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
Strategy for Access Foundation NFP
The Disability Friendly Chicago series is a new program for StrAF, which began in the fall of 2022. The project aims to produce 15 short videos showing accessible tourist attractions in Chicago. Of the videos being produced, 5 out of 15 will focus on the current Chicago attractions to celebrate and educate others about BIPOC identities within the city’s south and west neighborhoods.
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Grant Recipient
Angelic Organics Learning Center Inc
In partnership with Food:Land:Opportunity, Angelic Organics Learning Center seeks to deepen our farmer-informed, impact-based regional farmer training in direct alignment with our organizational mission to build sustainable local food and farm systems. Our most impactful programs within our Farmer Training Initiative include Stateline Farm Beginnings, the Upper Midwest CRAFT network and the Routes to Farm Alliance. Over the past year, we have intentionally focused our efforts on these three main core programs to ensure our most impactful educational services are provided to beginning farmers. We have found that the key component to ensuring success in building a robust local food economy is supportive networking. Our training programs are farmer-informed and farmer-led, we coordinate a localized and supportive network of farmers, and also manage broader regional partnerships and collaborations with service providers. Through focused, outcome-driven work and strong partnership, we are reducing duplication in services and broadening our reach to ensure divested communities have access to our programs and services. The end result is an increase in the number of economically viable farm businesses, a more sustainable agricultural ecosystem, increased access to local foods and a vibrant community.
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Grant Recipient
Lawndale Christian Legal Center
LCLC is requesting support to hire a full time Grant Manager in order to improve our organization’s capacity to apply for, access, and manage funds, particularly federal funds. LCLC currently has one person, the Vice President of Research and Development, conducting all grant related activities- from identifying grants, to the full application process, contracting, implementation, and compliance. Particularly as it relates to federal grants or federal pass-through funding, the entire grant cycle is incredibly challenging. The requirements associated with federal or pass-through funding are a true barrier to accessing these funds as we are currently staffed as we simply do not have sufficient resources. We have been fortunate to have been awarded several federal grants, including those funded by ARPA; however, there were several opportunities we had to let pass by. The addition of the Grant Manager role will better position LCLC to access and manage federal funds by having a dedicated person to assist in accessing the award and complying with all grant requirements. It will also free up time for our Vice President of Research and Development to focus on applying for more federal and other grant opportunities and ensuring LCLC is well positioned to successfully obtain and execute these grants.
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Grant Recipient
Community Leadership Fellows
Community Leadership Fellows (CLF), a fiscally sponsored organization of the United Way of Metro Chicago, is respectfully requesting operating support from Chicago Community Trust. Community Leadership Fellows is a social change network embedded inside of the unique, dynamic communities that make up Chicago’s Westside. We identify untapped talent and bring them into our leadership incubator where we will guide them on a pathway of personal and professional growth and support their ability to tap into community-changing opportunities. CLF is tuition free to allow the fellows to participate at no direct cost to them. Tuition was an essential barrier that had to be removed to create equity. The academic-year fellowship includes: • A Leadership Retreat: the program begins with a retreat in August • Educational Workshops: from Sept to March, fellows will participate in monthly interactive learning sessions covering a range of topics including organizational leadership, community organizing, developing your leadership narrative, and much more. • Bi-monthly Networking Events: these events will be practice sessions for fellows • Bi-monthly Speaker Series: fellows will have the opportunity to engage in small group discussions with impactful leaders from various sectors. • Capstone Project where fellows will utilize skills taught to complete a community project. • Graduation. Fellows are selected from one of six Westside neighborhoods: Austin, East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, Little Village, North Lawndale, and West Humboldt Park.
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Grant Recipient
TALLER DE JOSE
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Grant Recipient
Fresh Taste
Austin Fresh is a collaborative grantmaking five-year program started in 2020, to increase access to healthy affordable food, support community gardens and local food production, grow food enterprises, and protect and strengthen food assistance programs in the Austin neighborhood. The vision is an equitable Chicagoland region where all people have knowledge of and access to healthy food. The funders involved with Austin Fresh have committed to a minimum $1M for each of five years to support the neighborhood. This renewal request is for the fourth year of this neighborhood focused funder collaborative. This project aligns with the building supply-side skills and attracting capital strategies of Food:Land:Opportunity while also reducing fragmentation.
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Grant Recipient
In Care of Black Women
The Art Center Co-op will be anchored on the ground floor of a two-story 5,625 square foot mixed-use building at 1201 W. 71st Street in the Englewood neighborhood. Proposed uses for the Center will generate community investment as a cooperatively owned and operated alternative art center featuring retail, studio, and gallery space. Our specialty retail store products include art supplies, contemporary streetwear apparel, books, vinyls, and home goods. We provide affordable shared and private studio spaces, custom artwork framing, art advising and consulting, and offer classes and workshops in woodworking, photography, ceramics, painting, drawing, and collage for corporate and non-profit organizations and individuals of all levels.
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Grant Recipient
TERRITORY NFP
Territory is committed to providing a safe and supportive out of school time environment for young leaders who want to collaborate with their peers and community partners to reverse stereotypes about young people and have a positive impact on public spaces in Austin. Territory will use the funding as follows: 1. To establish a recruiting and retention ecosystem for the Intro Studio program focusing on 8th and 9th graders in Austin elementary schools and nearby high schools, building relationships with the young people around us while they still have time for us. Fifty percent of Advanced Studio members started with Territory after 8th or 9th grade. 2. To ensure that we have high quality program staff in the studio every day when young people are out of school, so we are a reliable partner for youth, their families, and our neighbors. Territory strives to meet young people where they are at and provide them with the support they need to complete their work. 3. To develop a cohort of thoughtful prepared instructors and mentors to lead the skills labs and ensure design equity and excellence. Staff and youth leaders will set criteria for all instructors and mentors. Territory staff and youth will provide inter-generational trainings, plus coaching to help the skills experts and mentors successfully connect with and understand the young people at Territory. 4. To formalize post-high school supports and pathways, so young people have the support of a network as they enter education and career pathways in design and civic leadership after high school.