Two Chicago Winners Receive Prestigious MacArthur Fellowship

Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Inner City Muslim Active Network in Chicago, addresses the audience at the Second Annual IFTAR held at the United States Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010.
Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Inner City Muslim Active Network in Chicago, addresses the audience at the Second Annual IFTAR held at the United States Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010. U.S. Department of Agriculture
Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Inner City Muslim Active Network in Chicago, addresses the audience at the Second Annual IFTAR held at the United States Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010.
Rami Nashashibi, executive director of Inner City Muslim Active Network in Chicago, addresses the audience at the Second Annual IFTAR held at the United States Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Aug. 31, 2010. U.S. Department of Agriculture

Two Chicago Winners Receive Prestigious MacArthur Fellowship

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The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced the 24 winners of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship, better known as the “genius” grants, on Tuesday.

The lucky winners will receive $625,000 — no strings attached — decided by a committee without the knowledge of the winners. 

The 2017 winner list includes a wide array of people from a historian in Cambridge, Massachusetts to an architect in New York City. Two of the winners are from Chicago — photographer Dawoud Bey and community leader Rami Nashashibi.

Nashashibi, the co-founder and executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, joins Morning Shift to discuss his organization that works for social change on the South Side.