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
HOUSING ACTION ILLINOIS
This proposal combines Housing Action Illinois' grant renewal requests under two separate RFPs: 1) General operating support under Protecting & Advancing Equitable Homeownership, and 2) Programmatic support under Coalitions for Equity in Wealth Policy. We have labeled our responses accordingly, to indicate what is applicable to our Homeownership work, and what is applicable to Coalitions. Homeownership: Housing Action Illinois will continue to advocate for policies to create and preserve homeownership opportunities in Black and Latinx communities suffering from a lack of private lending, relatively low property values, and high property tax burdens. We will also focus resources on preserving homeownership among long-time Black and Latinx residents in communities experiencing gentrification, displacement, and rapidly increasing property values. CRA: Housing Action Illinois seeks continued support for our co-leadership of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) Coalition, which works toward policies to increase the availability of credit and institutional investments in low- and moderate-income communities, particularly communities of color. This year's focus will be to advocate for final state and federal Community Reinvestment Act implementing rules that specifically advance racial equity and meet the needs of low-income communities and communities of color. Coalition partners focus on various needs and constituencies, including lending, small business, community development, financial wellness education, and racial equity. Housing Action’s knowledge and expertise relates to policy advocacy and affordable housing issues, such as residential mortgage lending, housing counseling, and the needs of homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and people experiencing homelessness.
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Grant Recipient
Big NFP
BIG, NFP (Blacks in Green) is requesting a $240,000 Building Collective Power funding investment ($80,000 for 36 months) in general operating support for our signature community-centered program, the Sustainable Square Mile™, designed to engage, educate and empower neighbors in closing America’s racial health/wealth gap via the new green economy opportunities.
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Grant Recipient
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
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Grant Recipient
New Covenant Community Development
This is a partnership that was created based on similar visions for supporting small business owners through the development of their busi ness skills. We also specifically focus on development of their financial skills needed to successfully start, grow and manage their business. We plan to increase our impact in this grant year. Beyond our past offering, we also have come to understand there is a need for support of our business owners in dealing with trauma. We believe that it is now critical to be able to provide some level of support in this area to address some of the obstacles that our population encounters.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Trust
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Grant Recipient
WE ARE ABLE
We Are Able, a 501c3, in partnership with the Chicago Police Board, launched the Chicago Youth Council for Police Accountability (CYCPA) in 2021. Our mission is to spark a dialogue about policing issues in Chicago, empower young people from across the City to engage in the work of the Chicago Police Board, and amplify young people’s voices that have been historically underrepresented and underutilized. The CYCPA is comprised of 11 young people ages 16-25. Their work includes: • Attending and providing input into police board meetings • Researching and drafting policy recommendations that are presented to the board • Performing outreach and awareness-building to increase engagement with the police board, and • Facilitating community-building events that foster inclusive communities
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Grant Recipient
FAR SOUTH CDC
Far South Community Development Corporation’s (Far South CDC) project HEAPP (Housing and Equity Assistance Pilot Program) is a holistic and comprehensive strategy to address the housing and equity crisis that has persisted on Chicago’s far south side and south suburban Cook County for many decades, which has contributed to the shortage in housing options, family and neighborhood wealth leakage, and poor quality of living. HEAPP will combine: One-on-One Housing Counseling Services and Group Workshops and Seminars Family Financial Management (Family Budgeting and Debt Management) Equity & Quality of Life Home Technology & Access Housing Policy Advocacy & Public Safety This opportunity will give needed capacity to administer project HEAPP.
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Grant Recipient
Womens Business Development Center (WBDC)
Over 130 BSOs provide support to business owners in the Chicago area, many with a focus on a particular geography, industry, or population. Services provided by each may range from very general to narrowly targeted. As a result, service delivery is uneven across geographies and inefficient overall. Organizations focus on their offerings, often unaware of alternative and complementary options available to the entrepreneurs they support. What is needed is an ecosystem transformed for Access – increased coordination and collaboration via processes co-designed by participating BSOs that enable business owners to obtain from them what they need: Access to Education they can use to make better business decisions Access to Markets they can reach to increase their revenues Access to Capital they can employ to grow their enterprises Access to Networks they can leverage to connect to opportunities The WBDC is requesting funding to deliver EMBA-Year 3 to provide minority business owners with increased Access to Education, Markets and Networks. The aspirational goal of EMBA is to reduce racial wealth disparities and create generational wealth for minority businesses through higher-margin private/public sector contracting/procurement opportunities. As Helene D Gayle, President and CEO of the Chicago Community Trust wrote in her May 18, 2022 Chicago Tribune Editorial entitled, ‘Community development builds framework to close racial wealth gap’, “At all stages of development, Black and Brown-owned businesses must be assured a fair shot at contracts that allow them to hire, train and expand resources within the community”. For this to happen, Black and Brown-owned businesses must first be made aware of this business pathway and then how to be ready and position themselves for a fair shot. This is the goal of EMBA. EMBA's primary customers are Business Service Organizations (BSOs) within the Greater Chicago ecosystem. As BSO partners, they will be trained and provided with the information, education, resources, tools, and collateral necessary to educate neighborhood minority business owners about these higher-margin business pathways. EMBA has a three-step focus; advancing and deepening BSO knowledge in the contracting arena, ensuring minority businesses are aware of these pathways; and providing the 'roadmap' and technical assistance required for business owners to successfully enter and navigate this complex marketplace. Execution will be accomplished using a Hub-and-Spoke model in which the WBDC will serve as the Hub, CMSDC as a Subject Matter Expert Spoke and four neighborhood Business Service Organizations as local Awareness and Education Spokes. The WBDC and CMSDC will update the EMBA learning module, Tool Kit, and other related collateral for the Spokes to deploy. In addition, they will lead Train-the-Trainer Sessions for Spoke staff, facilitate client-focused Workshops and Webinars, deliver targeted one-on-one advising to Spoke clients, and leverage corporate, government, and Women and Minority Business Enterprise SMEs as mentors. Spoke organizations will complement these actions by marketing the opportunities, organizing and recruiting minority businesses to attend the Webinars and Workshops, delivering general one-on-one advising, assisting with matching businesses and mentors, adhering to reporting requirements, and participating in EMBA Hub and Spoke meetings and related activities. The WBDC's positive experience as both a Hub and a Spoke will enable a project structure that helps to build capacity, and is respectful and empowering for the partner BSO's, and builds an informational channel for minority small businesses. The budgetary request to FEBG is greater than the previous two years because it is inclusive of compensation for the five partner BSOs engagement, effort and expertise.