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 Grant Making

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Showing 341–348 of 3357 results

  • Grant Recipient

    NEW LIFE CENTERS OF CHICAGOLAND NFP

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $225,000

    NLC requests CCT support for our effective, evidence-based violence prevention and intervention work, mentoring, educational programming, and holistic family support services. We engage  at least  900  gang-affiliated,  disconnected, or high-risk  youth in Little Village, Pilsen, Humboldt Park, and Brighton Park each year. We provide  mentoring  to  over 300  youth  annually  to increase protective factors through connections to caring adults. We also offer  4 weekly sessions of group and sports programming, and 5 days per week of after-school programing.  Wraparound family support includes food distribution, court advocacy, support groups, and referrals to immigration and legal support, housing, employment, and mental health services.

  • Grant Recipient

    Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA)

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $70,000

    LUCHA advances housing as a human right by empowering communities - particularly immigrant, Latinx, and Black populations - through advocacy, affordable housing development, and community building to close the racial and ethnic wealth gap. Operating support from the Trust will 1) further access to comprehensive education, financial assistance, and legal representation during closing for first-time LMI homebuyers of color; 2) sustain homeownership for said homebuyers via post-purchase counseling, affordable repair/renovation financing, and estate planning; 3) advance policies to preserve and create affordable housing; and 4) address housing affordability and the threat of displacement by preserving 1-4 unit buildings via shared equity.

  • Grant Recipient

    Brighton Park Neighborhood Council

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $70,000

    BPNC is requesting general operating support for the agency’s Financial Services Department to sustain and grow pre-purchase, financial capability, and foreclosure prevention counseling in addition to providing case management services to low-income Latinx families. Brighton Park is experiencing a rise in unemployment and a decrease in homeownership. To reverse this trend, BPNC strives to provide one-on-one counseling to 210 families and host 28 workshops in FY21. The requested funds will contribute to the staff salaries of the Financial Services Department - Director of Financial Services, two HUD-certified counselors, and two case managers.

  • Grant Recipient

    CHICAGO COMMONS ASSOCIATION

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $180,000

    Chicago Commons provides intergenerational, trauma-informed, and asset-based early childhood and older adults services to communities through a public health lens. The universal, targeted, and selective approach addresses well-being through holistic group, family, and individual services and through peer-to-peer offerings that recognizes and values the cultural and linguistic capacity of communities in which we serve. A family-centered paradigm undergirds the services and bestows the belief that families are resilient, adaptable, and have capacity to build strong connections inside and outside the family to achieve their goals and build economic wealth.

  • Grant Recipient

    University of Chicago Urban Labs

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $140,000

    Evidence shows that community college students who complete gateway English and Math within the first year of enrolling are more likely to persist and complete their studies. City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) has made ensuring students are well positioned to achieve this early momentum a core district priority. The Inclusive Economy Lab was invited by the CCC developmental education community to conduct research that will provide timely and context-specific guidance to support entering students. In this initiative, we will both provide research evidence on how to use data to inform placement and evaluate a holistic program designed to catalyze students’ early momentum.

  • Grant Recipient

    ACCESS LIVING OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $70,000

    Access Living has been responding to the urgent needs of the disability community throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, which has included initiatives such as facilitating direct payments to those financially impacted by COVID-19, assisting individuals in booking vaccine appointments, and ensuring city and state COVID-19 response was equitable for people with disabilities. For this project we are proposing a comprehensive information campaign targeted to the disability community to reduce vaccine hesitancy and inaccessibility. This will include data analysis, informational town hall sessions for the disability community, and the creation of a PSA to be disseminated throughout Chicago.

  • Grant Recipient

    BEYOND HUNGER

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $100,000

    Serving clients from 13 zip codes on the west side of Chicago and near-west suburbs, we harness the power of communities to end hunger. By providing food to people who are hungry, we meet immediate needs. But we also recognize that racial inequities underly social and economic disparities at the root of hunger & drive inequitable health outcomes. Thus, we utilize a health equity lens to address hunger as a social determinant of health, providing access to healthy food and nutrition education while also offering referrals to supportive services & advocating for stronger food safety-net policy. Hunger is solvable, but no one agency can do it alone, which is why we take a collaborative systems approach to build a more equitable region for all.

  • Grant Recipient

    LAKEVIEW PANTRY

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $100,000

    Lakeview Pantry, Chicago’s largest food pantry, has more than 50 years of history as a trusted and reliable resource for our neighbors. We work to meet the needs of individuals and families facing financial instability through food distribution, social services, and community mental health programs. Through our food access programs, families are given a full allotment of fresh and nutritious groceries once per month and are encouraged to return weekly for supplemental bread and produce. All families are screened for additional needs during each visit and connected to a staff case manager as needed. At this time, Lakeview Pantry continues to see a 200% increase in demand across programs over pre-COVID service levels.