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
University of Chicago Urban Labs
The University of Chicago Inclusive Economy Lab (IEL) is working to eliminate financial barriers to postsecondary success in partnership with the Illinois State Treasurer’s Office (ILSTO) and Chicago Public Schools’ Office of College and Career Success (OCCS). IEL’s ongoing partnership with ILSTO will produce evidence on the role that seeding 529 college-savings accounts has on college-going mindsets of families and inform the implementation of the State’s relatively new Children’s Savings Program (CSP). This analysis will utilize a randomized controlled trial and survey research to produce its insights. IEL will also work with OCCS to analyze more than 1,800 financial aid award letters to understand the net price of attending various institutions and to compare the financial aid packages offered to students with various academic and demographic profiles. This analysis will examine what the real costs of college are for CPS students, assessing which students have affordable college choices. where more financial support is needed, and which institutions typically provide affordable options for students. It will also provide visibility into how institutions of higher education are describing the cost of attendance to students and identify the extent to which colleges are engaging in predatory and misleading practices to attract students. The Inclusive Economy Lab will publish its findings across both projects in 2024 followed by engagement activities with local and national media, presentations at researcher and practitioner conferences, and briefings for policymakers and elected officials. We will encourage our partners, ILSTO and OCCS, to share the findings with their own networks, including but not limited to the National Association of State Treasurers and the National Association of College Admissions Counseling.
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Grant Recipient
Centro De Trabajadores Unidos United Workers Center
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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
Office of the Illinois State Treasurer
Executive Summary Justice Informed will work with the Office of the Illinois State Treasurer and the Chicago Treasurer's Office to provide ongoing support to develop a roadmap to relaunch AEBC under new leadership, host focus groups and 1-1 discussions to determine how and toward what end current and new bank partners wish to participate in AEBC and lay the groundwork for a new partnership model by developing relationships with new potential operational, programmatic, and fiscal partners. To-date, AEBC has been a neutral convening space where bank representatives met to discuss and support one another toward their racial equity goals. However, after two years of operating under this model, several things are clear to us about how our impact is limited through the current model: Operational Model: The Treasurer's Offices, respectively, are not the right lead agency to serve as the primary operator and convener, however, these offices participation engenders a level of respect and trust that is paramount to keeping a conversation about economic racial equity moving in Chicagoland. The Treasurer's offices do not have the staff and finances to continue this work as the primary lead. Programmatic Model: There is resistance against racial equity being defined outside of a business model, but instead a community impact model. Banks are using varying definitions of racial equity, many which are not community-informed or accountable. Banks ultimately answer to themselves or matters of government compliance that are in place to remedy the impacts of banks' non-participation in deliberate acts of racial equity (such as CRA and FHA regulations). As such, the high-level issues impacting racially marginalized communities are being addressed through a piecemeal, bank-developed approach that is still grounded by the question "how does this impact our financial bottom line." Some bank's models operating to non-deliberately but still materially produce negative racial equity impacts often create the need for racial equity initiatives such as AEBC. The evaluation of these models and their impact then must be community-accountable at best, or at minimum, community-informed in a consistent manner. Roundtables and annual convenings are important to keep a conversation going, but they don't truly transform a system. Our goal is systems transformation, but that requires a new way of operating such that we maintain good relationships with banks while adding in community accountability and an overarching definition for racial equity in banking. Our goal is to develop a community of bank partners and representatives who openly share information and best practices about their commitments and actions toward racial equity; a space where racially minoritized community members can be the assessors of banks' racial equity impact; a medium where banks and the communities they seek to impact can speak safely to one another about what is or isn't working as it pertains to racial equity strategies, and where the definition of racial equity isn't confined to the singular ideas, fears, or ambitions of one bank but disconnected from the rest. It is imperative that AEBC shift to a community-informed approach, however, given that many banks and communities have a long history of strained relationships, differing beliefs about what banks are responsible for, and many different institutions with varying goals intersecting throughout this work, this is difficult. The role of the respective Treasurer's offices as a convener, and Justice Informed as a programmatic lead creates a more neutral space and convener for this work. We believe by leveraging this partnership model to now shift into an evolved operational model and community-informed program model would exponentially increase our impact on racial equity. To do this, the work ahead requires several months of planning time to map potential partners, host informational meetings, draft potential MOUs, and develop a new roadmap for AEBC. Key Deliverables in this Scope of Work: 1. Compiled Report of Definitions for Racial Equity in Banks Across Chicagoland 2. Completed AEBC 2.0 Partnership Discovery Process 3. AEBC Relaunch Roadmap
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Grant Recipient
JANE ADDAMS RESOURCE CORPORATION
The Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) was established in 1985. Over the last 37 years, JARC has collaborated with stakeholders across various sectors to assess the needs of the community and the clients we serve. We promote economic development by training low-income adults in the skills they need to earn a living wage. We do this through a combination of technical manufacturing training and wraparound supportive services. We believe that everyone who works has the right to a living wage; that training leads to better paying jobs; and that the key to long term, substantive change for people is a focus on careers. We promote economic empowerment through training low-income adults in the skills they need to earn a living wage. We do this through a combination of technical manufacturing training and wraparound supportive services, including financial literacy. We offer free technical training in welding, computerized machining, and assembly at our three Chicagoland locations. We focus on these occupations because they offer career path employment with family sustaining wages, and full benefits. All trainees in our programs also receive one-on-one coaching, case management, transportation assistance, and access to supportive service funds. We also screen trainees for additional needs such as accessing health insurance, housing, food, childcare, mental health and substance abuse counseling, and domestic violence assistance. All these supports continue when our clients start working to help them advance along a career path and continue to reach their long-term goals. All our training programs offer industry recognized credentials and job placement assistance. Last year we placed 49 clients in fulltime jobs at an average starting wage of $19.35.
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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 the Mayor 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, monitor the impact of the Connected Communities Ordinance, and advance a growing pipeline of ETOD projects funded by the City. The 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. In addition to the Chicago-based work, in 2022, invited by the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning and the Regional Transportation Authority, Elevated coalition staff and partners began working with regional entities on a regional approach to ETOD for the Chicago metropolitan area.
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Grant Recipient
Business Services Collective NFP
Chicago’s real estate market will witness billions of dollars of investment over the next decade. EMPOWER's goal is to leverage this as an opportunity to create the pathways for wealth and job creation by and for BIPOC construction firms and their workers, leading to reducing the racial wealth gap. Business Services Collective and Greenwood Archer Capital (housed within Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives) have been in this funding relationship with FEBG/CCT since 2020 when we joined forces to create an ecosystem of support for BIPOC businesses to access capital. EMPOWER offers back-office services readiness for accessing capital leading to access to construction projects with the financial readiness and the ability to bid and successfully complete the projects. Since inception we have supported more than 35 businesses directly (26) and indirectly (9) through EMPOWER
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Grant Recipient
Eighteenth Street Development Corporation
Economic Strategies Development Corporation, or ESDC, is a community organization that has focused on fostering the economic vitality of Lower West Side since 1976. ESDC’s mission is to holistically enhance the socioeconomic well-being of communities, businesses, and individuals through sustainability and financial independence. Support on behalf of CCT in the amount of $100,000 will allow us to continue our bilingual programming which is aimed at attracting new business to the community, building generational wealth, increasing access to capital, and fostering business start-ups, which can result in a reduction of storefront vacancies, increased revenues and investment, increased job opportunities and increased wealth amongst BIPOC, or Black, Indigenous and people of color.