CHICAGO – Chicago White Sox Charities (CWSC) today announced five 2025 Diamond Impact Award recipients, each receiving a $125,000 one-time grant to continue project-based initiatives supporting youth education and advancement, children and families in crisis and health and wellness programming.
Aligning key CWSC giving pillars with the White Sox organization’s 125-year anniversary, recipients include the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Bartlett J. McCartin Club, Brightpoint’s Mitzi Freidheim Child & Family Center, Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center, Mobile Care Chicago and the National Museum of Mexican Art’s Yollocalli Arts Reach.
The 2025 Diamond Impact Awards elevate total CWSC giving to more than $50 million since its inception—a milestone achievement for the 501(c)(3) in its commitment to making Chicago a better place to live, work and play beyond the diamond.
“We are thrilled to join forces with these outstanding grant recipients, selected from a truly inspiring applicant pool for their dedication to addressing unique needs throughout our community,” said Christine O’Reilly, CWSC executive director and White Sox senior vice president of community relations. “These grants will fuel programs delivering meaningful, lasting impact for years to come. Moreover, they are a testament to the unwavering support of Sox fans and partners whose fundraising efforts have championed this mission.”
Each Diamond Impact grant supports a community-ready initiative for the following local organizations:
Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago Bartlett J. McCartin Club: CWSC grant support will help renovate the club’s Art Makerspace room while growing its overall footprint by more than 25 percent. Deepening youth exposure to digital, visual, applied and performing arts, the project aims to further inspire daily creative expression and introduce potential career pathways to more than 100 youth from across 27 zip codes – the Boys & Girls Clubs of Chicago’s largest art program. The White Sox-branded makerspace will be central to the club’s mission to empower youth with opportunities to discover their passions through the arts.
Brightpoint’s Mitzi Freidheim Child & Family Center: Aimed at improving safety, accessibility and developmental support for nearly 200 local families from Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood, Diamond Impact funding will help Brightpoint replace two outdated water heaters and install safe rubber surfacing to open a new playground area. White Sox-sponsored upgrades also include adding auditory panels in the center’s gross motor room, a dedicated area supporting physical development and coordination, among other sensory space improvements. These space enhancements are designed to create a more inclusive, nurturing environment where diverse learners—who make up 35 percent of the center’s no-cost, full-day early childhood care population—can play, explore and thrive.
Chicago Children’s Advocacy Center (CCAC): Grant support will champion the center’s four certified child life specialists with several new spaces for the 2,000+ children served by CCAC annually. The funding will cover essential furnishings and enhancements to dedicated rooms for teens and young children interacting with the care team, while creating a more welcoming environment for daily forensic child life interviews. Further providing comfort and emotional support for children during their most vulnerable moments, CCAC will update an outdoor playground and build a new “doggy dugout” for children to interact with the center’s facility dog.
Mobile Care Chicago: Expanding coverage to Chicago’s South and West Sides, Mobile Care’s grant funding will help the foundation introduce a second mobile dental unit that provides free, high-quality care to children at schools and daycares across underserved communities. There are 1,600 children who rely on Mobile Care for their dental needs, and these state-of-the-art, converted RV clinics often provide their only access to this essential, preventative care. The new unit will allow Mobile Care to offer twice-yearly cleanings and follow-up treatments like fillings, ensuring more children receive consistent, compassionate touchpoints with dentists to prevent serious issues and promote lifelong oral health.
National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) Yollocalli Arts Reach: NMMA will use Diamond Impact grant funding to help transform a decommissioned firehouse into a vibrant creative hub for its Yollocalli Arts Reach program, serving teens and young adults ages 13-24. The funding will support renovations and equipment for a new DJ booth and recording studio, core elements of the museum’s Youth Arts and Digital Media Education initiative. With programming space on the first floor and a youth-only area upstairs, Arts Reach will engage up to 400 young people, offering an inspiring, safe space to create, express themselves and build futures through the arts.
CWSC and the White Sox selected Diamond Impact Award recipients following a multiphase application process that included a public call for letters of intent, internal evaluation by a designated front office committee and a formal grant proposal submission.
Today’s announcement marks the start of a collaborative partnership to bring each of these community-focused projects to life. CWSC and the White Sox will work closely with each organization on branding efforts tied to their respective initiatives, with details surrounding project timelines, ribbon cuttings and additional milestones to be announced as plans develop.
For more information, visit whitesox.com/diamondawards.