Income Growth Solutions: Building Pathways toward Wealth through Postsecondary Education, Quality Jobs, and Financial Health

The Chicago region’s household wealth gap is stark, stifling the entire region’s economic potential.  According to the Color of Wealth in Chicago, the median net worth of Chicago-area households ranges from $210,000 for white residents, $40,500 for U.S.-born Mexicans, $24,000 for Puerto Ricans, and $6,000 for foreign-born Mexicans, to $0 for Black residents.    

Increasing Black and Latine incomes and assets is foundational to building household wealth and ensuring Chicago is a place where we all can thrive. However, recent research also shows that earning a college degree or a higher income is not sufficient to overcome our region’s longstanding racial and ethnic wealth disparities, and that further work must be done to address the systemic barriers.  

• While a college degree does facilitate upward mobility, it does not do so equally. White households with a B.A. or higher have nearly 10 times the net worth of Black households with similar educational attainment and three to four times the net worth of U.S.-born Mexican and Puerto Rican households. Black and Latine households are also more likely to carry burdensome student loan debt. (Color of Wealth Chicago 2024) 
• Even higher-earning Black and Latine households are less likely to be financially secure than white households. Just 40 percent of Black and 44 percent of Latine residents with household incomes of $100,000 or more are considered financially healthy, compared with 69 percent of white residents and 62 percent of Asian residents in the same income bracket. (Financial Health Network Chicago Pulse 2022) 

Launched in 2023, The Chicago Community Trust’s Income Growth Solutions (IGS) initiative began as an open call for proposals from nonprofit organizations working to provide more equitable access to postsecondary education, quality jobs, and financial health. IGS contributes to the Trust’s goal to increase Black and Latine income and assets as a pathway to building wealth and strengthening the economic vitality of the Chicago region.  

In the first year of IGS, the Trust provided $2.7 million in grants to 17 organizations, including $100,000 from our donor-supported Amplification Fund, which provides opportunities for DAF holders at the Trust to participate in our grantmaking and learning and impact process. In 2024, the Trust made $4.1 million in grants to 29 organizations. For a second year, donor support of the amplification fund enabled the Trust to grant to more organizations. (See below for a full list of Year 2 partner organizations and grant amounts.) By expanding the number of grant partners, we hope to provide more opportunities to convene organizations working within and across the three different focus areas (postsecondary education, quality jobs, and financial health) to support greater collaboration, learning and collective impact.  

What’s Next

The Trust will use what we are learning from the IGS initiative to inform our approach to income and asset growth as a core lever to lift the household wealth of all Chicagoans. We look forward to learning alongside our grant partners and sharing more about the impact of our grantmaking in the coming year.  

2024 Income Growth Solutions Grant Recipients 

Postsecondary Education 

• Bottom Line Inc. – $175,000  
• Braven – $100,000  
• Education Systems Center at Northern Illinois University – $100,000  
• Greenhouse Scholars – $100,000  
• Hope Chicago – $175,000  
• Loyola University of Chicago – $175,000  
• Network for Young Adult Success – $115,000  
• Thrive Scholars – $100,000  
• University of Illinois at Chicago – $100,000  

Quality Jobs 

• Association House of Chicago – $100,000  
• Bridges From School to Work Inc. – $100,000  
• Cara Collective – $200,000  
• City Colleges of Chicago Foundation – $175,000  
• Farmworker and Landscaper Advocacy Project – $115,000  
• Greater West Town Community Development Project – $200,000  
• Inner-City Muslim Action Network – $100,000  
• Jane Addams Resource Corporation – $200,000  
• Rebuilding Exchange – $200,000  
• Revolution Institute – $100,000  
• Revolution Workshop – $200,000  
• Skills for Chicagoland’s Future – $200,000  
• Women Employed – $121,250  
• Xchange Chicago, Inc – $115,000  

Financial Health 

• Brighton Park Neighborhood Council- $175,000  
• Chicago Commons $100,000  
• Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation – $100,000  
• LIFT Inc. – $175,000  
• North Lawndale Employment Network – $175,000 
• Working Credit NFP – $115,000  

Learn more about our Income Growth Solutions grant partners: