Chance the Rapper Served as Grand Marshal and Donated Backpacks at Bud Billiken Parade

On August 12, 2017, Chance the Rapper served as Grand Marshal at the 88th annual Bud Billiken Parade. This annual parade is an opportunity to highlight talented youth and to ring in the new school year. This year’s theme was “Honoring Our Hometown Heroes.” Post-parade activities followed, with a free surprise concert from Chance himself.

In addition to drawing tens of thousands of fans to the South Side of Chicago, Chance handed out 30,000 backpacks in an initiative from his charity SocialWorks and Brooklyn’s STATEBags. The backpacks were full of school supplies for kids attending the parade.

“Due to a lack of political leadership by the state and city on the topic of education, SocialWorks will begin to take initiative during the 2017–18 school year to ease some of the immense pressure put on teachers, students and parents. We admire the work we’ve seen by STATE and are proud to partner with them as we work towards enhancing education and the conversation around funding formulas nationally” says Chance the Rapper, Co-founder of SocialWorks.
STATEBags is a one-for-one company, providing a backpack full of school supplies to children in need for every bag purchased.

In addition to the donation of 30,000 backpacks at the Bud Billiken Parade, they have recently dedicated all of their giving efforts to children in Chicago’s most underfunded neighborhoods. These efforts will work in tandem with SocialWorks, the Chicago White Sox, and the Mayor’s Office.
https://www.statebags.com/pages/chicago
http://www.socialworkschi.org/donate

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