3C Community Profile: Humboldt Park
Take a stroll down the Paseo Boricua corridor on Division Street and it’s easy to see why Humboldt Park is one of Chicago’s most vibrant…
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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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Showing 3131–3138 of 3874 results
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Grant Recipient
Just Roots
Just Roots is seeking to enhance our capacity to provide technical support to neighboring, community based organizations who are pursuing long term urban agriculture initiatives on Chicago’s near south side. We are currently supporting five different organizations within a 3 mile radius of our Saint James Community Farm, located at 2936 South Wabash Avenue. Increased capacity will enable us to more effectively provide long term technical support to these five organizations and also build a sustainable program model by responding to new requests from organizations who are mission aligned, in our geographic focus area, and eager to contribute to the development of a more collaborative, sustainable, and resilient hyperlocal food system.
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Grant Recipient
TRUDelta LLC
The K, a social innovation hub whose name is an homage to the physical location in the community. The K will act as a business accelerator, incubator and experiential business learning space for entrepreneurs at various stages. A space that seeks to bring corporations, community anchors, and neighborhood scale entrepreneurs together to solve community challenges, share ideas and learn from each other. Creativity and innovation will be cultivated at the K, with intentionality and through the lense of Black Culture Wellness. In understanding the challenges of the underserved and under-resourced Black entrepreneurial landscape on the westside of Chicago, the K seeks to prevent the dreaded outcome projected at 2053: Black Wealth at 0. With the innovation hub, business accelerators and incubators offer customized curriculum, content experts, and mentorship that is industry-specific and in alignment with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal. Our goal is to support scale for entrepreneurs who are building equitable and inclusive ventures that will positively contribute to the quality of life within the Garfield Park communities; contribute to all elements of Black Culture Wellness including: sustainability and smart cities; health and wellness; education; and, civic engagement and policy. Revenue will be generated from multi use leases (office, retail, cafe); event fees, and program sponsorships. Program Description The K’s operations are supported by Project Forward, a boutique management consulting firm focused on developing the ecosystems needed for commercial corridor development in under-resourced areas. The programming focuses on four data driven components to economic mobility of entrepreneurs, what Project Forward calls the FWD 4 ™ Procurement Patient and flexible access to capital Equitable real estate development Back office support, with an emphasis on mentor/protege partnerships Within the Village, The K seeks to have explicit linkages to the Wellness Center and MAC to support these areas and is working with Westside United to recruit and support westside based entrepreneurs. Outside of the village, additional support agreements support the development of the ecosystem that will eventually lead to change along the Madison Corridor. See Appendix Programming is delivered via incubator and accelerator model with cohorts, classes, workshops, office hours, conferences, networking events, meetups, hackathons and drop in sessions. Programming will be available remotely, via our online digital resource network. Accelerator will accept up to 40 cohort participants annually Incubator will serve at least 200 participants annually, with 60 of those receiving continued services that will improve their business viability (See Appendix) The K will host an annual conference, called the Urban Real Estate Conference that will reach at least 200 participants (doubling original conference attendee participation) 2) Physical description The K restores a chronically vacant 13,000 square foot space, at the intersection of Madison and Kostner. This investment leverages and enhances the built environment by reactivation of an important location within a currently disinvested commercial corridor. The development will utilize most of the current exterior, with new modernizations to the frontage of the building, creating a new feel for the built environment and supporting the wave of catalytic development along the corridor. One of the book ends, or community gateway points to the Madison Commercial Corridor, it's an important ntgersetion to revitalize, as a signal of development for the community, and those who may consider Garfield Park as their next home. Property Details The site is 4400 W. Madison and currently owned by the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA). The building was built in 1970 and renovated in 2007. Building size 13,000 sf on a 17,500 sf parcel. Building class C, lot size 1.01 acres; 11 ft ceilings. Zoned B3-2 TRU Delta, the developer of the project, has applied for acquisition of the site from CCLBA and has been awarded conditional approval as of July 2022. Closing on the property and financing should occur by 5/30/23
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Grant Recipient
Instituto ANCLA
