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
Economic Security for Illinois
In response to the worsening economic climate, there is growing public and political support for using cash to help Americans make ends meet. Research has shown that when given unconditional cash, the financially vulnerable take care of their needs and focus their energy on climbing up the economic ladder. As the leading organization in Chicago/Illinois focused on cash, Economic Security for Illinois is leveraging its IL Cost-of-Living Refund Coalition to put more cash in the pockets of low- and middle-income Chicagoans by securing cash-based relief for those facing acute economic hardship due to the pandemic and expanding the Illinois Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as the Cost-of-Living Refund.
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Grant Recipient
Womens Business Development Center (WBDC)
The Women's Business Development Center seeks continued support in addressing the pressing needs of underserved small businesses in the wake of COVID-19. In order to help these businesses recover and thrive, a collaborative group of organizations, including Chicago Urban League, the Illinois Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, The Women’s Business Development Center, Allies for Community Business (formerly known as Accion), Chicago TREND, Next Street, and more, are coming together to deliver critical technical assistance / guidance to small businesses. The collaboration across these organizations will ensure we serve more small businesses with greater resources than any organization could on its own.
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Grant Recipient
Illinois Public Interest Research Group Education Fund
With the support of the Chicago Community Trust, Illinois PIRG Education Fund and allies made significant progress in strengthening consumer and wealth-building coalitions this year, and through that, winning results. The coming year presents exciting opportunities to defend and build upon our progress. We plan to continue to add value to shared efforts with a focus on strengthening partnerships for longer term success. Partnerships ground our work in the lived experience of those most impacted and are crucial to winning and defending reforms. Our current priorities include modernizing the EITC to reward valuable non-wage work, defending recent gains to end predatory lending in Illinois, and fighting for affordable utilities.
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Grant Recipient
Goldin Institute
Founded in 2019 by the Goldin Institute, the Chicago Peace Fellows is a unique 9-month leadership program for Black and Brown grassroots leaders which uses collaborative inquiry, strategy and action to catalyze neighborhood-level initiatives to build safer, more peaceful communities on the South and West sides. Designed with past grantees of the Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities and a wide range of civic leaders, the curriculum utilizes GATHER, an online learning hub built by the Goldin Institute to empower grassroots leaders. The GATHER course provides a series of social change concepts and tools for authentic community engagement. It is supplemented with in-person workshops and collaborative action projects.
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Grant Recipient
CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION
Honoraria for participating in Bridges to Brighter Futures Learning Convenings
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Grant Recipient
Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU Inc
The ACLU of Illinois (ACLU-IL) and our coalition partners seek to end unjust revenue-generation practices by government entities. Chicago and Illinois rely on aggressive ticketing, fines and fees, and vehicle impoundment to close budget gaps. These practices punish low-income people with crushing debt they cannot pay and the loss of their cars. Due to the racial wealth gap and over-policing of Black and Brown communities, people of color suffer disproportionately. ACLU-IL works independently and in coalition with the Transit Table and others to inform the public, decision-makers, and the media about the harmful impact of these policies; offer legal and policy analysis; advocate for policy reforms; and pursue litigation strategies.
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Grant Recipient
University of Chicago Urban Labs
The Inclusive Economy Lab has been working closely with the Illinois Department of Human Services in its efforts to address intergenerational poverty. Within this partnership, the Lab has provided the State with technical assistance and thought partnership to the State, offering insight into the structural barriers to mobility faced by Illinoisans. Among these barriers is the benefits cliff, which continues to be a deterrent to wealth creation for many Illinois families. The Lab will release a memo that demonstrates cliff effects across a few variables of interest and models policy interventions to mitigate cliffs.
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Grant Recipient
Enlace Chicago
Honoraria for participating in Bridges to Brighter Futures Learning Convenings