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
The Chicago Community Trust/Community Desk Chicago - Admin
Community Desk Chicago is seeking general operating support to continue to provide technical assistance, coaching and consulting services to nonprofits, nonprofit developers, entrepreneurs and community developers working in communities of color as they attempt to secure the necessary capital for community development projects. General operating support will also allow the Desk to continue to serve as a technical assistance provider for the CNI pre-development fund and lead the Trust's recent efforts to explore the use of REITs and related ownership models as an avenue for supporting community wealth building, neighborhood stabilization and homeownership opportunities.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Foundation/Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance
This is the re-funding application for the Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance. The Chicago Community Trust is a founding member and the host to the Funder Alliance. This application will support the Funder Alliance in FY21 and FY22. It re-confirms CCT as a "Leadership Funder" which means that funding (at least in part) pools with the other Leadership Funders, and that a CCT representative sits on the CWFA Management Committee to direct the funder collaborative's strategies, staff and grant-making. The application itself, as agreed to by Leadership Funders, is mainly cut and pasted from the latest version of the CWFA Leadership Funder Generic Proposal.
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Grant Recipient
Urban Growers Collective Inc
Urban Growers Collective requests $200,000 to support its general operations as it expands to support beginning Black, Indigenous and People of Color farmers and the developing urban farming campus in Auburn-Gresham in partnership with Green Era.
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Grant Recipient
University of Chicago Urban Labs
Each college at the City Colleges of Chicago (CCC) has created a tailored yet unified equity plan to improve outcomes for BIPOC students through microgrants. With a dedication to ongoing learning, CCC’s Racial Equity team seeks research services from the Inclusive Economy Lab to measure long-term impact. Given our strong research-practice partnership with CCC and data partnerships with key government partners, we are well positioned to co-develop an approach for learning from each microgrant and identify opportunities for rigorous evaluation, working collaboratively to draft customized evaluation plans, assess feasibility of the proposed research designs, leverage existing assets, and summarize our findings to inform future equity plans.
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Grant Recipient
EVANSTON REBUILDING WAREHOUSE
The Evanston Rebuilding Warehouse (ERW) and Rebuilding Exchange (RX) model the circular economy in their neighborhoods of Evanston and Chicago. Our nonprofit work has diverted tons of building materials from landfills, engaged the community on reuse, and trained 200 community members to start building trades careers. As of March 1, 2021 we have merged! One of our first strategic projects is to move the Rebuilding Exchange location as its lease expires in late 2022. We will kick off the pre-real estate planning to move RX to a city neighborhood that has suffered from disinvestment.
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Grant Recipient
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
Get My Payment Illinois is planning and executing a second phase of work running from January through at least June 2021 to help Illinoisans access all three stimulus checks that have been authorized by Congress to date. Leveraging our existing partnerships, website, materials, and help hotline infrastructure, we will help Illinoisans access all stimulus checks they are eligible for by filing taxes and claiming the Recovery Rebate Credit; and help people access the checks by promoting safe and affordable bank accounts. The lead organizations for Get My Payment Illinois in phase II are New America, Heartland Alliance, Economic Awareness Council, and Heartland Human Care Services.
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Grant Recipient
COMMUNITY ORGANIZING AND FAMILY ISSUES
COFI exists to bring the voices of low-income parent leaders of color to decision-making tables to address policies parent leaders identify as priority equity issues that improve outcomes for their children/families. Through COFI, 5,000 low-income parents of color have been trained as civic leaders in communities and, with POWER-PAC IL, in policy advocacy at city/state/federal levels. Closing the racial wealth/income gaps are top priorities of POWER-PAC IL: with a focus on increasing wages/savings opportunities and reducing debt burdens – especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. This grant will help us ensure that the voices of families (even when virtual) are as full participating members of coalitions fighting the racial wealth gap.
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Grant Recipient
Partnership for College Completion
In 2018, the Partnership for College Completion (PCC) launched the Illinois Equity in Attainment (ILEA) Initiative to spur action on college and university campuses across the state to eliminate racial and socioeconomic degree completion disparities on their campuses by 2025. The PCC is building an expansive portfolio of tools and resources to support this diverse set of 28 institutions to achieve their goal. The PCC seeks support to deepen the work of the ILEA initiative through increased academy offerings, virtual convenings, and possibly in-person events.