LGBTQ Community Fund Grants Support Housing, Health, and Mental Health in 2023

The LGBTQ Community Fund, an affinity fund of The Chicago Community Trust, unites donors to support Chicago’s LGBTQ community. Since its founding in 2010, the Fund has provided close to $3 million in grant support to over 50 organizations.

With its second decade of grant making underway, the Fund has shifted to an annual grant cycle to address specific focus areas from 2022 to 2024, intending to distribute between $300,000 to $400,000 in grants annually.  Focus areas are determined by the results of needs assessments of the LGBTQ community commissioned by the Fund in 2012 and 2019.

Housing, health, and mental health topped the list of concerns highlighted by survey respondents. In 2023, the Fund focused its grant making on organizations working in these areas.

The LGBTQ Community Fund awarded its 2023 grants totaling $400,500 to the following organizations:

• Adler University: In support of the Adler Community Health Services at Chicago High School for the Arts.
• AIDS Foundation of Chicago: In support of their Corrections Case Management Client Assistance Fund, which provides assistance for 50 transgender and same-gender loving clients from AFC’s HIV Corrections Case Management Program to provide access to food, transportation, and home supplies.
• Alivio Medical Center Inc.: In support of the creation of an LGBTQ Health Program which will focus on outreach, education, and connection to physical and mental health services as well as LGBTQ-centered Therapeutic Affinity Groups to address the healthcare and education needs of the LGBTQ individuals in the area served by Alivio Medical Center.
• Brave Space Alliance: In support of a new mental health program based out of their Hyde Park location.
• Center on Halsted: In support of their Behavioral Health Services program.
• Chicago Family Health Center: In support of the creation of a new therapy group for patients who are living with HIV.
• Housing Opportunities & Maintenance for the Elderly: In support of HOME’s affordable intergenerational housing, which provides a safe and welcoming environment for older LGBTQIA+ adults.
• Howard Brown Health: In support of the Broadway Youth Center’s Medical Care, Behavioral Healthcare, and Resource Advocacy programs, which combats the medical, mental, and social inequities faced by LGBTQ+ youth.
• Lawrence Hall: In support of the planning phase of transforming their Edgewater property into a suitable home for LGBTQ youth in state care who are preparing for independence.
• Legal Council for Health Justice: In support of the Trans Law Project, which provides direct legal assistance for low-income, trans and gender non-conforming clients seeking gender-affirming medical care.
• Life Is Work: In support of the Lois House, an emergency housing program providing trans women with wrap-around services including the development of a long-term housing plan.
• McDermott Center: In support of Comprehensive Services for LGBTQ individuals, a project to provide mental health care, primary health care, and housing assistance to 118 LGBTQ individuals from the Chicagoland area over the course of 1 year.
• Medical Organization for Latino Advancement: In support of LGBTQ+ Affirming Care for Spanish-speaking communities, a partnership with Feinberg School of Medicine to plan and develop a health education curriculum on Latina/x/o LGBTQ+ health and provision of care to Spanish-speaking LGBTQ+ communities.
• Northwest Compass: In support of capacity building work to increase LGBTQ+ competency.
• One Roof Chicago: For general operating support, including work on a capital development project to build a welcoming and inclusive LGBTQ+ intergenerational housing community on the South Side of Chicago.
• Planned Parenthood of Illinois: In support of the “Gender Affirming Care Practical Support Pilot Program,” which provides direct monetary assistance to gender-affirming hormone therapy (GAHT) patients at PPIL who need practical support (travel, lodging, and food stipends) to access care.
• Primecare Community Health Inc.: In support of launching a new Gender Affirming Care (GAC) Program which will provide transgender community members access to an affordable, culturally respectful medical home to not only support their gender affirmation journey, but also manage and maintain all other aspects of their health.
• Public Health Institute of Metropolitan Chicago: In support of their “Building Resilience: LGBTQ+ Youth Mental Health and leadership Program.”
• Puerto Rican Cultural Center: In support of the EL Rescate LGBTQ+ homeless youth shelter.
• Taskforce Prevention and Community Services: For general operating support, including support for Teen Mental Health First Aid training and community mental health summits.
• Youth Outlook: For general operating support, including hiring a healthcare navigator to improve health access for LGBTQ+ youth.

In 2024, the Fund will fund organizations with budgets of less than $2 million, emphasizing youth, seniors, and art programs. Organizations whose work aligns with the 2024 grant cycle can check for opportunities in the fall of 2024.