Education and Economic Development Grants – February 2019

At its February 2019 meeting, the Trust’s Executive Committee approved seven competitive grants to local nonprofit organizations for projects in education and economic development, totaling $1,842,511.

Equitable Access to Postsecondary Opportunities and Employment: $250,000

• The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, to use administrative data and surveys to examine the college-to-career transition for graduates of two-year and four-year colleges in the Chicagoland area. $175,000
• The University of Chicago Consortium on School Research, to help refresh its data archive, seed new studies, replicate previous studies and put its research to work. This grant is awarded from the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust. (R) $75,000

Neighborhood and Regional Development: $1,592,511

• Benefit Chicago, to help raise and mobilize $100 million in investment capital for loans and investments in nonprofits, social enterprises, businesses and financial intermediaries. (R) $612,176
• Far South Community Development Corporation, for their Market Assessment. $20,000
• Northwestern University, in continued support of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium. $1,000,000
• Urban Institute, for its Racial Wealth Gap research analysis and brief. $106,000
• World Business Chicago, in support of the SourceLink platform. $50,277

(R): indicates renewal of grant support

In addition to education & economic development, the Executive Committee also approved grants in health, housing & human services; civic & cultural vitality; sustainable development; and grants from the Unity Fund—for a total of $12,400,511 in grants awarded in February.

The Trust is currently defining the grant priorities for its next phase of work, which will focus on helping Chicago achieve the goal of closing our racial wealth gap. New opportunities to apply for grants will become available after this planning is complete. If you are a Chicago-area nonprofit, the best way to stay informed is to create an account in GrantCentral, where you can sign up to receive notifications as grant opportunities become available.