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
Featured
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.
-
Grant Recipient
LYTE COLLECTIVE
LYTE Collective serves young people in Chicago facing poverty and homelessness. Our mission is to support every young person who contacts us, with whatever they need, for as long as they want us by their side; end harmful systems that cause young people to need our help in the first place; and build a more just and equitable world together with all who aspire to do better by young people. We invest deeply in young people through an approach that is youth-led and research driven where we work to meet basic human needs while also providing the opportunities and relationships young people deserve to heal, to dream, and to explore themselves and the world around them. Our work at LYTE Collective is directly aligned with the guiding purpose of the Unity Fund to restore stability for those in crisis by providing services critical for the safety, health and wellbeing of young people facing homelessness. We do this through our three core programs: (1) LYTE’s mobile support program where we go directly to young people wherever they need us; (2) our Lytehouse Apartments transitional housing program; and (3) through the LYTE Lounge community center, a holistic hub of support for youth. Across all three of our programs our work includes: connecting youth to safe housing; providing food, clothing, personal care supplies and transportation; distributing emergency funds; enrollment support and advocacy within high schools and colleges, support in gaining employment and increasing income; accessing public benefits, physical and mental health care and childcare; obtaining legal services; arts, music, sports, and other recreation programming; and ongoing accompaniment. Through this request, LYTE Collective seeks general operating support to help us strengthen our work supporting Chicago youth facing poverty and homelessness.
-
Grant Recipient
CHILDRENS CENTER OF CICERO-BERWYN INC
The Children’s Center of Cicero Berwyn is requesting for $25,000 to hire a speech therapist on a contract work with children 3-5 years of age who fall through the cracks of getting appropriate or any services through the school districts to support language development that impacts social, emotional and cognitive learning and often leads to challenging behavior issues. Challenging issues have increased tremendously post COVID and we are in dire need of additional operating funds for those reasons. Besides delivering language intervention, the speech therapist will provide strategies to teachers to work with children with similar issues. Children are returning to classrooms from post-COVID aftereffects, there has been an increase in challenging behavior issues in classrooms. The Children’s Center of Cicero Berwyn serves about 950 families in the Chicago area communities, largely Latinx communities and serves the Latinx population. Over 80% of birth to five children are Latinx; over 73% staff serving children re Latinx. The Children’s Center has eight locations in Cicero, Berwyn, and Stickney with the capacity to serve 950 birth to five children and families in the communities.
-
Grant Recipient
NEW LIFE CENTERS OF CHICAGOLAND NFP
New Life Centers is attempting to maintain and expand the scope and scale of our services, particularly to Southwestern Border Arrivals migrating to Chicago. The city of Chicago has seen an influx of Southwestern Border Arrivals. Organizationally, we have been feeding, supporting, and resettling individuals and families while also helping provide connection to short-term and long-term support. We are in need of long-term funds to continue to do this work and help individuals and families.
-
Grant Recipient
National Museum of Mexican Art
The National Museum of Mexican Art is requesting continued support to for Listo para el museo, a program that is geared toward using Mexican culture and artmaking to support cognitive development in young children. The Museum seeks to be a community resources for parents looking for unique, culturally relevant ways to support their children’s development. What’s more, NMMA seeks to incorporate art made by Chicago born or based artists in order to make children and families aware of the richness of art from their own community.
-
Grant Recipient
Connections for the Homeless, Inc.
Connections for the Homeless accomplishes the Chicago Community Trust’s goals of the Unity Fund, by addressing critical housing and emergent needs of its community’s most vulnerable. Relevant services include prevention from homelessness through rent and utility assistance, free onsite behavioral and healthcare services, distribution of served and pantry foods and thousands of pounds of clothing, toiletries and household items, and the support in securing of safe and secure housing solutions – particularly for young people. Connections works with a disproportionate number of BIPOC neighbors who have disabilities, are medically vulnerable, are youth aging out of the care system or have otherwise been disenfranchised by education, health and banking systems. Through our Advocacy Program we support system and policy innovations by engaging state, local and community partners to effectuate changes that push our community toward the achievable goal of attaining functional zero.
-
Grant Recipient
Chicago Community Foundation
-
Grant Recipient
Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project
A $25,000 grant from Nuestro Futuro will enable the Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project to expand its community legal education and outreach efforts throughout the Chicago region so more low-income Latine immigrant workers and families have pro bono access to the justice system when they have been wronged at work or in the community. This growth will take place through a continuation of staff-led community legal education and outreach efforts, as well as an expansion of FLAP’s network of independently-contracted community navigators. Themselves bilingual Latine immigrants, navigators are trained to provide year-round community outreach and education in their neighborhoods, towns, and villages, and to connect those who require legal and social services to FLAP's networking of attorneys, social services agencies and staff for further assistance.
-
Grant Recipient
Covenant House Illinois Inc
In 2017, Covenant House Illinois (CHIL) opened in the River North neighborhood of Chicago as an independently operated non-profit connected to the broader Covenant House International network. Our first location consisted of a 12-bed Interim Housing Program and a Youth Development Center (Drop-In). In 2019, to expand services and better serve the Chicago community, CHIL purchased a three-story, 24,000 square foot building in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago’s west side. CHIL operates an array of comprehensive support services and residential programs for homeless and trafficked young people. Our mission is to provide youth (ages 18-24) experiencing homelessness with shelter and safety, trust and community, and a better tomorrow. At CHIL, our active purpose is to empower young people to find hope and progress by strengthening their resilience through unwavering support and engagement. As one of only a few residential youth shelters in Chicago, young people depend on us for 24/7 emergency crisis care, case management, counseling, safe and secure housing, educational support, physical and mental health care, and employment services. Late-stage adolescence, and in particular the 18–24-year-old demographic CHIL serves, is characterized by unique biological, social, psychological, and cognitive processes. The delivery of developmentally appropriate interventions is dependent upon the unique factors that influence late-stage adolescence, such as increased independence, the establishment of moral, sexual, and vocational identities, and the transition to adulthood. Exposure to violence, sexual assault, poverty, and significant trauma are hallmarks for youth experiencing homelessness within this age range. These experiences can lead to protracted homelessness and an unhealthy delay in the transition to adulthood. In Chicago, homelessness overwhelmingly affects youth in this critical developmental stage. In fact, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, youth ages 18-24, make up 90 percent of all youth experiencing homelessness nation-wide. CHIL intentionally chose East Garfield Park as our Chicago campus location, and the 18-24 age range, as our intended population, because youth within this age range are overrepresented in violence and homicide statistics, mental health challenges, involvement in the criminal justice system, rates of chronic disease, unemployment, and premature death. This is not happenstance. It is the legacy of years of disinvestment, racist housing policy, and disregard for entire communities on the south and west sides of Chicago. We are respectfully requesting $50,000 in general operating support for our Youth Development Center (Drop-In), Interim Housing Program, Street Outreach & Aftercare Program (SOAP), and Covenant Works Program. CHIL partners with youth to offer comprehensive support services and residential programs for homeless and trafficked young people. At CHIL, we provide access to necessities such as shelter, food, clothing, and trauma-sensitive wrap-around services, including physical and mental health care, employment counseling, legal services, and life-skills workshops. Through our core programs, we serve approximately 200 youth per year. To date, in FY23, however, we have served 334 youth due to our expanded Chicago campus on Chicago’s west side community of East Garfield Park.