Paving the Path to Homeownership for Housing Choice Voucher Holders
Since the mid-20th century, homeownership has been one of the most important vehicles for building wealth in the United States. According to research from the…
Grants
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Our Grantmaking Strategy
For more than 100 years, The Chicago Community Trust has convened, supported, funded, and accelerated the work of community members and changemakers committed to strengthening the Chicago region. From building up our civic infrastructure to spearheading our response to the Great Recession, the Trust has brought our community together to face pressing challenges and seize our greatest opportunities. Today, that means confronting the racial and ethnic wealth gap.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation
Chicago Southland Economic Development Corporation (CSEDC) is applying for $400,000 We Rise Grant funding to complete the acquisition and construction of the 4343 Ascending House (https://4343ascendinghouse.org/), the Chicago Southland Business Incubator. The vision of the 4343 Ascending House is to increase the representation of minority and female small business founders related to Manufacturing and Transportation, Distribution and Logistics (TDL) by providing shared working space, high-speed internet, advanced start-up software, mentorship, and funding opportunities to increase access to networks and expertise that these entrepreneurs need to build their businesses. Located at 4343 Lincoln Hwy, Matteson, IL 60443, the incubator will serve 44 municipalities, over 200 businesses, and over 650,000 residents in the region of southern Cook County bordered by Chicago to the north, Will County to the south, and Indiana to the east. During the Covid crisis, the 4343 Ascending House has started a pilot proposed digital program, which aims to support business development and help existing business and prospective small enterprises transform into digital business to harness the power of e-commerce. Critical partners include Supply Chain Innovation Center and Business Incubator (SCICBI) of Governors State University, Ecommerce Management, and Village of Matteson.
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Grant Recipient
The Conservation Fund
This application seeks operational funding to launch the Working Farms Fund program in metro Chicago. The Working Farms Fund program is an innovative model to support a resilient regional food system by addressing farmland as a critical piece of supply chain infrastructure. Specifically designed to enable talented and diverse growers to scale production to meet institutional demand for good food, the Working Farms Fund protects critical at-risk farmland and offers a patient pathway to landownership as the basis for business resiliency and intergenerational wealth creation.
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Grant Recipient
Ageoptions Inc
Avisery by AgeOptions helps older adults and adults with disabilities access affordable healthcare and effectively utilize their health benefits by leveraging its 1,795-member network of health insurance counseling professionals to advocate for a responsive health benefits delivery system. With Chicago Community Trust funding, Avisery will expand its advocacy work so older adults and those with disabilities can access benefits that reduce health and wealth disparities. Avisery will use its network of professional benefits counselors, coalition partners, and relationships with insurance plans, and state and federal agencies to advocate for beneficiaries on an individual level and to address systemic barriers to access and affordability.
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Grant Recipient
Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
The Alliance leads a network of stakeholders dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in suburban Cook County. We operate a housing system that provides a coordinated continuum of interventions for people experiencing housing instability. Interventions include preventing homelessness when possible, providing crisis housing when needed, and prioritizing permanent housing. Each of these housing interventions is informed by our systemwide approach that is rooted in cross-sector collaboration, data-driven decision making, and removing structural barriers to housing. The Alliance provides the infrastructure to advance systems and policy change to connect people experiencing homelessness with the housing and services that meet their needs.
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Grant Recipient
Shriver Center on Poverty Law
The Shriver Center on Poverty Law (Shriver Center) requests a renewal $150,000 general operating grant from the Chicago Community Trust to support its leadership and meaningful work across multiple coalitions, including the Transit Table, Cost of Living Refund Coalition, Housing Policy Roundtable, Illinois Domestic Workers Coalition, and Responsible Budget Coalition. We will leverage these networks throughout the grant period as they strive to promote economic and racial justice, strengthen families and communities, and advance policies and reforms that address the racial wealth gap. Our advocates generally serve as the primary legal and policy experts of these tables, increasing the strength and ultimate success of each coalition.
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Grant Recipient
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
We seek renewed support for our Impact Division, which leads our policy work to close the racial and ethnic wealth divide in Illinois, such as work on economic security, income supports, asset building, ending wealth stripping, consumer protections, and fines/fees reform. This has included retirement and Children’s Savings Account programs, earned income credit and child tax credit expansion, lending/debt reforms, and driver's license suspensions. Our priorities are developed in coalition and with an equity lens. We use data to understand racial disparities, and center and engage impacted people in our work. We seek support for leading the coalition Financial Inclusion for All Illinois, and providing advocacy and subject matter leadership in other coalitions connected to these issues.
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Grant Recipient
AUSTIN COMING TOGETHER
• Project Name Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation • Application Summary Located at the corner of Madison St. and Central Avenue (5500 W. Madison), the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation is a multi-use facility development project to renovate and repurpose the (87,000 square feet) former Robert Emmet Public Elementary School into a coordinated community hub with industry sector training center that will service youth and out-of-work individuals with in-demand skill sets and small business supports. The Aspire Center (meaning, place of directing the hopes of the people) will be composed of several workforce training, career development and entrepreneurial skills providers all housed within the re-purposed and renovated Emmet School. The development will offer: * a high tech manufacturing training center for working age youth and adults * a business incubator for start ups * a restaurant with indoor/outdoor dining and social events * a bank and other neighborhood building businesses • Total Project Budget $27,995,000
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Grant Recipient
Woodstock Institute
Woodstock seeks support to collaboratively: • Convene / lead the Community Reinvestment Act Coalition • Convene / lead the Illinois Predatory Loan Prevention Coalition • Steering Committee member of Financial Inclusion for All Illinois Coalition • Support policy and research agenda of Transit Table Coalition • Participate in the Housing Policy Roundtable and the Housing Task Force We play three primary roles in each: • Conduct applied research that helps stakeholders understand impediments to creating more equitable economic systems • Develop policy recommendations to address racial and economic disparities • Advocate for policy changes in collaboration with community partners that encourage investment and protect consumers in racially and economically segregated neighborhoods.