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 of the Great Recession, the fund has made grants to hundreds of nonprofits that provide residents with emergency food, shelter, healthcare, and more.

Contributions from donors like you join forces for greater impact, and your gift is strategically directed by grantmaking experts at the Trust who know our community and understand the issues and the organizations delivering critical services.

Families throughout Chicago are struggling to put food on their tables. Rising grocery and housing costs continue to strain household budgets, and pending cuts to federal programs will only intensify the need. For every one meal that a food bank provides, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) provides nine. In fiscal year 2025, individual donors contributed nearly $2 million to the Unity Fund to address residents’ urgent needs and support vulnerable communities.

“The generosity and resilience we saw last year, and continue to see, demonstrate that Chicago is not defined by its challenges but by the people who rise to meet them.”

Andrea Sáenz
President & CEO
The Chicago Community Trust

Together, we can do more.

While the need continues, grant recipients report that Unity Fund support boosted their capacity to meet growing demand in a challenging year.

Growing Home

Growing Home is a USDA-certified organic farm located in the heart of Englewood. The organization grows over 40,000 pounds of produce annually—not just to feed the community, but to strengthen community resilience. The farm is a platform for workforce development, job training, and IT certification, rooted in the belief that economic opportunity is the long-term solution to food insecurity and health disparities. 

“Support from Unity Fund doesn’t just help us survive; it helps us grow. It allows us to focus on expansion rather than contraction, and to build a more resilient food system that can withstand future crises—whether it’s SNAP cuts, another pandemic, or a snowstorm. Our community and people are resilient, and Growing Home is committed to being part of the solution.”

Janelle St. John
Executive Director
Growing Home

Experimental Station

Since 2008, the organization has run the 61st Street Farmers Market, which brings fresh, healthy food directly to Woodlawn and surrounding South Side neighborhoods. Its food education programming offers hands-on, enriching learning experiences for nearly 350 elementary school students, and the organization continues to expand food education opportunities for families living in the Jackson Park Terrace and Woodlawn Station housing developments. 

Meanwhile, Experimental Station’s LinkUp Illinois program expands food access by doubling the purchasing power of SNAP dollars at farmers’ markets, farm stands, and grocery stores.

“The support provided by Unity Fund is a lifesaver. It will allow Experimental Station to continue staffing and operating the 61st Street Farmers Market, which serves an average of 2,300 customers each week with affordable access to healthy food, as well as support our broader food access programming.”

Connie Spreen
Co-Founder & Executive Director
Experimental Station

To give now, visit www.cct.org/give.