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
DEFY VENTURES INC
Defy Illinois (Defy IL) currently operates rehabilitative reentry programs in prisons and in the community, serving over 140 people annually. With support from the Chicago Community Trust, Defy IL aims to continue this work. Defy’s core in-prison program, called CEO of Your New Life (CEO YNL), is a robust 7- to 9-month program focused on reentry preparation, personal development, career readiness, and entrepreneurship. Because Defy rejects dehumanizing language for people who are impacted by the criminal legal system, we refer to program participants as Entrepreneurs in Training, or EITs. To increase resilience and reduce the impacts of stress and trauma, the curriculum includes chapters that address the long-term effects of adverse childhood experiences, specific coping skills, and the identification of self-limiting beliefs rooted in childhood experiences. Case studies embedded in our proprietary curriculum from EIT graduates and other established entrepreneurs provide real-world examples of resilience. In addition, strategic empathy-building activities and pro-social interactions built into Defy’s renowned volunteer events provide an opportunity for volunteers to humanize those impacted by the criminal legal system, helping EITs build resilience, and reinforce the healing of trauma. CEO YNL uses a cohort model with approximately 50 incarcerated individuals in each cohort, as permitted by each correctional facility. Defy’s CEO YNL program is an evidence-informed comprehensive program with a proven track record of success, with thousands of graduates nationwide. Upon their release from prison, Defy provides CEO YNL program graduates with post-release reentry support including case management, a Chromebook to access vital services, ongoing career readiness training, professional networking workshops, peer support, and mentorship. After Defy EITs attain general stability in reentry, they also have the opportunity to further their entrepreneurial endeavors through Defy’s post-release Entrepreneurship Pathway. The programs within the Entrepreneurship Pathway include additional business coaching, intensive entrepreneurship training curriculum, and business acceleration to support the development and launch of small businesses. Defy also provides access to capital, which is a key barrier for entrepreneurs with a criminal history. Defy’s combination of entrepreneurship training with a humanizing and empathic approach inspires EITs in their journey to reentry and creates an accessible entry point for members of the business community who might otherwise never engage in changing the criminal legal system or supporting successful reentry for returning citizens. Defy is working to shift mindsets to create a world of true second chances, providing our communities the opportunity to build generational wealth and break cycles of violence and poverty for years to come.
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Grant Recipient
Metropolitan Planning Council
The Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) seeks $50,000 from the Chicago Community Trust in support for engagement and drafting the City of Chicago’s five-year housing plan. This project will be a partnership, in which MPC will serve as fiscal agent, plan advisor, and steering committee member to the Chicago Department of Housing (DOH).
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Grant Recipient
Advocates for Urban Agriculture NFP
Advocates for Urban Agriculture is requesting continued support of its initiative to support earth stewards with resource based programming, including: providing capacity-building grants to Chicago area growers, with particular emphasis on small, emerging, and BIPOC owned/operated growing operations, contributing to the expansion of grower’s ability to produce and distribute locally grown food, and: technical assistance initiatives that is producing a series of deliverables to help Chicago area growers expand their capacity to produce and distribute locally grown food to impact and strengthen our local food system.
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Grant Recipient
Latino Policy Forum
The Latino Policy Forum is requesting funding for three purposes, all of which will further strengthen the Forum’s capacity to lead, inform, and collaborate with others to bring about equity, justice, and economic prosperity for the Latino community. The three general purposes can be summarized in terms of outcomes identified by the Chicago Community Trust—Increasing Coalition, Constituent and Organizational Power by supporting and expanding many of the Forum’s hundreds of collaborative relationships; Building Knowledge and Narrative through a collaboration with the Brookings Institution to examine the Latino wealth gap and make recommendations for closing that gap; and Increasing Organizational Capacity by strengthening the Forum’s development function, enacting an equitable and motivating compensation system, and ensuring that the Forum’s organizational structure is best suited to effective and efficient accomplishment of the Forum’s mission, goals, and objectives.
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Grant Recipient
Girls Like Me Project
We are proposing funding for our general operations to expand our programming; strengthen our infrastructure in ways that support hiring support staff, developing revenue generating streams, building strategic partnerships, and establishing/refining data collection and analysis. Specifically, we seek to secure formal partnerships with schools and community organizations to increase the number of girls served. Just before COVID-19 we began healing circles, yet with the devastating impact following COVID we have integrated intentional healing modalities into our curriculum. (Scaling includes maintenance of our garden year- round, group therapy and updates to our mobile app that focuses on holistic support of our participants). Overall, through our Digitally Innovative Voices of Advocacy Sisters storytelling initiative we will continue to amplify the shared experiences of girls in our program and their peers. We will scale our digital platforms (podcasts, Youtube, talk show) to help bring awareness to issues that impact their lives, as well as normalize and validate their reality.
