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.
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Grant Recipient
Life Changing Family Services
Jesus Word Center Church was launched in 1986 in the Austin Community of Chicago, IL. The ministry started with seven members. Our congregation grows through our prison ministry to the Vienna Correctional Center of Ex-inmates, their families, and community members. After outgrowing our storefront location, we remained in the Austin community by sharing space with ST. Paul Lutheran Church. We have 325 members. Our congregation comprises 77 men, 127 women, 103 youth, and children. We have a mixture of college graduates, business owners, paraprofessionals, the health field, social workers, laborers, retirees, unemployed, and college students. Our Outreach ministries include a partnership with the Chicago Public School Safe Haven Program to keep our community students safe during the most violent hours of the day. A partnership with Playstreet and the city of Chicago, we block off the street 5 times during the summer months to allow children and their families to play and have social encounters with neighbors in a safe environment.
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Grant Recipient
Not Before My Parents
Over the past few years, Chicago has remained a comparison to a war zone and youth still must deal with the "normalcy" of attending the funerals of their friends. They are not senior citizens attending services for a friend of 50-60 years; rather, they are teenagers and elementary school youth attending sad and mournful "homegoing celebrations" of their own friends, siblings, and relatives. From children in daycare impacted by stray bullets to young pre-teens with AR-15s, NBMP is declaring a state of love to decrease these unconscionable acts of violence. Our summer bridge programs will provide emotional, behavioral, and social support to youth, individuals, and families. Witnessing these tragedies brings out feelings of fear, mistrust, frustration, anger, disappointment, and shock. To live in this type of environment is unbelievably disconcerting as an adult. When a child must worry about violence when undertaking simple, ordinary things like walking to school, catching a bus, playing at the playground, or merely going to the candy store, it is stealing the innocence of their childhood. Our vision is to instill personal excellence, assist in building self-esteem, advocate for the celebration of cultural diversity, and unite communities. We empower youth through our NBMP Chess Moves Against Violence Community Engagement, Kick For Your Goals Soccer, and Let's Talk Trauma in the Community (mental health workshop). With this grant, NBMP will introduce its Skateboard for Safety & Peace initiative. In an effort to quell mob action by errant teens and young people, along with quelling gun violence and criminal activity, we will host 6-10 events between August 6th and Labor Day Weekend. These events will occur in the Englewood community (primarily), downtown Chicago, and West Englewood neighborhoods. From peace circles to peer-led community activities, we want to keep all of Chicago safe during the remainder of the summer months.
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Grant Recipient
Working Family Solidarity
We will organize an afternoon Back-To-School fun event on Saturday, Sept. 2nd, 12 - 4 pm, to celebrate and support the families at the ABLA Homes housing complex (just to the southeast of Ashland and Roosevelt, on the Near Southwest Side), where residents of these affordable housing units are 98% African American. We have been organizing and supporting the struggle to build more affordable housing at this site for the past 7 months, and we have built relationships with many residents, as well as with the Bethel Mennonite Community Church at 1434 S. Laflin St. We will hold an afternoon of fun activities, with BMC Church's participation and possibly other ally organizations, to bring families and youth together, with music, food, fun activities (bouncy house, art activities), and we will distribute back-to-school supplies. We will also have storytelling led by a community member who is a returning citizen, and we will pay stipends to several youth from the community to help us with this event. Our Lead Organizer, Kevin Johnson, will oversee this event planning, set-up, and day-of activities. Kevin is born and raised in Englewood, and has been working with ABLA Homes residents every week since early January of this year.
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Grant Recipient
A Ray of Hope On Earth
A Ray of Hope on Earth has been serving youth since 2012 by offering mentoring programs and summer camps promoting positive youth development. We currently mentor 60 6th-8th grade high-risk youth residing in disadvantaged communities. Participating youth are inspired to set short and long-term goals, develop leadership skills, overcome obstacles by acquiring life skills, and improve academically. Our mentorship program, The Builder of Men, is a community brotherhood that helps young boys reach their full potential, build strong values, and develop into exceptional leaders. We have a network of 10 male mentors who engage with youth in fun-filled activities that stimulate their creativity. With the prevalence of smartphones, many young people have become amateur photographers and videographers, posting pictures and videos on social media. We want to encourage kids to use their cameras to explore exciting adventures and capture meaningful experiences that will last a lifetime. Our program will take us to five different parks: Lincoln Park, Millennium Park, Grant Park, Jackson Park, and Garfield Park. At each park, kids will create unique portraits, close-ups, and shots that tell a story about the park, the surrounding neighborhood, and the people who frequent it. They will also learn how to curate an online portfolio of their artwork. Additionally, we will visit the Museum of Science and Industry and the DuSable Museum for a fun-filled field trip. Our program offers a high-quality photography experience that helps kids see the world in new ways, gain confidence in their authentic voice, and make positive choices for their lives. To wrap up the program, we will celebrate with a picnic over Labor Day weekend. At this event, kids will showcase their photography and videos and explain the educational value of the activities.
