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.
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Grant Recipient
Center for Community Progress
Since 2010, the Center for Community Progress has impacted the lives of millions nationwide by transforming vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties into assets for neighbors and neighborhoods. As the leading national, nonprofit resource for urban, suburban, and rural communities seeking to address the full cycle of property revitalization, we work with state and local governments, national partners, and resident leaders to reform vacant property systems and policies, ensuring these properties are returned to productive use that benefit the surrounding community. The Reclaiming Vacant Properties Conference (RVP) is the only national conference dedicated to strengthening urban, suburban, and rural communities through equitable solutions to transform vacant, abandoned, and deteriorated properties into community assets. RVP attracts a mix of government, nonprofit, community, and private sector leaders from urban, suburban, and rural communities that are struggling with areas of disinvestment, decline, and inequality, including places experiencing population loss as well as growing communities where some neighborhoods find themselves left behind. Attendees include housing experts, city attorneys, elected officials, local, state, and federal officials, CDC staff, land bank leaders, urban planners, academics, police officers, code enforcement officials, neighborhood association leaders, developers, representatives from lending institutions, urban policy experts, and more. RVP is expected to draw more than 1,000 people to Chicago for 60+ engaging sessions and other learning opportunities. Established in 2007 and held every eighteen months, RVP has traveled to Pittsburgh, Louisville, Cleveland, New Orleans, Philadelphia, Detroit, Baltimore, Milwaukee, and Atlanta. Plenary speakers have included The Warmth of Other Suns author Isabel Wilkerson, artist Theaster Gates, Evicted author and MacArthur “Genius” Matthew Desmond, Congressman Dan Kildee, Alan Mallach, and other remarkable leaders. RVP has lifted up ideas and strategies that work, many of which have been replicated across the country, leading to major policy and legislative reforms.
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Grant Recipient
Southland Development Authority NFP
Southland Development Authority respectfully requests support for three initiatives designed to directly support the region’s entrepreneurs and small businesses: the Entrepreneurs in Residence program, the Connect 2 Capital program, and the Business Growth Services program.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Trust
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Foundation/Elevated Chicago
Elevated Chicago (Elevated) requests Project-Specific Support for a coalition of public, private and nonprofit organizations (Coalition) co-convened by the Office of Mayor Lightfoot and Elevated as the Equitable Transit-Oriented Development Working Group (ETOD WG). The Coalition includes 40+ government agencies, BIPOC-led community and art organizations, developers, and policy experts. Its goal is to implement the 36 policies of Chicago’s first ETOD Policy Plan and advance several ETOD demonstration projects. This work seeks to prevent future TOD from displacing residents, small businesses, cultural institutions, and community organizations; encourage investment and build community wealth in BIPOC and low-income communities; and position Chicago as a national leader in ETOD.
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Grant Recipient
Resurrection Project
TRP respectfully requests support for its comprehensive homeownership program, Full Circle Homes (FCH). FCH provides prospective homeowners the tools and support they need to qualify, find, and responsibly buy a home, while offering post-purchase services to ensure owners remain in their homes for the long-term. FCH leverages TRP’s decades of homebuyer preparation experience with lending and realty services. TRP is a trusted provider of bilingual, culturally inclusive services tailored to meet the needs of Chicago’s Latinx community and immigrant households. As a voice for increasing access to homeownership, TRP also advocates for systems and practice change, while bringing innovative housing models, including modular homes, to the market.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Sun-Times
The Sun-Times, Illinois' second-largest newspaper, is seeking continued financial support to fund salaries and benefits for two reporters. One journalists, Elvia Malagón, will continue rigorous reporting on social justice issues, with a focus on the economic disparities between Black and Brown residents and white people in our city and region. The second reporter, Brett Chase, will continue covering environmental, planning, and development issues, with a focus on environmental racism. In the coming year, the Sun-Times' reporting will shine a spotlight on these issues, which have traditionally lacked coverage. The reporters' work will be free to access for online readers and will note that the content is made possible through a grant from the Chicago Community Trust.
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Grant Recipient
Raise the Floor Alliance
Raise the Floor Alliance seeks support to develop digital outreach strategies and systems to support the campaign to transform at-will employment in Illinois
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Community Foundation