Paving the Path to Homeownership for Housing Choice Voucher Holders
Since the mid-20th century, homeownership has been one of the most important vehicles for building wealth in the United States. According to research from the…
Grants
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Our Grantmaking Strategy
For more than 100 years, The Chicago Community Trust has convened, supported, funded, and accelerated the work of community members and changemakers committed to strengthening the Chicago region. From building up our civic infrastructure to spearheading our response to the Great Recession, the Trust has brought our community together to face pressing challenges and seize our greatest opportunities.
Explore Our Discretionary Grants
Showing 5841–5848 of 4727 results
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Grant Recipient
Greater Chatham Initiative Inc
Through this project, GCI will reduce vacancies in Greater Chatham, ultimately leading to greater opportunity and prosperity in our community. We will accelerate equitable development and opportunity by helping businesses leverage SBIF funding through two key strategies: 1) providing one-on-one technical assistance to meet businesses’ needs and remove barriers to growth; and 2) providing catalytic direct grant funding to overcome obstacles. Together, these strategies will bring visible changes to our community and accelerate economic activity.
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Grant Recipient
Revolution Institute
Revolution Institute (RI) will partner with Project Equity (PE) to raise awareness of worker-owned cooperatives as a strategy to strengthen and retain local businesses and build meaningful wealth for workers in the Chicagoland area, and will provide technical assistance to help local businesses pursue and complete transitions to cooperative models. The objective is to facilitate the purchase of a manufacturing or energy company and convert it to employee ownership on behalf of distressed families and communities.
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Grant Recipient
FAITH IN PLACE
Faith in Place’s “Engaging Faith Communities to Advance the Local Food System” project builds on work to 1) sustain, strengthen, and expand our Congregation-Supported Agriculture (CSA) network; and 2) expand on our Community Incubator Kitchen model by facilitating the licensing of a second incubator kitchen, this one at Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Grant period activities include 1) continue to provide technical assistance, mentoring, and access to resources for our seven existing CSA program farm partners; 2) community outreach to explore adding more faith-based sustainable farms to our CSA network; 3) continue to provide technical assistance to guide Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church through the process of licensing a shared commercial kitchen in their building; 4) continue to provide technical assistance to Greater St. John Bible Church for long-term success as they transition into self-reliance and self-sustainability of their Community Incubator Kitchen operations and programming; 5) develop a Community Incubator Kitchen toolkit that focuses on lessons learned and policy hurdles; and 6) education and advocacy engagement with policymakers to remedy policies detrimental to CSA farm operations and to launching Community Incubator Kitchens at other houses of worship.
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Grant Recipient
18th Street Casa de Cultura NFP
¡Son Chiquitos! - “They Are Little Ones,” provides music and art-based programming that draws upon cultural traditions and Spanish language resources, embedded within the community, to guide healthy bilingual, bicultural child development. Son Chiquitos began in 2010 as an artist, educator and family network to provide culturally relevant music education for young children, ages 0-6. Over 15 years, the program has developed multiple formats for creating impactful learning experiences that strengthen children’s multilingual awareness and early bilingual literacy, and healthy multicultural identity development. Children and extended families often participate for several years, in some cases, from birth as participants, into related school-age programs we developed as an outgrowth, to older youth and young adults who volunteer with the program. In Fall, 2021, we incorporated Son Chiquitos and related programs into the 18th Street Casa de Cultura organization and 5,000 ft2 physical space, where we host and continue to grow Son Chiquitos programs; the physical space also allows us to provide access to an extensive, curated children’s multilingual reading collection, and areas for didactic displays and exhibits that rotate with the cultural themes. During the past 2024-25 season, 18th Street Casa de Cultura has been hosting and organizing the Son Chiquitos Foro Musical - Saturday morning immersion programs with art stations and a highly interactive live music presentation, designed with themes aligned to a cultural calendar. Curriculum and activities engage children in the construction of meaning and understanding of happenings around them, examining the roots of cultural traditions and activities in relationship to their community