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Grant Recipient
N Y A Cafe
During the month of August, we intend to extend our programming to include outdoor activity series that allows youth ages 13-17 opportunities to engage in different outdoor sport or physical activities to engage in- along Chicago South lakefront. These areas make space for youth to: -socialize and engage positively within their peer group -maintain physical fitness and mental wellness by being participating in outdoor recreational activities -introduce and promote the use and stewardship of outdoor natural environments like the Lakefront and parks -expose youth to Chicagoland and national cultural treasures
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Grant Recipient
Building A Dream Institute Inc
Building A Dream Institute Inc. became a non for profit in April 2020 but we have been working with the community of Austin & Auburn Gresham for over 20 years. Through the years we have established community of Austin & Auburn Gresham for over 20 years. Through the years we have established programming to help youth become productive adults. Over the last year we have worked with over 200 youth ages 6-19 providing them with life skills training, money management training and art programming. We work with our faith based community to ensure our youth have the opportunity to learn from the adults who have the potential to influence their lives and provide a sense of community, unity and protection.
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Grant Recipient
No Matter What NFP
No Matter What throughout the summer of 2023 are engaging youth in various camps and programs. The $5000 from this grant will be used to engage with the youth in the Englewood area.
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Grant Recipient
The 411 Movement for Pierre Loury
The 411 Movement for Pierre Loury wants to continue engaging with youth and residents in impacted and underserved communities. We host African Drum Circles at our Peace Pop Up events. Theses spaces are created to bring youth and community members together around our culture and to have open and organic conversations about how we can create safe spaces to have social engagement and interconnectedness. Because we do not have a core group of youth that we currently work with we are partnering with other orgs, Taproots, Your Passion First, Good Kids Mad City, Westside Health Authority and Alternative to help us connect with the youth they already have in their programs. However a majority of the youth we connect with are through our Pop Up Peace Events. The application consists of: 1. Briefly share your plan for the community activities and events, how you will use the funds, and describe your organizational capacity to provide supports for children and youth during Labor Day weekend and/or the gap time between when The Park District’s summer programming ends and the CPS (Chicago Public School) school year begins (August 6-21). *We will continue hosting our Peace Pop Ups and African Drum Circles (Beats Not Bullets) in community by sharing culture, food, community, safeness and healing. We will use the funds for food, materials needed, rent spaces if needed, Give small stipends to participants. We also provide resources to the Youth that participate via our partner orgs. 2. Grant Request Amount: Not to exceed $5000 (enter amount requesting) $5000 (attached the simple budget) 3. Select the grant term: 6 months (funds must be spent by September 2023) We will host 4-6 weekly Peace Pop Ups (we have been doing Fridays, from 3:00-7:00) on the Westside but with these funds we will move several of the circles to impacted south side areas (Chatham, Englewood, Woodlawn) 4. For the question: How does your organization meet the needs and opportunities defined in the RFP or as discussed with your program contact? include the following bulleted information: a. What are your plans for recruiting and engaging children and youth? We table at other youth events but we also go into community and meet youth and engage them one on one, and ask them to bring their family and friends out to a circle. b. When do you anticipate providing the services? Please specify Memorial Day, gap in June, or both. Every Friday in August (8/11, 8/18, 8/25, and having a End of the Summer Youth Peace Party on 9/1) c. What age ranges of children and youth do you plan to serve? Please specify age ranges (5-7 years, 6-8 years, 9 -11 years, 12 -14 years, 15-17 years, 18+) Our target youth ages range between 12-24. d. How many children and youth do you anticipate engaging? Please specify range of children and youth served (Less than 10, 11-15, 16-20, 21-25, 26-30, 31-35, 36-40, greater than 40) Each Circle we can host 10 youth for Drumming but the event is open with food, music and activities so we can accomodate 10-100 guest.