I am applying for this opportunity to embark on a process that will help me heal from my vicarious trauma of 30+ years of continued work with an underserved community. By documenting the history of CALOR, the organization I founded in 1993, I will begin a healing process that will reinvigorate me as I continue working on a new challenge I have taken to establish a new community-based organization to respond to the needs of Long-Term Survivors of HIV, a neglected part of our community. Under my leadership, CALOR became the premier Latine HIV/AIDS service organization in Chicago. Thirty years later, after experiencing unmeasurable human loss and despite personal and professional challenges, I welcome this opportunity to turn all these past experiences, good and bad, into concrete lessons through a publication that will serve as a historical document as well as a testament of what is achievable when we come together to redress a situation in our communities. As a newly arrived immigrant from Puerto Rico, only four years out of high school and with limited knowledge of the English language, I was invited to a training session about women and HIV. At the training, I was appalled to learn that in the early 90s, minimal assistance and resources were available for women at risk of HIV infection. The lack of resources was an even more severe issue for Latina women with limited English language proficiency - there was no assistance or materials in Spanish. I knew I had to do something about this; I needed to get involved. Through a friend, I connected with a weekly support group held in Spanish. I became part of the group and, within a short period, became one of its leaders, advancing it from a volunteer-based group to a full-fledged organization, incorporated in the State of Illinois, and recognized as a non-profit corporation exempt under IRS Code Section 501(c)(3). Within a few years, CALOR became the premier organization for Latines with HIV infection and their family members. From case management, housing, employment services, and prevention and education services, we grew into an organization that was client-centered from its inception, always making sure that there was constituent representation in the decision-making processes, as well as educating participants about their rights and responsibilities as partners in their health care. Since then, CALOR has continued growing. Now, 30 years later, despite many challenges, it continues providing community-based services to those in most need and most at risk for HIV infection: our BIPOC communities. Being in a leadership position in a small organization and all that it entails – seeking grants to bring in new programs to respond to the needs of our participants, competing for funding with larger, more established organizations – as well as trying to maintain a work/life balance while being married, raising two beautiful daughters, and going back to school to obtain my undergrad and graduate degrees, eventually took a toll on me. I was experiencing severe burnout, and my capacity to keep up with new challenges was affected. Clearly, I needed a break, and I decided to leave CALOR to rest and pursue new ventures. A great project came my way: I received the opportunity to implement a mental health services program in Puerto Rico. This presented a new field of work in a new environment, and I eagerly took on this challenge and moved to Puerto Rico for one year. The project was a total success, and as a result, Instituto ANCLA was born. As I started working on establishing ANCLA, the old, deep-seated trauma emerged. Not only was I dealing once again with the challenges of starting a new organization and obtaining funding to support its programs, but I was also reconnecting with Long-Term Survivors of HIV, dear friends and colleagues who, like me, went through the rough days of the HIV pandemic, before the advent of life-saving medications, when we spent a good amount of time moving from hospitals to funeral homes. In some aspects, we were back in the old days, with people experiencing isolation and not having a community to support them as they grew older, experienced survivor's guilt, as well as co-morbidities related to their HIV infection and medications. It occurred to me that their history and that of the organization that I founded needed to be told. Who would remember the efforts, challenges, battles, and successes that CALOR, its founders, and members undertook during those early days of the HIV pandemic if no documentation was available? How would new generations of leaders within the field use our experiences to claim this history as theirs and help them move our communities forward? As I looked through my files, photos, and documents, I knew that writing this history would be a healing process for me, allowing me to come to terms with the vicarious trauma I have experienced, having lived in the thick of the HIV pandemic.
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Grant Recipient
Healing Academy
The Healing Academy is a nonprofit organization with a board of 81% black women. Our work takes place on the South and West side of Chicago. I co-founded The Healing Academy in 2019 with Natalie Battles and continued serving the community throughout the pandemic. The purpose of this application is to secure funding for a sabbatical to increase coalition, constituent and organizational power. The intention of this precursor event is to restore the mind, body and soul of our members before planning our largest fundraiser of the year, The Healing Gala and Art Auction. In the past, planning caused high levels of stress and burnout for me. In response to this stress, Natalie and I organized a retreat to help reduce stress and paid out of pocket for this experience. The retreat was beneficial and we felt rejuvenated from the experience. Receiving this grant will directly benefit executing the goals of The Healing Academy, along with my own self-care and personal growth.
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Grant Recipient
Cornerstone Community Development Corporation NFP
The Cornerstone Community Development Corporation, NFP (CCDC) has a core mission to “improve the quality of life for the underprivileged and to assist others in a time of crisis, emphasizing emergency, supportive and educational services to individuals and families until they stabilize. From its food programs to housing counseling services, CCDC strives to ensure residents have the capabilities to live, work and play within underinvested Black and Latinx neighborhoods while contributing to working together to create stronger communities. Cornerstone CDC is requesting a $75,000 grant award (with renewal options for Years 2 & 3 in the amount of $75K annually over the proposed 36-month grant period). This grant will enable Cornerstone to continue to address housing insecurity that is incurred when individuals and families have no access to quality food and produce, and/or live in a food desert. This is why the agency plays such a critical role in decreasing food insecurity for residents of south suburban Cook County. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, food insecurity has doubled overall and tripled in households with children. In south suburban Cook County, the need for our food support is critical to the area residents we assist with nutritional, healthy produce and staples to ensure food security.
