Neighborhood Capital Fund

A pooled fund that provides grants to support real estate developments in underinvested neighborhoods on Cook County’s South and West sides, supporting a strong region for all.

Photo: Back of the Yards Coffee Co. Credit: @done.by.design.

What is the Neighborhood Capital Fund?

The Neighborhood Capital Fund is a funders collaborative led by The Chicago Community Trust that has raised $15 million to support local neighborhoods in realizing their visions for thriving local economies on the South and West sides of Cook County. The fund will provide streamlined, late-stage real estate capital grants over two years for brick-and-mortar projects to help complete their capital financing and move to and through construction.

Helping Neighborhoods Achieve Their Visions for Thriving Economies

A group of funders led by The Chicago Community Trust has created the Neighborhood Capital Fund to provide grants for community-led real estate projects that spur economic activity in underinvested neighborhoods on Cook County’s South and West sides. The fund builds on lessons learned through We Rise Together: For an Equitable & Just Recovery, a collaborative initiative housed at The Trust that successfully made 40 grants to real estate projects in underinvested communities between 2021 and 2025.

Decades of underinvestment along with discriminatory lending and development practices in neighborhoods on Cook County’s South and West sides have stripped too many communities of funding, resources and services needed to support thriving local economies—and, in turn, a prosperous region. These communities face persistent challenges including a lack of access to quality jobs, childcare and healthcare, declining economic mobility, and deteriorated commercial corridors.

Throughout We Rise Together’s five-year run, the Trust evaluated the impact of its capital grants, coordinated with and learned from other philanthropic and private capital investment initiatives, and kept track of up-and-coming projects in underinvested neighborhoods. We learned that communities with two or more completed We Rise Together projects are today experiencing four times the economic activity compared with similar communities in the region.

We also learned that it’s important to advance a community’s plan by sustaining and coordinating investments over time so that they build on one another and lead to transformative change. The Neighborhood Capital Fund is intended to continue the economic momentum We Rise Together helped support.

Elements of the Neighborhood Capital Fund

Three elements sum up what makes this initiative catalytic and unique.

Hyperlocal: The goal of the new fund is to support community-led real estate opportunities located within a half-mile of recent economic development to continue momentum.
Late-stage Funding: The fund is providing capital for projects that have raised more than 75% of the resources needed so that they can start construction.
Collaborative Philanthropy: By pooling funds from multiple donors, we are able to make investments in multiple projects at the same time for exponential impact.

Donate Today

We know of dozens more worthy projects that have raised most of their financing and, with funding from the Neighborhood Capital Fund, will be poised for construction. The Trust is committed to maintaining the relationships and knowledge needed to maintain a pipeline of projects and match ready projects with the resources needed to get to and through construction.

Be a Part of the Neighborhood Capital Fund