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.
Explore Our Discretionary Grants
Showing 3631–3638 of 4630 results
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Grant Recipient
REVOLUTION WORKSHOP
Revolution Workshop (RW) provides a 12-week Pre-Apprenticeship Construction Job Training Program to individuals between the ages of 18 - 30+ from Black and Brown communities across the city. Trainees earn middle-skills certifications and are then placed into jobs and career pathways like carpenter, plumber, electrician, and more. Yet we know that landing a job is only the first step of their journey to living-wage, family-sustaining careers. RW’s Career Growth Services (formerly known as Alumni Services) is a multi-pronged approach to engaging graduates in ongoing educational, network-building, and transitional employment opportunities that will help them not only grow in the construction field but also build wealth and break cycles of poverty for themselves and their families.
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Grant Recipient
MATTHEW HOUSE
Matthew House is a nonprofit organization providing food, shelter, additional supportive services, and permanent supportive housing for unsheltered adult homeless men, women, children, and families. It has been providing critical services in Bronzeville to this population for thirty-one years—one of the first in Chicago to do so. It was founded by four African Americans (3 male veterans and the agency’s executive director who continues to serve in that capacity). Seventy-five percent of all clients served last year were chronically homeless, i.e. they were homeless for at least a year, and most of these have been homeless for more than one year. This population is considerably older than those who have been homeless for less than a year. Typically, they suffer from mental health problems and addictions. It takes considerable time and effort to help them grow in self-sufficiency, but MH has a long history and much experience in doing so. Examples: One former client was homeless for thirteen years; now housed, he is employed at our agency. A woman who had been homeless for ten years was housed after receiving aid from MH for three years. For homeless/housing insecure individuals and families, our Daytime Supportive Services Program provides walk-in services six days a week, including free breakfasts and lunches, access to showers, and a change of clothes, access to a mailing address and other essential services. After their immediate pressing needs are met, our clients can work with experienced case managers to overcome obstacles to becoming housed. For clients who become housing ready, MH manages 73 units of scattered-site permanent supportive housing. MH has a staff of 12, all of whom are Black. Six staff members were formerly unsheltered homeless clients. Having lived-experienced persons on staff not only provides them with employment, but it also helps our agency better understand and serve the needs of its clients. Our agency also ensures that our board of directors includes a formerly unsheltered client. All board members are African American. Our clients come from throughout Chicago, but mostly from the south side of the city, especially from Bronzeville and other majority Black areas in Chicago. Last year MH served 1,389 unduplicated clients, a 30% increase over the prior year. There was also a large increase in the number of unsheltered homeless families with small children. MH is adapting its services and its facility to accommodate their special needs. While MH has been fortunate to secure government funding, much of that is restricted to housing. Some funders undervalue supportive services for unsheltered persons. The Chicago Community Trust clearly regards these as critical needs that must be met before this population can grow in self-determination. Our agency welcomes the opportunity to apply for continued general support for its wide range of wraparound services. This is especially important when, as noted elsewhere, MH has to be flexible and sometimes incur additional expenses that were not foreseen, to meet additional demand for its services as well as new challenges in serving an increased number of female clients, including single parents with minor children.
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Grant Recipient
La Raza Chicago, Inc.
A project to keep saving La Raza, the last major Spanish newspaper in Chicago, and to keep it as a quality and trusted source of local news to serve and empower the Hispanic community. The recovery after the COVID-19 emergency has been slow and local media outlets face big financial challenges, everything amid a declining trend in advertising revenue. The grant will help to support the cost of keeping the position of the Editor in Chief, will provide resources to assign Spanish content production to reliable stringer writers, and will support the production of content for print and online. This application asks for $75,000 to also make an investment in the renewal of La Raza’s distribution infrastructure (street boxes) to maintain our community’s access to our content. This grant will mitigate the current news deserts affecting the Chicago Hispanic communities, preserve La Raza’s content production capacity, enhance its online platforms, support its transformation, and keep active a local media outlet that for 53 years has been critical for the defense and empowerment of the Chicago Latinx communities and for the preservation of democracy and free of speech.
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Grant Recipient
KMW Communities LLC
Chicago's East Garfield Park
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Grant Recipient
Art Encounter
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Grant Recipient
Serendipity Theatre Company DBA 2nd Story
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Grant Recipient
United Way of Metropolitan Chicago
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Grant Recipient
True Star Foundation Inc