We are working towards a future with a strengthened safety net of essential services across Cook County that enhances individual and community stability and economic security by providing housing, food, and other fundamental human services and supports.
Access to healthy and secure housing is essential for individuals and families to achieve long-term stability and economic security. However, a financially vulnerable family struggles with financial hardships and higher levels of stress, delays getting health care, has trouble paying rent, and worries about having enough money for food.
According to the Financial Health Network Chicago Pulse report, staggering numbers of Black and Latine respondents reported struggling to make ends meet. More than half of Black and Latine respondents (59% and 52%, respectively) said they were unable to pay all their bills on time, compared to 18 percent of whites. Almost four in 10 Black and Latine residents (39% and 38%, respectively) reported that, over the last year, they worried about running out of food, compared to 11 percent of whites. In Chicago, 47 percent of renters are forced to spend more than 30 percent of their household income on rent and utilities and are considered “cost-burdened” by the city’s excessive housing costs.
Financial instability and a lack of affordable housing – now at a 10-year high – are significant drivers of Chicago’s dramatic increase in homelessness. In 2023, there were nearly 69,000 unhoused people in Chicago. That number includes some of the more than 49,000 asylum-seekers who have come to our city from the southern U.S. border since 2022.
Gun violence is another urgent issue facing our region. The effects of gun violence are devastating to individuals, families and communities. The impact is felt throughout the region and poses a significant threat to Chicago’s vibrancy. Safety concerns inform how people live and feel in their communities, which challenges our economy and affects our overall quality of life. And while violence disproportionately occurs in Black and Latine neighborhoods, the direct costs of gun violence to the region are estimated at over $3 billion annually, including health care costs, police work, victim support, prosecution, and incarceration.
As a community foundation, the Trust will always support addressing Chicagoans’ critical needs. While a wide range of interventions can address these needs, the Trust has identified three areas where we believe we can have the greatest impact: housing stability, community safety, and unexpected crises.
The Trust’s Critical Needs program supports programs and services that help Chicagoans meet their basic needs to achieve economic stability and security, including housing, food and nutrition, and other human services. As it has since we were founded, the Trust also responds to unanticipated and ongoing crises facing our region, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, gun violence, and new arrivals, in partnership with philanthropic, government, corporate, and civic actors.
Specifically, the Trust’s Critical Needs funding prioritizes:
Housing Stability: To help Chicagoans who are unhoused or unstably housed.
Community Safety: By addressing the root causes of community violence.
Responsive Grantmaking: As needs arise in communities during times of crisis.
We are working towards a future with a strengthened safety net of essential services across Cook County that enhances individual and community stability and economic security by providing housing, food, and other fundamental human services and supports.
As we move forward, we are committed to learning together, adjusting, and being responsive. We will use insights from our grantmaking and input from our partners to shape our learning journey and approach.
These priorities reflect where the Trust can achieve measurable impact. However, we cannot meet residents’ basic and emergency needs alone.
The Critical Needs team works closely with the following funder collaboratives and initiatives:
There is a wide range of actions multi-sector partners can take to help address critical needs. By working together, we can close the gap on vital issues. Here’s how you can help:
Join coalitions or campaigns that advance policy reforms addressing homelessness, gun violence, or immigration justice.
Join us in making a difference! Together, we can strengthen our community and bring hope to thousands of Chicagoans.
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Please contact Ayom Siengo, Senior Director of Critical Needs, at asiengo@cct.org, or Adele Nandan, Director of Donor Engagement, at anandan@cct.org.
