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
Featured
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 5591–5598 of 4719 results
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Grant Recipient
AUSTIN COMING TOGETHER
Since Austin Coming Together (ACT) was established in 2010, our mission has been to improve education and economic development outcomes in Chicago’s Austin community by working alongside a network of 50+ social service providers on improving conditions in the area. Austin has a majority Black population with rising numbers of Latine residents and has been historically overlooked and underresourced. This grant will allow ACT to amplify our work specifically in economic development during a time of organizational growth. ACT is a co-developer of The Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation, a project that is transforming the former Emmet Elementary School into a central location for resources and on-site training in living-wage careers like advanced manufacturing. To deliver on these objectives, we have established a holistic model to approach serving residents along a spectrum of outcomes from economic stability through wealth creation and this funding will help us implement it. The guiding principles of the holistic model are to: focus on the individual; infuse humanity in all we do; commit to meet a person where they are and inspire; address all related barriers; help a person imagine goals they never thought possible; help residents remain in Austin and thrive; use our collective experience with who we serve as our primary source of research at the outset; design for possibility, not necessarily services that exist. In preparation for moving our team into the Aspire Center, which is anticipated to happen in Spring of 2025, we have been creating an operations plan for scaling our services. Being present in the Center will require us to expand our team, which in turn will allow us to impact more Austin residents than ever before. Activation of the 3-acre site at Madison and Central, a main commercial intersection in Austin, will convert the corner that sat vacant for a decade into a state-of-the-art Center with tenants who will provide employment resources and other valuable services. For our entire existence, ACT has always been purposeful about innovative, thoughtful responses to the needs of the Austin community – and our approach to operating at the Aspire Center is no different!
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Foundation/Safe Chicago Network
Metropolitan Peace Initiatives (MPI), a division of Metropolitan Family Services, leads efforts to reduce community violence by convening local and citywide organizations through its Communities Partnering for Peace (CP4P) and READI Chicago. MPI serves individuals at the highest risk of violence by providing community-centered, trauma-informed interventions. Communities Partnering for Peace (CP4P) Founded in 2017, CP4P is an innovative coalition model for violence prevention that brings together 15 hyperlocal community-based organizations (CBOs) across 28 of Chicago’s most violence-impacted neighborhoods. CP4P’s team of credible messengers—street outreach workers with deep local knowledge and trust—provides essential services, including street outreach, case management, hospital response, and community engagement events. CP4P reaches those most at risk of gun violence with a restorative, trauma-informed approach to violence prevention and intervention. READI Chicago READI Chicago focuses on individuals at the highest risk of involvement in gun violence, providing transitional jobs and comprehensive community violence intervention services. The program aims to reduce participants' likelihood of being victims or perpetrators of gun violence, support pathways to positive opportunities, decrease criminal justice system involvement, and build community infrastructure for safety and opportunity. Together, CP4P and READI Chicago create a coordinated ecosystem of support and opportunities, addressing violence through prevention, intervention, and community empowerment. MPI’s work is essential to transforming Chicago’s communities and advancing public safety for all residents.
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Grant Recipient
Garfield Park Community Council
As the needs of our community continue to change, Garfield Park Community Council is applying for funds to grow our capacity and organizational resources to meet them. Chief among these is hiring new employees that will serve both internal and external-facing roles. Each of our areas of focus (community leadership, equitable land use, and wellness), are primed for growth and we operating funds are key to ensuring our ability to grow them. Our leadership programs ensure that Garfield Park residents have power in determining the development of their own community and increase public will to increase equitable investment. Our land use programs are poised to explore our organization’s capacity to expand our real estate portfolio to promote and preserve affordable housing.
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Grant Recipient
UNITED WAY OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO
The Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities is a funder collaborative, made up of over 50 contributors, that awards grants up to $10,000 to grassroots organizations; to create safe and peaceful community programming within neighborhoods with high rates of gun violence during the summer and fall. The Chicago Fund is one part of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities’ 5- pronged approach to reducing gun violence within Chicago. Since its inception in 2016, the fund has awarded $10.4M in support of over 1,500 projects that promote safe and peaceful activities in 24 communities. Using the homicide data reports through a partnership with the University of Chicago Crime Lab and the Illinois Office of Firearm Violence Prevention, communities on the south and west sides of the city were prioritized –they are: Auburn Gresham, Austin, Burnside, Chatham, Chicago Lawn, Englewood, West Englewood, Fuller Park, Gage Park, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, Greater Grand Crossing, Humboldt Park, Lower West Side (Pilsen), New City (Back of the Yards), North Lawndale, South Lawndale (Little Village), Riverdale, Roseland, South Chicago, South Shore, Washington Park, West Pullman and Woodlawn.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Trust
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Grant Recipient
GREATER SOUTHWEST DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Greater Southwest Development Corporation (GSDC) seeks a $100,000 grant to strengthen its core initiatives of real estate development, business support services, and housing solutions. These funds will be used to stabilize and grow small businesses, catalyze investment in key commercial corridors, and expand GSDC’s capacity to deliver high-quality community development services. By investing in GSDC’s general operations, the grant will ensure continued support for the economic health of southwest Chicago through job creation, commercial revitalization, and increased access to housing.
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Grant Recipient
Puerto Rican Cultural Center
For over 50 years, the Puerto Rican Cultural Center (PRCC) has developed a model for sustainable community development rooted in a socio-ecological framework inspired by Puerto Rican culture and the indigenous practices of Maroon societies—communities of resistance. Through this model, PRCC has established over 20 parallel institutions to address systemic injustices impacting our community’s intersectional identities. These efforts include founding an alternative school to combat high dropout rates, creating the first Latino HIV/AIDS prevention organization, establishing a Trans Empowerment Center, and supporting the creation of the National Puerto Rican Museum and Urban Theater Company to heal from colonialism through art. PRCC is focused on revitalizing neighborhoods in Chicago, particularly Humboldt Park, which has faced severe generational disinvestment, leading to significant job losses, high unemployment rates, and plummeting property values. While citywide efforts aim to address these challenges, they often overlook the unique needs of local communities. PRCC’s proposal for the Chicago Trust’s "Community Wealth - Neighborhood Development Champions" centers on empowering local stakeholders and ensuring development directly benefits residents. With our longstanding history of successful community engagement, PRCC is well-positioned to lead initiatives that promote equitable growth and build lasting wealth for our community.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Foundation/Illinois Immigration Funders Collaborative