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. Today, that means confronting the racial and ethnic wealth gap.
Explore Our Discretionary Grants
Showing 3861–3868 of 4447 results
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Grant Recipient
The Monroe Foundation
The Partnership Assisting Community Transformation project is a capacity-building program for past, current, and new Chicago Fund for Safe and Peaceful Communities grantees. The project aims to help community-based organizations develop infrastructure, build effective programs, and secure funding to support both the program and operations.
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Grant Recipient
ILLINOIS COALITION FOR IMMIGRANT AND REFUGEE RIGHTS
Living in poverty is expensive and life-threatening. Low-income families have less access to healthcare, are statistically more likely to live in unhealthy environments, and generally have lower life expectancy rates than their affluent counterparts. Low-income families are often one medical emergency away from falling into financial ruin. The daily expenses of raising a family place working families on vulnerable financial footing that is often impossible to break out of. Poverty is racialized, thus, these burdens are more prominent across communities of color. Undocumented residents face further obstacles as they are more susceptible to exploitative labor practices and have less access to employment opportunities that provide opportunities for upward mobility. Additionally, despite their tax contributions, millions of immigrants are ineligible for government safety net programs solely due to their immigration status. In order to mitigate these burdens on working families across Illinois, ICIRR aims to educate legislators and other stakeholders about the importance of state investments designed to transition all people, regardless of immigration status, out of the cycle of poverty. With support from the Trust, ICIRR will organize its base to build support for state-level investments that fund the creation of a state Child Tax Credit (CTC), an expansion of healthcare coverage to all who currently do not qualify for it, direct cash assistance through guaranteed income programs to low-income Illinois residents, and more. In addition, ICIRR aims to partner with organizations across movements to strategize and advance the generation of new sources of revenue in the state budget. With both the state’s untapped revenue sources and federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) dollars cycling out of state coffers, there is an unprecedented opportunity to expand an inclusive state-level safety net that reduces poverty and creates a Caring Economy for All in Illinois.
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Grant Recipient
Greater Chatham Initiative Inc
The Greater Chatham Initiative, a community-based economic development organization has offered FoodLab Chicago for four years from 2019 through 2023. The Greater Chatham Initiative will partner with the Southeast Commission, and the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce to bring FoodLab Chicago 5.0 for 2023 to 2024 to Chicago’s Southside’s rich and diverse Black restaurant ecosystem. The planned FoodLab 5.0, with be our largest cohort to date with 81 food-based businesses- 25 of the 81 or 31 percent would be new participants, 18 of the 81 or 22 percent would be earlier FoodLab Chicago participants, and 38 or the 81 or 47 percent will complete Menu Engineering and Plate Costing. The Greater Chatham Initiative expects 12 of the 25 FoodLab 5.0 new participants to be vetted and referred by the Southeast Commission, and the Greater Englewood Chamber of Commerce. Greater Chatham Initiative will identify the remaining 13 of the 25 new participants.
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Grant Recipient
Local Initiatives Support Corp.
One Chicago for All (1Chi4All) is an alliance of 28 community-driven, social impact organizations working together toward a Chicago that is equitable, anti-racist and builds wealth for communities of color. Building on successful efforts to position community-led plans and voice since 2017, 1Chi4All seeks to work with Mayor Brandon Johnson's new administration to achieve greater alignment between City of Chicago resources and the plans more than 20 primarily Black and Latinx communities have articulated. As a result of this project, One Chicago for All will build its power as a coalition to further community-led approaches to increase individual economic security and inclusive hiring at the City and the private sector, provide greater access to capital for small businesses of color and community-led catalytic projects, and increase homeownership rates in Black and Latinx communities.
