Grants

Grant Recipient

CENTRO ROMERO

Awarded: May 2025 Awarded Amount: $10,000

Centro Romero is seeking $50,000 in grant funds for our Community Navigator program. Our community navigators have been at the forefront in serving our immigrant community. From long-standing immigrants to the most recent asylum seekers, all have received a service and or referral to the resources they need. Some of these services include legal immigration services, KYR, access to healthcare, including mental health workshops, becoming a US citizen, and how to be engaged and advocate for themselves.

Grant Recipient

Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project

Awarded: May 2025 Awarded Amount: $15,000

Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project (FLAP) is applying for a $15,000 grant from Nuestro Futuro to extend its comprehensive support programs over a 12-month period. This funding will enhance FLAP's ongoing efforts to empower Latine immigrants across the Chicago metropolitan area, including the substantial communities in Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, and Will Counties. FLAP's initiatives are especially designed to address the systemic disparities faced by Latine immigrants who transition from their professional careers in their home countries to often underappreciated and underpaid roles in the U.S., thereby reinforcing their critical role in local economies and communities.

Grant Recipient

Expanded Mental Health Services of Chicago NFP

Awarded: May 2025 Awarded Amount: $10,000

Expanded Mental Health Services of Chicago NFP (EMHS) is an organization dedicated to community centered mental health care that is culturally responsive, equitable, and accessible. First establishing The Kedzie Center in 2014 and LoSAH Center of Hope in 2024, these organizations are TWO of Chicago’s first community funded mental health organizations. Each center provides mental health programming for people of all ages in Albany Park, Irving Park, and Sauganash, North Park; and Avondale, Hermosa, and Logan Square - some of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Chicago and historic points of entry for immigrant families. Equity is at the forefront of what we do – each of our centers is staffed with bilingual therapists. We offer trauma-informed therapy and early childhood programming—such as Abriendo Puertas, Child-Parent Psychotherapy, our Lil' Explorers playgroup, and culturally attuned parent workshops. These services center the needs of families navigating all types of trauma including migration trauma, parent-child attachment, and systemic barriers to care - regardless of a family’s insurance status or ability to pay. In FY23, 57% of our clients had Medicaid, 19% had private insurance, 18% were uninsured, and 6% had Medicare. We are noting a trend of more uninsured and underinsured residents in our communities. We continue to proactively seek families who are most likely to benefit from our services but least likely to engage through routine channels—particularly newly arrived, undocumented, or under-resourced families. Our families appreciate programming: at the end of a cycle, one parent shared, “El programa fue muy bonito. Realmente lo vamos a extrañar” (“The program was very beautiful. We will truly miss it.”). For many families, this begins their participation in multiple activities at our centers. As anxiety about deportation, housing instability, and separation continues to rise—especially among undocumented and asylum-seeking families—the need for safe, healing spaces for young children grows. EMHS remains steadfast in our mission: to reduce barriers, expand care, and nurture emotional wellbeing from the very beginning of life.

Grant Recipient

Northside College Preparatory High School

Awarded: June 2025 Awarded Amount: $5,000

Grant Recipient

CHINESE AMERICAN SERVICE LEAGUE INC

Awarded: June 2025 Awarded Amount: $61,500

CASL early childhood programs serve over 90 children from low-income families, most of whom have limited English proficiency and nearly half of whom have special needs, and approximately 120 parents and/or caregivers. Early childhood programs include hands-on classroom experience for parents of infants and toddlers ages 0-2, pre-school classrooms for children ages 3-5, home visiting for families to provide individualized parenting and child education, and support for parents and caregivers from a family service worker. The family service worker helps families navigate confusing and complex transitions to providers of special needs services and public education.

