Grant Supports Community-led Efforts to Advance Racial Justice and People Power in Communities

Seven Chicago organizations will enhance civic engagement to address community challenges

CHICAGO – Amidst ongoing calls for racial and economic justice, The Chicago Community Trust has made a three-year funding commitment of $350,000 annually to the Wieboldt Foundation’s Capacity Building Organizing Cohort to allow community organizations to address the challenges in their communities while also building lasting power.

The new initiative is focused on providing essential resources to enhance the civic engagement infrastructure and capacity of a cohort of grassroots organizations annually. Grant recipients will receive $25,000 in general operating support as well as a weekly consultation with a coach and access to monthly workshops to strengthen their respective organization’s capacity and resilience. During the 12-month cohort, participants will develop and advance a civic engagement campaign.

“The Wieboldt Foundation has been a key partner in the Chicago organizing community for the past 50 years,” said Daniel Ash, associate vice president of community impact at The Chicago Community Trust leading the Building Collective Power strategy. “By partnering with Wieboldt we have the opportunity to build on their great work to support residents in generating and advancing their own civic agenda.”

Chicago’s community organizers have worked tirelessly to address the challenges in their communities from gun violence to violence against Asian American and Pacific Islander communities to the inability of undocumented immigrants to receive life-saving health care because of their citizenship status.

“There is a critical need for capacity-building support for grassroots community organizations that are often the first responders addressing challenges in their communities, “said Jawanza Malone, executive director of the Wieboldt Foundation.

The seven organizations in the inaugural cohort are the Alliance for Filipino Rights and Empowerment, Black Oaks Center, Not Me We, People for Community Recovery, People Matter, Pilsen Alliance, and Working Family Solidarity. The seven Wieboldt Foundation Capacity Building Initiative grant recipients have done incredible work in the state of Illinois, and with additional support will be able to advance better overall sustainability and resilience.

Funding is part of the Trust ‘s 10-year strategic plan to tackle wealth inequity at the household, neighborhood, and community levels. To achieve our vision for the Chicago region at the community level, we believe residents need to be connected to strong, resilient, and credible relationship networks. For more information about our effort to Build Collective Power, visit: https://www.cct.org/about/strategic-plan/building-collective-power/.

About The Chicago Community Trust
The Chicago Community Trust is a community foundation dedicated to strengthening the Chicago region by creating equity, opportunity and prosperity for all people who call it home. For more than 100 years, the Trust has united generous donors, committed nonprofits and caring residents to effect lasting change. Following the creation of a new strategic plan in 2019, the Trust stands committed to addressing Chicago’s legacy of systemic inequity and closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap while responding to our most vulnerable residents’ critical needs. Thanks to our generous donors, in fiscal year 2020 more than 6,000 organizations received more than $613 million in funding from the Trust. To learn more, visit www.cct.org.

About the Wieboldt Foundation
The Wieboldt Foundation was founded in 1921 by William A. and Anna K. Wieboldt with the hope that its grants would support “charities designed to put an end to the need for charity.” Today, the directors of the foundation remain committed to preserving the founders’ charge, now translated into a concentration on activities that empower local neighborhood residents. To learn more, visit www.wieboldt.org.