We have some cool news to share! Our tour guides are very proud to help spread the word about the Chicago Detours scholarship for local history students. We want to support awesome scholars in Chicago history. And we’re also rolling out a grant program for local non-profits. We tour guides at Chicago Detours fund these two programs by donating part of the the gratuities we get from our public walking tours.
Chicago Detours Scholarship
For the scholarship, we are awarding $10,000 to 1-2 undergraduate or graduate students’ tuition. We’re looking for students studying of Chicago’s history, architecture, tourism, sociology, urban geography and archival research. We’re looking for folks with outstanding achievements, demonstrated leadership, and financial need. Deadline for application is November 15, 2017.
The funds for this scholarship have come from the donations of tour guides for the last three years. As we tell guests after each tour, we like to make an impact outside of leading tours. So the Chicago Detours tour guides, including yours truly, have been giving 50% of our tips to our scholarship fund. It’s a way to say that expanding our understanding of history can go beyond just that of our tours.
Giving Program
We’re also announcing the Chicago Detours Giving Program. This will give a grant to a local non-profit that contributes to our community via education, archival work, and/or job training in the fields of history, architecture, urban studies, and the arts. Chicago Detours is looking to support a specific program, class, or project.
We want to support something specific so that we can understand where the money goes and feel a greater connection to something good! This is why we are not supporting general funding. We will promote the winning organization on our website as well a press release, blog posts, social media, and descriptions on our walking tours. It’s a pretty sweet deal, and we’ll do it for one to two years.
Just like the Chicago Detours scholarship, the grant recipient will be funded through tour guide donations. We have an average of 275 tour guests per month. The guides give 50% of their gratuities from those guests to these initiatives.
We want to be a part of a bigger community beyond our tiny office in the Monadnock Building, and this is our way to give back! Applications for both the scholarship and Giving Program are available on our website.
Normally, a small businesses like ours isn’t exactly in the business of giving money away. So, please do spread the word to philanthropic groups or any history teachers and professors you may know!
-Amanda Scotese, Executive Director of Chicago Detours
