and the FOIA Fest to fund future activities.

The foundation also receives a grant from the Driehaus Foundation to support the Watchdog Fund for Investigative Reporting and the Watchdog Award for Excellence in Public Interest Reporting.

The foundation awards two $5,000 grants to nonprofit organizations each year. These grants enable organizations to hire and train interns for investigative journalism. Recent recipients have included the Investigative Project on Race and Equity and Reader Institute for Community Journalism. For details, see Grants for Media.


Your contributions are also welcome at:
P.O. Box 10397
540 N. Dearborn St.
Chicago, IL 60610-0397

We would be grateful if you would include CHCF in your estate planning.

Foundation Board of Directors:

Molly McDonough
President
Director of Marketing, Cornerstone Research | Former Editor/Publisher, ABA Journal

Laura S. Washington
Vice President
Contributing Columnist, Chicago Tribune | Political Analyst, ABC-7 Chicago

Greg Karp
Treasurer
Retired, NerdWallet | Chicago Tribune

Susan Stevens
Acting Secretary/Past President CHCF
Freelance Journalist

Jillian Melero
Immediate Past President CHC

Foundation Directors

Casey Bukro
Retired, Chicago Tribune

Samantha Drake
Associate, Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

Howard Dubin
Chairman, Manufacturers’ News, Inc.

Sylvia Ewing
Vice President of Marketing and Communications, Slipstream | WTTW/PBS Pledge Host

Dann Gire
Cinema Instructor, Loyola University Chicago | Film Critic, Chicago Daily Herald

Michael Puente
Reporter, WBEZ Chicago | Adjunct Professor, Calumet College | Guest Host, WTTW/Chicago PBS

Storer H. Rowley
Lecturer, Medill School of Journalism & School of Communication, Northwestern University | Contributing Writer, Washington Monthly

Stan Zoller
Independent Journalist