New Sustainability Strategic Priority: Advance sustainability policies and community-based practices

Sustainability funding opportunities:

1. Developing sustainability policies and practices

2. Supporting community-based practices to promote sustainable development

Developed land in the Chicago region grew by 66% between 1960 and 1990 while the population increased by a mere 14%. This pattern continued, somewhat slowed, in the late 1990s. As urbanized land expanded geographically, people became more dependent on automobiles; car trips and distances increased; walking and public transit use declined. Federal, state and local policy and regulations favored investments in and around highways over public transportation and encouraged separation of land uses, with homes located far away from job centers and commercial districts.

This model of growth is harmful to our environment and affects our global competitiveness. Experts estimate that over $7 billion is lost to traffic congestion every year in the Chicago metro area. Because housing and commercial buildings of the past century were rarely energy-efficient, high utility costs affect housing affordability and businesses’ bottom line. According to climate change studies, buildings alone are responsible for 70% of gas emissions. There are social costs as well: traditional development patterns keep minorities and low-income residents in segregated communities with less access to jobs, public transit and community amenities and poor environmental health indicators.

The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP) projects that the region’s population will grow by more than 2 million new residents by 2040. Under CMAP leadership, the region has developed the GO TO 2040 plan which balances population growth with more effective land use. The plan and projects undertaken by some exemplary nonprofit organizations will shape the Trust’s work.

The following indicators may be considered as successful measures of sustainability:

Percentage of residents within walking distance to a transit stop.
Number of vacant and underutilized acres redeveloped as mixed-use parcels .
Percentage of residents spending less than 45% of income in housing and transit .
Number of housing units retrofitted as energy-efficient.
Acres of parks/open space per resident.

The Trust is working closely with CMAP through MetroPulse and other initiatives to refine the GOTO2040 Plan indicators and those related to the Trust’s funding priorities.

Grant making in Sustainability supports Community Goal #4: Transforming the region through sustainable development.

Funding Opportunity 1: Developing sustainability policies and practices

There are many challenges to implementing the GO TO 2040 plan. To begin with, many neighborhoods and communities are already built in a very inefficient manner. Local plans, development policies and regulations (zoning) still keep land uses separated. Decisions on public infrastructure are often based on politics and old ways of planning, rather than efficiency. The region’s 280 autonomous units of government and 1,200 taxing districts need to work in a coordinated manner to manage the regional growth effectively, but presently there are few incentives to coordination. Many of our region’s leaders lack a deep understanding of what it means to develop livable communities.

Still, there is growing awareness that sustainable development offers principles and tools that can help individual communities and the region as a whole to achieve environmental, economic and social efficiency. The economic crisis has made it clear that the most resilient communities (those weathering the foreclosure and unemployment crises) are those that have been developed “smartly,” i.e., are accessible to work centers and include affordable housing and open space. And the federal government has also provided significant leadership through a $150 million Sustainable Communities Initiative—a collaboration between the U.S. Dept. of Housing and Urban Development, the U.S. Dept. of Transportation and the Environmental Protection Agency—which has already awarded millions to CMAP and other local leaders in sustainable development.

Outcomes Sought

Increased knowledge among our region’s leaders about the benefits of sustainable development and the costs of unplanned growth.
More financial resources and incentives to private sector and local governments to promote sustainable development, and removal of existing obstacles.
More and better coordinated infrastructure investments (especially housing and transportation), guided by sustainability policies and principles.

Our Funding

For more than a decade, the Trust has supported nonprofits that advance the building blocks of sustainability—land use, transportation, environment, economic development—to create a more livable region. The Trust was also a key supporter of two plans led by government agencies that can change the way we grow as a region: the Chicago Climate Action Plan spearheaded by the City of Chicago, and GO TO 2040. More recently, the Trust has supported the federal Sustainable Communities Initiative and the grants this program has awarded in our region.

The Trust will continue supporting nonprofit advocates, as well as government agencies tasked with implementing these plans on the ground. The Trust will request proposals from regional organizations working in support of a more sustainable region through research, communications and educational campaigns, advocacy, policy development and technical assistance. Priority will be given to nonprofits that demonstrate commitment and leadership to refine and implement the Chicago Climate Action Plan, the GO TO 2040 Plan and the federal Sustainable Communities Initiative.

Requests for Proposals

This RFP was released on March 15. Proposals are due by May 4. Read complete details and begin your grant application

Please direct all inquiries to Ngoan Le, Vice President of Program, at

Funding Opportunity 2: Supporting community-based practices to promote sustainable development

Many residents of the Chicago area depend on cars because they have no viable alternatives: their communities have been built on the premise that people can and will use a car for every purpose beyond the front door. Other communities have suffered disinvestment over the years, losing jobs, retail and seeing their housing stock and parks deteriorate. They have also lost transit stops and service, further isolating their already low-income residents from jobs and amenities.

New indices measuring housing plus transportation (H+T) affordability show that low- and moderate-income families could reduce their expenses if their homes and jobs were connected through public transportation. In the Chicago metropolitan area, more than half of low- and moderate-income households spend 45% or more of their income on housing and transportation combined. Without proper community engagement and policies preventing displacement, renters, minorities and low-income households tend to be priced out of neighborhoods when new transit stops are created, to the benefit of higher-income homebuyers moving into the neighborhood.

In addition to the lack of easy connection between affordable housing and jobs, low-income communities also face environment-related health effects. They lack access to fresh and nutritious food within walking distance, and they are more likely to suffer the consequences of pollution. For instance, large areas of contaminated land (“brownfields”) exist in de-industrialized, low-income neighborhoods of Chicago and the suburbs.

A limited number of “livable” communities have affordable housing that is well connected through transit to jobs and other opportunities, while the vast majority of people must rely on cars or a patchwork of poorly coordinated transit options. For our region to thrive, we need not only “pockets of sustainability,” but an overall metropolitan area where the costs and benefits of growth are equitably distributed. We must close the gaps between communities that are livable and well-connected and those that are not. Communities with the lowest scorings in quality of life indicators should be specifically supported to achieve their sustainability goals.

In order to achieve this, all community residents must be well informed about the costs of unplanned growth and disinvestment and the benefits of sustainable development. All residents, especially those traditionally disconnected from the planning and development processes, must be included and actively engaged in planning and decision-making. And equity standards should be in place and monitored to ensure that implementation of sustainable development does not benefit the better-off residents to the detriment of lower-income people.

Outcomes Sought

Up to ten communities serve as regional and national models of livability and engagement of their community residents in sustainable planning and practices. They report progress in community participation:

Increased percentage and diversity of residents participating in educational campaigns and planning for sustainability.
Increased equity in the way the benefits of sustainable development are distributed throughout our region.

Our Funding

The Trust will work with CMAP and other public and philanthropic funders to support the engagement of community residents in sustainable planning and implementation. The Trust will issue a request for proposals for community-based organizations advancing resident engagement and equity in connection with sustainability planning and initiatives.

Requests for Proposals

RFPs will be released in November and proposals will be due in January.

Please direct all inquiries to Ngoan Le, Vice President of Program, at