LGBTQ Community Fund Awards $619,000 in its 2025 Grantmaking Cycle
The LGBTQ Community Fund, an initiative of The Chicago Community Trust, unites donors to support nonprofit organizations that serve the Chicago region’s LGBTQ…
Stories
Spotlights on community issues, the people, and the organizations who contribute to effective philanthropy as well as a stronger Chicago region and world.
Recent Stories
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Unity Fund: A Look at Impact in 2025
The Chicago Community Trust’s Unity Fund is a testament to the power of collective giving. Since its founding in 2008 at the height…
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Financial Health in Cook County: Why it Matters and How Policy Impacts Financial Well-Being
In 2025, The Chicago Community Trust, with support from JPMorganChase, commissioned the Financial Health Network to update the findings of its Financial Health…
“Experts & Opinions” Stories
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The Importance of a City Ward Remapping Process that is Transparent, Incorporates Community Voice, and Strengthens Resident Representation
As part of the Trust’s Building Collective Power and Advocating for Policy Change teams, I often reflect on different strategies to actively engage and uplift…
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Make CTC/EITC Improvements Permanent: Sound Economic Policy with Far Reaching Impacts
There’s a political game playing out in Washington, and the stakes could not be higher. Will the debt ceiling be raised? Will major infrastructure legislation…
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Trusted Voices: Organizing for Change
As a part of its 10-year strategy to close the Chicago region’s racial and ethnic wealth gap, the Trust made a deliberate commitment to investing…
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Land is the Truest Asset
A few years ago, I attended a peer city exchange with representatives from Chicago, New York City, and Los Angeles. In the spirit of mutual…
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Chicago Residents Transform Our Communities by Strengthening Connections
Social cohesion is defined as bonding, feelings of connectedness and solidarity, or a closeness and affection within groups. These are essential qualities to building trusted…
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Strengthening the Affordable Housing Ordinance to Address Chicago’s Affordable Housing Crisis
On April 21, the Chicago City Council voted to revise the Affordable Requirements Ordinance to encourage the production of more affordable family-sized housing units, expand…
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Covid Revealed Our Flaws. Do We Have the Resolve to Fix Them?
Like an overdue visit to the optometrist, Covid-19 has sharpened our vision and revealed some harsh truths that were long overlooked or hidden. The pandemic…
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Two-Part COVID Recovery Strategy: Vaccine + Equity
As COVID-19 vaccines continue to roll out across the country with increasing speed, there is reason to hope we may soon be rounding a corner…
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Why the Earned Income Tax Credit Might Be the Most Important Policy Right Now to Address Economic Inequities, Provide Financial Stability
What if a policy could dramatically reduce poverty, help families make ends meet, AND bolster local economic activity? That policy already exists: the Earned Income…
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We Will Chicago: An Instrument for Equity
Can a city plan be an instrument for equity? We think it can. That is why we believe that the Lightfoot administration’s We Will Chicago…
