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.

Explore Our Discretionary Grants

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Showing 2971–2978 of 3874 results

  • Grant Recipient

    TGiMovement

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $40,000

    TGi Movement is honored to be invited back to renew our grant dollars within this grant portfolio to continue our work in the communities with the support of the Chicago Community Trust. Throughout this proposal, we will be detailing TGi’s upcoming goals for the year, some of our recent accomplishments, and how these grant dollars will aid TGi in building its capacity to grow into a larger organization.

  • Grant Recipient

    Lawndale Pop-Up Spot

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $60,000

  • Grant Recipient

    Organized Communities Against Deportations

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $50,000

  • Grant Recipient

    Synapse Arts Collective

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $45,000

  • Grant Recipient

    Chicago Area Fair Housing Alliance

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $300,000

    The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) currently supports the housing needs of over 63,000 households through its various programs. East Garfield Park and Humboldt Park have some of the highest numbers of CHA renter voucher holders in the city. According to analysis conducted by WBEZ in 2018, East Garfield Park was home to 1,136 housing choice voucher holders and Humboldt Park 1,279. Voucher holders report facing discrimination, poor housing conditions, and housing instability despite having a voucher to subsidize their rent. Many voucher holders express a strong desire to ultimately become homeowners as a mode to gain power and control over their homes and their futures. Chicago Housing Authority’s Choose to Own Program is an existing and effective tool to move renter voucher holders to voucher homeowners who can be supported for 15 years, and in some cases, over the life of a home loan. While this program is our best tool to make homeownership affordable for lower-income families, it is currently underutilized and underinvested in for a myriad of reasons. By focusing efforts in two community areas, we can test an innovative model to grow the efficacy of this program by growing the inventory of homes affordable and available to CTO purchasers, and growing the supports needed to successfully transition interested families from renters to homeowners.

  • Grant Recipient

    HOUSING ACTION ILLINOIS

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $183,000

    Our work plan includes four (4) areas that reflect CCT’s focus on preserving and expanding access to affordable homeownership in communities of color: Improving access to credit, including affordable home lending, by focusing on strong implementation of soon-to-be-finalized rules for the new Illinois Community Reinvestment Act (IL CRA), as well as soon-to-be-finalized updated rules for the federal Community Reinvestment Act (federal CRA). Developing and advocating for a payment plan option for Cook County homeowners with delinquent property taxes as an alternative to the annual tax sale, as the tax sale undermines homeownership as an affordable and sustainable wealth-building opportunity Addressing systemic biases in the home purchase and refinance process through participation with the National Appraisal Foundation’s CARES (Council to Advance Residential Equity) Council, the State of Illinois’ Real Estate Valuation Task Force, and NHS of Chicago’s appraisal task force. Supporting and building the housing counseling field through the facilitation of the Illinois Housing Counseling Coalition, whose primary current focus is identifying new sources of funding for their agencies. CRA: Housing Action Illinois seeks continued support for our co-leadership of the Illinois Community Reinvestment Act (IL CRA) Coalition, which works toward policies to increase the availability of credit and institutional investments in low- and moderate-income communities, particularly communities of color. After successfully advocating for the IL CRA’s passage and providing the vehicle for community comment on proposed implementing rules, our focus will turn to increase community-based organizations’ understanding of the new state law, including how to engage with regulated entities to gain investment in underserved communities. This public education and implementation campaign will also incorporate the anticipated final updated rules for the federal CRA. Property Taxes: During this past year, Housing Action partnered with NHS of Chicago and others, including the Chicago Community Trust, on state legislation creating the Property Tax Payment Plan Task Force to study and make recommendations for the implementation of a payment plan option to divert delinquent owner-occupied properties in Cook County from the annual tax sale. During the proposed grant period, we will work on the implementation of the task force, focusing on developing recommendations for a payment plan and advocating for an actual payment plan option. Appraisal Bias: The role of appraisal bias in contributing to reduced values in majority minority neighborhoods, which results in a loss of wealth-building potential for Black and Latinx households, continues to gain attention on the local, state, and national levels. With this grant support, we will make linkages across these levels and identify and advocate for reforms to the appraisal process through participation with the National Appraisal Foundation’s CARES Council, the State of Illinois’ Real Estate Valuation Task Force, and NHS of Chicago’s appraisal task force. Housing Counseling Sector Support: Housing Action facilitates the Illinois Housing Counseling Coalition (IHCC), a peer-learning cohort of housing counseling leaders throughout Illinois. Working with the IHCC, we will engage with the Illinois Housing Development Authority (IHDA) and other decision-makers to identify new sources of funding for housing counseling agencies to replace the Foreclosure Prevention Program (FPP) and COVID-19 pandemic resources.

  • Grant Recipient

    CHICAGO COMMUNITY LOAN FUND

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $125,000

    Chicago Community Loan Fund (CCLF) is seeking a program grant in the amount of $125,000 to support our Technical Assistance services targeting developers of color. These services will include monthly lunch and learn workshops, referrals to key partners and programs that together work to reduce cost of rehabilitation of 1-4 unit properties and access to a line of credit to complete the rehab work. The line of credit can be used for their next project continuing to build the overall wealth of the developer of color. CCT funding of the service will result in: • Increase number of small real estate developers of color; • Increase in wealth for developers of color; • Abandoned properties acquired by Cook County Land Bank Authority being rehabbed and put back on the market at affordable prices; • Reduction in crime as boarded up properties are transformed into new homes / rental units for low-income residents.

  • Grant Recipient

    DEEPLY ROOTED PRODUCTIONS

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $210,000