Polk Bros. Foundation announces grant recipients of its Risk Reduction Strategies to Prevent Overdose RFP
August 17, 2026
$1,075,000 in grants ranging from $60,000 to $120,000 awarded to advance the Foundation’s goal of Closing the Life Expectancy Gap in Chicago
Polk Bros. Foundation has awarded $1.075 million in grants to 15 organizations through its Risk Reduction Strategies to Prevent Overdose Request for Proposals (RFP), one of three funding opportunities issued in February 2026 as part of the Foundation’s transition to its new grantmaking goals. The grantmaking opportunity was designed to explore promising, community-driven approaches to preventing overdose deaths while also informing the Foundation’s future grantmaking.
This RFP attracted 59 letters of interest, with 15 organizations ultimately selected for funding following a competitive, two-phase review process.
“These organizations are helping redefine what’s possible in preventing overdose,” said Polk Bros. Foundation CEO Gillian Darlow. “Their work offers hope that communities can build systems of care grounded in trust and healing.”
Throughout the Foundation’s transition period, nonprofit leaders, people with lived experience, and public health partners described overdose not as an isolated crisis, but as the predictable result of interconnected challenges such as housing instability, incarceration, untreated trauma, stigma and fragmented systems of care.
“Every overdose death is preventable,” said Polk Bros. Foundation Program Officer Orlando “Chilly” Mayorga. “People are more likely to seek help, stay connected to care and reduce their risk of overdose when they’re treated with dignity instead of judgment and have trusted places to turn for support. That’s the kind of work these organizations are leading every day.”
The grants were informed by a recognition that investing differently — in trusted community organizations that employ people with lived experience and offer resources that reduce harm — can engage people who often distrust public systems and can create pathways toward healing.
“The infrastructure behind risk reduction, which is a proven approach to preventing overdose and injury, has been woefully under-resourced. Strong, collaborative organizations, like the ones awarded through this grant opportunity, and coordinated systems are what make lasting progress possible,” said Polk Bros. Foundation Senior Program Officer Divya Mohan Little.
Together, these grants strengthen the community infrastructure that help people survive a crisis and then reconnect to care and move toward healthier futures.
Organizations receiving grants:
- AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Connection to Harm Reduction (C2HR)
- Chicago Recovery Alliance
General Operating Support
- Collaborative Bridges
Embedding Risk Reduction in Integrated Care Model
- University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health
Community Outreach Intervention Projects (COIP) – RECenter
- Franciscan Outreach
General Operating Support
- Healthcare Alternative Systems
General Operating Support
- Human Resources Development Institute
Risk Reduction Care Coordination Expansion
- Chicago Recovery Alliance
as fiscal sponsor for Illinois Harm Reduction and Recovery Coalition
- The Night Ministry
General Operating Support
- Chicago Recovery Alliance
as fiscal sponsor for Puerto Rico Project
- Street Samaritans
General Operating Support
- Northwestern Medicine
Substance Treatment & Engagement Program (STEP) Clinic Discharge Intervention Model
- Transforming Reentry Services
General Operating Support
- Prevention Partnership
as fiscal sponsor for West Side Heroin / Opioid Task Force
- A Safe Haven Foundation
as fiscal sponsor for Women’s Justice Institute
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