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Grant Recipient
Facing Forward to End Homelessness
Facing Forward requests Chicago Community Trust’s consideration of a $75,000 per year, three-year grant to support our work to end homelessness for highly vulnerable individuals and families in Chicago. We provide Permanent Supportive Housing for households experiencing chronic homelessness and living with disabling conditions, as well as Rapid Rehousing for unstably housed families with pregnancies or children. Both programs follow a Two Generation case management framework and are bolstered by targeted prenatal, parent, and youth supports from our Family Empowerment Team. In addition to these, Facing Forward provides several lines of short-term services to prevent and end homelessness in partnership with emergency shelters, domestic violence shelters, and other local agencies. Funds awarded by CCT would be used to continue and expand these services.
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Grant Recipient
Englewood Arts Collective
My name is Janell Nelson, and I am in need of fiscal support to enable intentional rest to not only avoid burnout and strategically recenter my spirit, but to take time to best understand how to pivot and delegate, while still keeping operations flowing for the entities I lead. This is paramount so that I may continue to serve the communities I do through the many hats I wear. Below is a general bio to help contextualize the role(s) and lanes I am currently operating in: **************************************************** Executive Director, Graphic Designer and Creative Project Manager, Janell Nelson is a Visual Communications Consultant and much more. A creative force who devotes her talent, skill and heart toward enacting equitable change, her mission statement literally is "design for good". She left the corporate sector (in educational publishing) to start her own award-winning graphic design firm—JNJ Creative—and has been the not-so-secret sauce behind many non-profits, citywide initiatives and equity-focused orgs and artists nationwide (a snippet of her partners/clients/collaborators have included: R.A.G.E., Chicago Beyond, Elevated Chicago, The Surge Institute, I.M.A.N., Field Foundation, TeamWork Englewood and many more). A mentor to design students from Kennedy-King College and Design consultant to many, Janell has years of experience working with nonprofits and changemakers to deliver their missions to serve the public in beautiful ways. As the brand coordinator for acclaimed Folded Map and Inequity For Sale projects, Janell works to ensure that the outward-facing narratives of these initiatives stay aligned to the overarching mission of lessening the divides that segregation has caused across communities. She also serves on the board of Folded Map Project NFP, supporting its goal to disrupt the cycle of segregation and the inequities and exclusion that it promotes. Primarily and the reason for this application is the role she has been grinding for the most as of late: Janell is also co-founder and executive director of activations with Englewood Arts Collective, (voted “Best Collective by residents in Chicago Reader magazine), a group of professional artists who all hail from this South-Side Chicago neighborhood. Janell is the leader behind their latest mutual-aid initiatives and all community-facing art activations, most recently the highly successful and unique “art village” area at the newly annual Englewood Music Fest. Janell created an artist-to-artist "United Still" regranting campaign through EAC, partnering with the City of Chicago to award over $40,000 to local South Side artists in need. Recently honored as Chicago’s “hidden Philanthropist” for the nationally touring Soul of Philanthropy Exhibit, currently on exhibition in downtown Chicago at the Cultural Center, Janell is also currently designing a Folded Map high-school curriculum with social justice artist Tonika Lewis Johnson and sociology professor Dr. Maria Krysan, all while working to build sustainable lanes to support the next generation of Black visual artists via Englewood Arts Collective. Her accolades, like her portfolio, runs long. From her winning proposal in a mayoral competition (Chicago Works Community Challenge) to secure a promised 1.5 million dollars in renovations for the King Branch library in Bronzeville to her “Home is where the ART Lives” pop-up concept with EAC to transform a vacant storefront in South Shore, Janell is an artist who understands that designing with and not just for community—and recognizing that ‘community’ is intersectional— is essential for equitable engagement. Relevant sites: janellnelson.com • englewoodartscollective.org • jnjcreative.com ********************* I am a mother of a Black son, a wife of a Black man, a part-time caretaking daughter to my mother and special needs brother, I am a human, a Chicagoan, who has immense love for this city and my people, and I grieve every time a new story of Black death or murder of Black children cycles through the news. My spirit flinches at the incessant pokes that the disease of white supremacy and patriarchy makes as it reverberates all around us. I strive to cultivate and curate joy as a coping strategy not just for myself, but to help mitigate and remedy the harm that all of us —not just Black people— are impacted by due to historic and current inequities and fear-based realities. This grant would facilitate a reprieve so that I can strategically rest and plot with peace so that my efforts for EAC can move away from being stuck in "survival mode". Holding a calm break to care for self and plan so that I can: • take a mini-sabbatical at the end of the year to b r e a t h e, also: • outline catalytic planning goals for Englewood Arts Collective • pay for part-time coverage for an operations manager for Englewood Arts Collective • pay for part-time coverage for a design intern for my creative company that serves many other non-profits— so their needs are met without interruption.
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Grant Recipient
FamilyFarmed
Food:Land:Opportunity funds will be used to expand and further refine the Good Food Accelerator and its associated programs "Go to Market", "Market Access Program" and "Accelerate for Growth". These programs will serve the needs of entrepreneurs in underserved communities. The additional resources will assisting in increasing our organization's capacity. Main focus points include community engagement and outreach to better serve minority and women food business owners.