The South Shore community Yvonne Welbon grew up in was vibrant. Today, the award-winning filmmaker and founder and CEO of nonprofit Sisters in Cinema is on a mission to help get South Shore thriving again after decades of disinvestment. And, with the recent opening of her organization’s Media Arts Center on South Shore’s 75th Street corridor, she’s well on her way. Getting to this point, Welbon says, has been a long road but as she looks to the future, she’s grateful for those who have supported and partnered with Sisters in Cinema as it’s grown, including the University of Chicago’s Community Programs Accelerator.
Welbon first connected with the Accelerator—which operates within UChicago’s Office of Civic Engagement and helps equip nonprofits that serve the South Side with tools and resources to fulfill their unique missions—when she was in the early stages of building out what was originally an online resource about African American filmmakers as a nonprofit that delivers a wide array of community events and program offerings for Black girls, women, and gender nonconforming media makers. Welbon attended free Accelerator workshops, received website assistance from UChicago students, and used Accelerator office space for meetings. In the years that followed, the partnership grew deeper.
“I don't think we would be where we are without having had that opportunity to work with the Community Programs Accelerator, particularly those courses early on,” Welbon said. “Just even understanding the language—the nonprofit world is a whole other world.”
Starting in 2021, Welbon participated in the inaugural cohort of the Accelerator’s South Side Neighborhood Capacity Partnership program alongside fellow South Shore organizations the Neighborhood Network Alliance, the South Shore Chamber of Commerce, and South Shore Works. The program aims to advance a shared place-based vision and build the organizational capacity and investment-readiness of South Side community-based nonprofits operating in under-resourced Black communities.
Through that experience, Welbon took part in a two-year-long series of facilitated exchanges with fellow member organizations within her cohort while Sisters in Cinema received individualized support from the Accelerator team.
“Even though I grew up in South Shore and live in South Shore, creating an organization in my community is really different from just being a resident,” Welbon said. “By being in a cohort with those three organizations, I was able to not only build relationships with the leadership but also learn about the community and the work that's being done in the community. You need to understand the ecosystem that you are going to be part of so this was a great way to do that and to understand our shared vision of what we wanted for our community and then to work together toward achieving that shared vision.”
Partnering with the Accelerator and UChicago more broadly has been transformational in that it has come at no cost to the organization, Welbon says, and has provided everything from leadership development to donated furniture for the Media Arts Center without requiring her team to trek downtown or out to the suburbs. The emphasis on supporting South Shore organizations, too, has meant a lot to Welbon and her team, particularly working with Accelerator Executive Director Sharon Grant, who grew up in South Shore herself.
The partnership program’s support included graduate students assisting with strategic and operations planning and helping Sisters in Cinema apply for grants, including one from the State of Illinois that awarded the organization nearly $210,000. Direct grant funding of $80,000 was provided as well through the Chicago Community Trust, which partnered with the Accelerator as part of their Catalyzing Neighborhood Investment strategy. The funds allowed Welbon and her team to hire a part-time staffer to oversee the Media Arts Center Operational Plan Design. Welbon says she found working with an Accelerator-provided HR consultant especially meaningful—not only did the consultant help update employee practices and policies, she also recognized the organization’s women-centric mission and provided thoughtful insights like recommending they include a dedicated lactation space in construction plans.
Since it opened in March, the Media Arts Center has been buzzing with activity. Beyond the array of programming the center offers—a documentary fellowship for Black women and gender non-conforming directors, curated screening series, regular media industry networking events, and youth-focused programs, among others—Welbon hopes her organization can continue to inspire both the media-makers it serves and her community as a whole.
“People come in and they're just so happy to see it there and to see something happening on this corridor,” Welbon said. “We're really hoping that it'll be a catalyst for revitalization of our neighborhood and I'm just excited to be part of that renaissance.”
