Income Growth Solutions – Growing Household Wealth

The Income Growth Solutions funding program intends to support and learn from the connections between education, employment, and the financial health needed to turn income into wealth.

RFP Release: March 27, 2024
Info Session: April 4, 2024 (Link to Register) and April 11, 2024 (Link to Register)
LOI Deadline: April 16, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CT
Full Application Deadline: June 4, 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CT
Funding Decision: August 23, 2024
Announcement: Late August

Download the Full RFP

Background

The Income Growth Solutions funding program intends to support and learn from nonprofits and community-based organizations making the connections between education, quality work opportunities, and financial health needed to turn income into wealth. Income growth alone is not enough to build wealth. Our team believes the “core tenets of financial health – including the ability to meet expenses, manage debt, and safeguard assets – are necessary to build wealth.” We are looking to support programs that build participants’ financial security and resiliency while spurring income growth.

Need/Opportunity Statement

The Chicago region has ample human and physical capital to ensure Chicago residents and their communities are thriving. However, an inequitable system has produced an economy that works for some and not all. Equity, coordination, collaboration, and inclusivity have not historically been central to the region’s efforts to grow or maintain wealth. Whether as entrepreneurs, workers, or students, Chicagoans of all racial and ethnic backgrounds should feel confident in their ability to meet their current needs while preparing to pass along some measure of economic security to the next generation.

A comprehensive, supportive ecosystem isn’t a dream but within our grasp. Through this funding program, the Trust seeks to identify, amplify, and support the solutions our community is already enacting to make wealth-building and maintenance the norm.

Goals & Outcomes

The Income Growth Solutions RFP advances the Trust’s 10-year goal to increase the growth of wealth of Black and Latine households relative to white households. This RFP also advances the Growing Household Wealth goals to:

Increase access to financial solutions that improve individual and household economic stability
Expand economic opportunities for Black and Latine Chicagoans to access careers

Priority Strategies & Activities

Quality employment opportunities
- Example programs from last year’s grantmaking include manufacturing career pathways programs, comprehensive workforce development and compensation, and demand-driven career pathway support.
Quality education opportunities
- Examples of programs from last year’s grantmaking include college and career success initiatives, support for college completion for 1^st generation students, and on-campus holistic wrap-around support for students pursuing specific majors.
Quality financial health opportunities for workers and students
- Examples of programs funded last year include financial opportunity centers and a financial services and workforce development program.

Grant Type

Project-Based Support

Grant Amounts Available & Grant Term

The Trust will award one-year grants between $100,000 and $200,000 in this grant cycle.

For More Information

Please visit GrantCentral, The Chicago Community Trust’s online grants management system, to view the criteria and access the application for this RFP.

For technical questions regarding GrantCentral, email grants@cct.org.

For programmatic and application content questions, email Caleb Herod at cherod@cct.org.