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Grant Recipient
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
Heartland Alliance seeks a $150,000 grant from the Chicago Community Trust (CCT) to support the work of our Impact Division in managing Financial Inclusion for All Illinois (FIAI), formerly titled the Illinois Asset Building Group, a statewide coalition committed to expanding access to the tools families need to build financially secure futures. Through FIAI, a coalition comprised of nearly 50 organizations statewide, we advocate for policy and program solutions that address the growing racial wealth divide through initiatives focused on individual economic security. Our priorities are developed in coalition with an equity lens, using data to understand racial disparities, and centering the voices, experiences, and engagement of directly impacted people. FIAI’s primary initiatives currently include strengthening consumer protections, reforming burdensome debt collection practices, and increasing cash to families. Past grant awards from CCT have been instrumental in funding the coalition management of FIAI, which includes financial management, scheduling, and facilitation of planning related to how the coalition shares power, makes decisions, shares work, and drives necessary communications. We hope to count CCT again this year among our partners in advancing equitable wealth for Illinoisans.
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Grant Recipient
Illinois Action for Children
Illinois Action for Children (IAFC) seeks support for We, The Village Coalition and its ongoing efforts to drive implementation of the recommendations made by Governor Pritzker’s Commission on Equitable Funding for Early Childhood Education and Care (Funding Commission) in March 2021. IAFC is the backbone agency of We, The Village (WTV) Coalition, a statewide, broad-based, formal group comprising over 1,200 organizational and individual members (parents, families, care providers, community partners) that exists to drive implementation of Funding Commission recommendations. WTV Coalition is advancing and revising a racially and economically equitable agenda that centers the experiences and perspectives of African, Latine, Asian, Arab, Native American (ALAANA) women who comprise the incumbent early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce and delivers care and education that children need to thrive. WTV Coalition is both a vehicle and an outcome for building the leadership of parents, families, and ECEC providers in advancing a bold agenda for the ECEC field in Illinois.
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Grant Recipient
Community Desk Chicago
A request for a general operating grant to support the launch and initial operations of Community Desk Chicago (The Desk), a new 501c3 organization. The Desk incubated at CCT from 2019-2023.
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Grant Recipient
Logan Square Neighborhood Association
Palenque LSNA seeks funding to support the administration, research, and coalition building components of the newly created Illinois Community Land Trust Task Force. Illinois Senate Bill 2037, passed in partnership with the Illinois Housing and Development Authority (IHDA) and the office of Governor JB Pritzker, establishes this Task Force. The bill presents a unique opportunity to further our collective efforts in promoting equitable wealth building, arriving as community land trusts (CLTs) gain momentum regionally as a tool for increasing homeownership in Black and Latinx communities. Entry level homeownership is increasingly inaccessible to families; good quality homes are too expensive in gentrifying neighborhoods and too rare in disinvested ones. However, CLTs reverse this trend by creating opportunities to build wealth while ensuring neighborhood stability in both gentrifying and disinvested communities. Through CLTs, neighborhoods retain land ownership and equitably compete with investors, leading to balanced, community-driven development and a more equitable housing development field. The state of Illinois recognized this benefit. In January of 2023, it awarded the Here to Stay Community Land Trust $5 million in American Recovery Plan Act funds to accelerate land acquisition and development and to provide equitable subsidies for new homeowners. However, policy barriers inhibit the growth and success of CLTs. The State remains uninformed and unprepared to repair racial wealth gaps through homeownership because of their unfamiliarity with CLTs as a model for neighborhood stability and their lack of relationships with budding regional CLTs. To strengthen IHDA’s understanding of the important role of CLTs in equitable development and in repairing historic racial wealth gaps, the CLT Task Force will convene at least 6-8 times over the course of 12 months. The Task Force will conduct research and lead community engagement, the findings of which will become a report published in partnership with IHDA. This report will set an agenda for strategic policy reforms to accelerate the success of CLTs, seeding future systemic reforms to increase homeownership in Black and Latinx communities. We believe that CLTs are essential to creating affordable housing options, preserving neighborhood stability, and empowering residents to build wealth and achieve economic security. With the Trust's support, we aim to leverage the Task Force to develop and implement policies that expand access to land ownership and ensure long-term affordability.