and cultural identities. The Son Chiquitos program presentation is currently a monthly community-family engagement event, generally with 50-100 attendees, where young children participate in art making, movement and singing. The program has also been provided to schools, Chicago Public Library branches and other community organizational events. Currently in our 4th year as 18th Street Casa de Cultura, and aligning to our current strategic planning process, we are excited to expand Son Chiquitos programming, increasing the frequency and type of offerings, so that ultimately, young children have more opportunities to engage in Son Chiquitos curriculum. Our goal is to maintain the Son Chiquitos Saturday Foro Musical, large community programs, and to begin offering weekly, size-capped classes providing early childhood music and literacy in small groups, with children able to attend regularly for deeper concept and fluency development. Other short term goals for Son Chiquitos include building our relationships with area schools and centers, where we can bring programs into early childhood classrooms, and support family engagement through music. With this program, we will be measuring our progress on these goals through two key indicators for expanding the scope and scale of our services. By increasing the frequency and type of programs we offer, we will grow the number of programs and number of constituents, expanding enrollment in programming, specifically for constituents to be participating more frequently in greater numbers of activities, increasing the impact of Son Chiquitos programming on children's development.
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Grant Recipient
El Valor Corp.
El Valor is requesting $50,000 from The Chicago Community Trust to support our high-quality, dual-language Head Start and Early Head Start programs, which serve more than 3,000 children and families across Pilsen, Little Village, South Chicago, and Cicero. Our early education model integrates STEAM learning, technology access, and holistic support, including wellness initiatives such as the CALM Classroom method, to promote school readiness and overall well-being. Additionally, we provide over 300,000 nutritious meals annually to support children's health and development. We recognize that early childhood education is a critical investment in both individual and community health. Through wellness screenings, family engagement, and culturally responsive services, El Valor strengthens family stability and helps close opportunity gaps for low-income households. This funding will help us continue delivering consistent, impactful programming despite sector-wide funding challenges.
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Grant Recipient
The Experimental Station: 6100 Blackstone
Since 2008, Experimental Station’s 61st Street Farmers Market in Chicago’s Woodlawn neighborhood has been a pioneering model in serving an under-resourced and under-represented community. One of the first markets in Chicago to accept SNAP, the 61st Street Farmers Market was the first in Illinois to match SNAP purchases, making the Market’s foods accessible by making them more affordable. The Market has also provided a model to markets throughout Illinois in best practices for engaging under-represented populations and building connections among both children and adults to nutritious foods. Experimental Station is requesting general operating support to sustain our 61st Street Farmers Market and the Market's educational offerings, fostering a healthy food culture and better health and wellbeing for more than 1,000 members of our South Side community.
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Grant Recipient
Black Researchers Collective
We're building capacity of Chicago communities with community organizers and movement builders by advancing civic education, increasing research and data literacy, involving residents in state and local policy, and actively engaging folx in a participatory process to activate what they've learned for the benefit of their communities. This work primarily lives in our Community Education & Action Research pillar, and is fully executed in partnership with a number of our Community Anchor Organizations. For FY2025-26, we're working with the following communities and anchor organizations to actively contribute to the economic vitality of Chicago neighborhoods: (1) West Garfield Park: Garfield Park Community Council, (2) Grand Boulevard: Community Assets Builders Association, (3) South Shore: Real Men Charities, and (4) Washington Heights: Elevated Survivorship.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Torture Justice Center
With renewed support from the Chicago Community Trust, the Chicago Torture Justice Center (CTJC) will continue to offer free healing and wellness services to survivors and families impacted by police violence in connection with advocacy for systems change. That work includes individual and group counseling sessions, community healing initiatives, and trainings in mental health, race-based trauma, and Know Your Rights. General operating funds will allow us to grow our capacity to offer individual- and community-based healing interventions to meet this quickly changing moment.