Grant Recipient

Brave Space Alliance

Awarded: June 2025 Awarded Amount: $50,000

Brave Space Alliance (BSA) respectfully requests a $50,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust in support of our general operations. During a time when hostile policies increasingly target the LGBTQ+ community, support from the Trust will help us to continue serving our community by providing a safe space, meeting our constituents’ basic needs, protecting gender-affirming care, and boldly advocating for the liberation of all people. Addressing Critical Needs BSA was founded specifically to serve Black and brown trans and LGB+ people on the South and West Sides of Chicago. Our work begins at our Hyde Park Community Center, where we offer holistic support programs to meet the critical needs of our constituents, as defined in the RFP. These wrap-around services are based on the pillars of Health, Housing, Food, and Identity, and include: -Health: onsite HIV and STI testing and counseling, referrals to culturally-competent, gender-affirming care, linkage to PrEP, health literacy education materials (including sexual health education), behavioral health support sessions, support groups, and an on-site clinic (on track to begin operating in late 2025) -Housing: our Jasmine Alexander Housing Building offers temporary residential support for up to 15 housing-insecure individuals for up to 18 months. All residents are trans or LGB+ individuals who are housing insecure and living with or vulnerable to HIV/AIDS. Programming also includes financial literacy education and workforce development training to build household wealth and economic security. -Food: BSA’s Community Pantry serves as an alternative food system for the community members we serve, who often don’t feel comfortable visiting other food pantry locations for fear of identity-based judgment or violence. -Identity: The Dignity Suite (rooms offering free, gender-affirming clothing, accessories, and hygiene items), free barber and beautician services, free transit passes, technical assistance enrolling in SNAP and other benefits, pop-up name change clinics, and ballroom events and classes. Collective Power BSA builds collective power in our community by uplifting the voices of our community members. BSA was founded in part to address the lack of influence BIPOC trans and LGB+ people have within institutions that made decisions affecting our lives. BSA is a “for us, by us” organization, with 100% of our program staff as queer people of color. Black and brown trans and LGB+ people are represented at key decision-making positions at all levels of BSA, from volunteer members to staff to the Board of Directors. BSA’s staff represents the community we serve and draws on the skills, knowledge, and resilience of the community to develop creative responses and long-term solutions. We regularly hire from the community we serve, and are committed to equitable workplace practices, including providing training and professional development for employees. BSA also builds collective power by educating our community members about policies that impact them, and empowering them to speak out on behalf of the community, and take action in the public arena. Policy Change BSA pursues policy change through our advocacy work. As Chicago's only Black-led, trans-led LGBTQ+ organization, BSA occupies a unique role in Chicago’s community organizing and social justice work ecosystem, bridging the gaps between community organizations working on trans and LGB+ rights, racial and economic justice, and gender justice. Though our advocacy work quickly evolves in response to a changeable political and social climate, it can generally be broken down into the following categories: -Advocacy Coalitions: BSA participates in coalitions at the local and state levels, and maintains working partnerships with a variety of Chicago and Illinois coalitions, including Equality Illinois. -Community Policing Reform: We serve on the Community Advisory Committee for the Chicago Police Department’s initiative to reform community policing policy. -Know-Your-Rights Trainings: We host regular know-your-rights trainings, including recent trainings focusing on the rights of migrants. -Training Workshops: BSA offers a comprehensive suite of training for groups looking to learn about intersectional trans-awareness and anti-racism. A recent highlight of our advocacy work includes CEO Channyn Lynne Parker’s direct meeting with Governor JB Pritzker, where she shared the importance of increased financial support for HIV testing and support programs amidst federal funding cuts. This conversation directly contributed to the release of a grant opportunity through the Illinois Department of Public Health offering a total of $4,000,000 to support HIV prevention and response services. This fall, we will also develop and pilot cultural competency trainings for healthcare representatives across medical, social, and public health systems in Chicago. These trainings will prepare representatives for a BSA-hosted Systems Alignment Lab, where they will gather to develop more equitable, interconnected, and aligned healthcare delivery strategies to improve access to healthcare for LGB+ individuals living on Chicago’s South and West sides. We are grateful for this opportunity to apply for a general operating grant from the Chicago Community Trust Cross Community Impact program. In addition to supporting the delivery of our programs for 5,500+ individuals, a gift from the Trust will support our work to complete the following objectives during the grant period: -Launch comprehensive health services at our on-site clinic to extend the wraparound support we offer our community. In addition to existing HIV testing and referrals to health practitioners, new on-site offerings will include: general exams, testing, and consultations with medical practitioners; blood pressure and blood sugar screenings; 1:1 education sessions on a wide range of health issues; and on-site access to services offered by our partners. -Expand our workforce development and financial literacy programs, forging additional partnerships to supplement existing partnerships with Fifth Third Bank and Capital One, increasing our reach to at least 100 individuals served annually. -Continue advocating for the needs and rights of trans and LGB+ individuals, particularly the needs of queer communities of color, in the public arena. We will remain nimble and responsive to the political environment as it changes, dynamically meeting the needs of our constituents as they evolve. Thank you for your consideration of this request. We deeply value the partnership of the Chicago Community Trust in supporting and protecting the LGBTQ+ community during this challenging time.

Grant Recipient

YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago

Awarded: June 2025 Awarded Amount: $100,000

A $100,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust will bolster the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago’s (the Y) efforts in enhancing Early Learning access and equity across Chicago. The Y is one of the largest providers of early education in the region, with a total enrollment capacity of 758 children across eight Chicago locations. The Y’s vision is to be at the forefront of advancing Early Learning as a trusted convener and connector for all communities. High quality, comprehensive early education services are key to fostering healthy child development and ensuring long-term success for children and families.

Grant Recipient

Revolution Institute

Awarded: June 2025 Awarded Amount: $50,000

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.