Caring for Our Neighbors Through Crisis

In 2008, at the height of the Great Recession, the Trust launched Unity Fund to pool contributions from donors to help frontline organizations meet the demand for food, shelter beds, foreclosure prevention, and other emergency services. Due to the generosity of our donors, Unity Fund has awarded more than $19 million to hundreds of Chicago-area nonprofits to date and has evolved to flexibly respond to the region’s most urgent needs.

Currently, an unprecedented number of Chicago residents are facing homelessness and housing insecurity. According to a recent report, more than 68,000 residents are experiencing homelessness. Compounding this challenge, an estimated 20,000 individuals have arrived in Chicago since August 2022 seeking safety and asylum in the U.S. Thousands of these new arrivals are in shelters or sleeping in police stations and airports while awaiting placements.  

“The situation presents an enormous challenge for service providers with no immediate end in sight. But this is what Unity Fund and the Trust are here for—to leverage the generosity of our donors and pivot to meet the greatest needs,” said Sendy Soto, the Trust’s senior director of community impact.  

In 2023, Unity Fund made just over $1 million in grants, largely focused on preventing and ending homelessness for particularly vulnerable groups: youth, survivors of gender-based violence, and asylum seekers. The grants also supported organizations providing access to mental and behavioral health services to this group. Additionally, the Trust is supporting a number of regional emergency response efforts to address the needs of arriving migrants.

“We support the Unity Fund because we love Chicago, and the Trust addresses a broad array of critical needs here in our community.”

Keith Alperin
Donor
Unity Fund

For two organizations that received Unity Fund grants—Rincon Family Services and New Life Centers of Chicagoland—the funding has bolstered their capacity to serve new arrivals while continuing to support residents’ ongoing needs.

Resettlement Services  

New Life Centers of Chicagoland was founded in 2005 to address the needs of communities surrounding New Life Community Church locations. Since spring 2023, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Human Services and Catholic Charities, the organization has been focusing on resettlement services for families. To date, the organization has helped 1,200 families find housing, assisting with transportation, furniture acquisition, and connecting them with community agencies after placement.  

According to Executive Director Matt DeMateo, support from Unity Fund has helped New Life’s ability to play a pivotal role in serving new arrivals and community members. “Emergency services to feed families, get them cared for, and get them settled takes a lot of resources. Our partnership with the Trust is important to what we do,” he said.  

DeMateo also noted that working with asylum seekers creates a learning opportunity for organizations and agencies on the ground. Specifically, he believes the system being developed to help new arrivals can be replicated and built upon to serve other populations in need of support.  

“The situation is not an either-or – it’s a both and,” he said. “I tell my team that our resettlement system can become a model for caring for our unhoused here in Chicago as well.”

Matt DeMateo
Executive Director
New Life Centers of Chicagoland

Mental Health Services  

For more than 50 years, Rincon Family Services has provided high-quality counseling, case management, prevention, and treatment services for individuals and families in the Chicago region. When asylum seekers began arriving in Chicago in large numbers, the organization launched an Illinois Welcoming Center which has so far helped more than 1,5000 new arrivals access clothing, food, health care, and other essential services.  

Rincon has also stepped in to address the mental health needs of new arrivals through counseling, mental health education, and workshops to help them understand their rights. While the journey to reach the border is often daunting and traumatic, especially for youth, many of the stressors they encounter don’t end once they reach the U.S.  

“Many of the families who arrive here think they are free to work or wonder about their work visas. It can be hard to do a reality check for them and say, ‘No, we need to establish a case first, go to court, and go through these processes,’” said Raul Tinoco, the organization’s director of communications and marketing. “This can create mental health issues.” 

Supporting Meaningful Change 

While there’s no way to know how long buses transporting migrants will continue to arrive from border states, Soto affirms Unity Fund’s commitment to funding programs and services that help new arrivals acclimate to the region. She also underscores that Unity Fund will continue supporting organizations that provide human services to all residents—alleviating chronic homelessness, providing mental health services, and increasing access to heathy food, among other essential services that help residents get back on their feet.  

“We are actively engaged in not only grant making, but also strategizing for meaningful and lasting change —including the development of comprehensive action plans to address gaps in services to the most underserved populations,” she said. “The incredible generosity and commitment of our community makes this work possible.”