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Grant Recipient
Street Vendors Association of Chicago
Since 2015, the Street Vendors Association of Chicago (SVAC) a 100% Latinx Led organization, has fought for the right for Street Vendors to participate in the local economy and have the profession recognized by the City of Chicago. Part of this ordinance required for Street Vendors to prepare the food to be sold in a commercial kitchen space. While the shared kitchen workers cooperative "Cocina Compartida de Trabajadores Cooperativistas" (CCTC), is currently under renovation, many Street Vendors have been out of work. During this time, Street Vendors have been participating in local and suburban free food distribution programs funded by the Chicago Region Food System fund and CFPAC through the Good Food Purchasing Program initiative through SVAC. This funding has been instrumental in allowing Street Vendors to earn an income not only while the kitchen is under renovation but also through the winter months. We have as has identified Chi-Fresh kitchen as an alternative shared kitchen for Street Vendors to prepare food. Aside from this need to be met, recent assaults and robberies of Street Vendors, pushed the urgency to set up the tamale machine in a commercial kitchen to become a priority. SVAC has been waiting for Chi-Fresh Kitchen to receive their certification as a shared kitchen and we have received word that it has been approved. We have identified the licensed and certified Street Vendors as leaders within our organization, CCTC and the new Street Vendors Kitchen Cooperative to attend Food Chain Workers Workshop Leadership Training to create an opportunity for lucrative positions within the Street Vendors network at the various kitchens being established across the city, including our own. It is imperative that the Street Vendors are able to prepare food in a safe certified space. With the help of the Fund for Equitable Business Growth we will be able to help Chi-Fresh kitchen and the Street Vendors simultaneously.
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Grant Recipient
Union Impact Center
Please note, UNION Impact Center is planning several projects between June and December 2023 which include youth sports development and community wellness. The events vary, some meet weekly while others are one-day events. The programming is explained in detail: The Youth Soccer Program offers year round recreational sports programming in Back of the Yards for an average of 75+ elementary age youth. The program is typically led by (4) adult coaches and (6) youth interns. The indoor season is held at Chavez School while the outdoor season is held at Cornell Square Park. Youth attend (1) 90-minute practice session and (1) 30-minute scrimmage on a weekly basis. The youth attending the 8-week summer season will each receive a drawstring bag, t-shirt, and soccer ball. UNION is also considering providing free transportation for all program families interested in purchasing a Chicago Fire game ticket. Furthermore, the summer season will expand to include 25+ local high school age students in weekly free play sessions at Cornell Square Park. Ideally, all the high school age students and their coaches will attend a Chicago Fire game together. Engaging high school students is extremely necessary and it’s vital we connect youth with spaces and opportunities outside the block and away from the trauma. The Nature for Wellness Program has several components including urban farming opportunities with Star Farm Chicago, Family Wellness Excursions to green healing spaces in the Chicagoland area, and will include the successful creation of a new native pollinator garden in Back of the Yards. These activities create equitable access to green spaces for black and brown families living in Chicago's southwest side. UNION families participating in the urban farm program cultivate organic produce including strawberries, tomatoes, peppers, and herbs. This summer, one of the six garden beds is being converted into a monarch butterfly garden. The family excursion trips average 35 participants per event and families will once again be visiting the Cook County Forest Preserves. People of color have not always been made to feel welcome in these spaces and transportation is not readily available for those that wish to explore the outdoors. UNION Impact Center submitted an application via the ChiBlockBuilder platform for the purchase of two city lots located near 51st and Throop. If accepted, the two lots will be converted into a native pollinator garden. The garden will be a place for families and neighbors to literally plant roots, heal, connect, and create a safe green space for all. Staff from the Field Museum and the Keller Science Action Center are supporting this new endeavor. Native seeds and seedlings are being distributed in the coming weeks. Year round opportunities for youth and family engagement will become available. These activities are intended to be low barrier and meant to encourage intergenerational participation. Multiple vision workshops will be coordinated to gather community input.
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Grant Recipient
Metropolitan Mayors Caucus
MMC will support area leaders in operationalizing DEI within municipalities and advancing a more equitably region. These activities include: facilitation of the Diversity Issues Task Force and Working Group; continuation of the Learning and Operationalizing Racial Equity (LORE) pilot with the UIC Great Cities Institute; expansion of the DEI Resource Page; and reconstitution of the MMC ADA Coordinators Group.