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.
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Grant Recipient
Growing Home, Inc.
This grant application is to support the early stage development of the Wood Street North lot. These funds will be used to conduct the activities necessary to fulfill the vision of Growing Home for the expansion of facilities that will support further growing and availability of local food and enterprise opportunities in Englewood.
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Grant Recipient
INHERENT L3C
Inherent West Humboldt Park is a development of a cluster of 23 single family homes in the area immediately adjacent to Laura Ward Elementary School. Each home is two-stories, 1,445 square feet, all-electric and high-performing, and built in a controlled indoor production facility. Our strategy of building these homes within an indoor production facility allows us to reduce construction time of each home considerably and thereby deliver the 23 single family homes rapidly to their respective parcels. The development will begin with 2 demonstration homes on land that we currently own that showcase our first single family home model and will continue over the next 2 years with the construction of 21 additional homes on land acquired from the City of Chicago. Currently, our application for this land has been preliminarily approved and is pending final approval by the City Council during their June 2022 meeting. Our choice of West Humboldt Park is motivated by the need to stabilize home prices in the area due to rapidly rising home prices in the north and east portions of Humboldt Park. In selecting a specific area to focus on, we chose an area anchored by a Chicago Public School, Laura S. Ward Elementary School, that is in close proximity to a significant block scale development at 3831 West Chicago (approx. $33 million dollar development) and 3601 West Chicago (approx. $ 25 million dollar development), both part of INVEST South/West. We hope that the effect of our work will be to transform the community in a far more rapid manner than possible with a traditional construction technique. Such a transformation will contribute to an enhanced tax base as well as families that may elect to send their children to the nearby elementary school - increasing overall funding of that school in the process. We are applying for this Pre-Development Grant to help cover the cost of environmental services required for land. For environmental services, we plan to engage Victoria Green of Naturally Urban Environmental, Inc, a local African American, women owned and operated business. We also plan to utilize the grant funds to cover architectural, community engagement and legal services related to the acquisition and revitalization of the Project neighborhoods.
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Grant Recipient
Regents of the University of California, Davis
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council NFP
The Metro Chicago Good Food Purchasing Initiative (GFPI) is seeking continued support to deepen our work with institutions to improve their procurement processes, provide support to growers to access these institutional opportunities, and ensure the consistent application of the good food goals of fair wages, sustainable practices, and equitable access.
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Grant Recipient
Chasing23 Youth Empowerment Group
Chasing23 Youth Empowerment Group is an emerging community-based non profit organization working to build respect and unity among young people in Chicago. We were founded in 2016 by Darius Ballinger, a Native Chicagoan who saw a need in his community and chose to fill the need. After three years of operation, impacting the lives of hundreds of young men of color, we are at an exciting inflection point whereby we are ready to systematize our work, build sustainable streams of funding, and ensure our impact can be replicated, scaled and thriving for generations to come.
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Grant Recipient
GREATER SOUTHWEST DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Our programs welcome anyone who comes to us for our training and services, no matter the neighborhood, town, or city they are from. However, our target population is business owners and entrepreneurs of Chicago’s Southwest Side neighborhoods which include the following: Chicago Lawn (60629 and 60636), Englewood (60621), West Elsdon (60629 and 60632), West Lawn (60629), West Englewood (60636), New City (60609), Auburn Gresham (60620), and Ashburn (60652), Bronzeville (60653).
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Grant Recipient
Carole Robertson Center for Learning
Funding will be used to further the Carole Robertson Center for Learning's work to implement the organization’s racial equity approach. We are looking to have a way to speak about and work toward racial equity and social justice through our policies and practices with children, families and each other. In order to do that we acknowledge that there is need for a consistent understanding of racial equity and social justice, absent this there is no concrete mechanism for advancing our goals beyond the discreet activities we have already achieved.
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Grant Recipient
TREND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
Led by a group of established Chicago real estate professionals committed to equitable development and inclusive growth, CEMDI aims to source and build a pipeline of community-focused developers from African American, Latinx and other minority communities to participate in commercial real estate development projects city-wide. Following a year of exploratory research, planning and organizing and an initial year of conceptualizing and beginning to pilot its initial programs, CEMDI will use the requested grant funds to expand and deliver a 2nd year of programming. The three-pronged approach includes: 1. CEMDI Accelerator incorporates all six of CEMDI’s strategies by leveraging the relationships and expertise of the CEMDI principals. The CEMDI Accelerator is not a cohort-based program, but instead offers one-on-one advice and coaching to five emerging developers selected each year. Chicago TREND will work closely with each emerging developer to understand their business and identify a customized path to success. CEMDI principals will help emerging developers advance a new deal, structure a joint venture partnership, secure patient capital, grow their development and professional services team, etc. By meeting high-potential emerging developers where they are and providing resources, connections and expertise, CEMDI will help them grow their business to the next level. Due to historic disinvestment and restrictions over generations in minority communities, fewer emerging entrepreneurs have access to mentors with strong industry relationships, experience and generational wealth. 2. Developer Roundtable will foster relationship-building and establish a "voice" for minority developers. The CEMDI principals will engage up to ten veteran, non-minority developers and up to ten minority, emerging developers to participate in the Developer Roundtable. One strategic way for an emerging firm to grow is to enter into a joint venture partnership with an experienced firm. This allows the emerging developer to bring their skills and experience to the project as a partner, gain additional capacity and expertise, and share responsibility for both the profits and losses that a project generates. By securing a seat at the table, building credit, reputation and track record, emerging developers gain access and the experience needed to take on larger projects. The Developer Roundtable advances the strategy of connecting emerging developers to potential joint venture partners to provide access to development opportunities and mentorship. The roundtable will create a venue for C-suite development professionals to build a sense of community and to establish relationships between veteran and emerging developers -- setting the stage for future partnerships, informal mentorship opportunities and mutually beneficial business relationships. 3. CEMDI Connects will strengthen the broader commercial real estate ecosystem by hosting up to four events/workshops each year, including the annual CEMDI Summit. For developers to scale and grow, they need relationships, connections and access to professional service firms to grow their development team. Having strong relationships provides opportunities for both formal and informal mentorship and provides a launch pad for business relationships to grow over time. CEMDI Connects will expand the professional networks of commercial real estate professionals of color. CEMDI Connects primarily advances two strategies: (a) connecting emerging developers to professional service firms to build their capacity with their development teams and back-office infrastructure and (b) connecting emerging developers to financial resources for formal educational and other professional development programs. CEMDI Connects will do this by engaging, supporting and adding capacity to the commercial real estate ecosystem for minority developers in Chicago. Specific programs are anticipated to include a series of networking, firm showcases and community workshop events, and online resources. This programming will provide opportunities for minority professionals in real estate-related fields (e.g., architecture, accounting, engineering, finance, construction, etc.) to build their networks, put together development teams and broaden their professional experience.