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 4681–4688 of 3857 results

  • Grant Recipient

    CENTRO ROMERO

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $10,000

    Centro Romero is seeking $20,000 in grant funds for our Community Navigator program, which trains and empowers members of all ages to be pillars of their own immigrant communities through education and outreach.

  • Grant Recipient

    DISABILITY LEAD

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $500

  • Grant Recipient

    FAMILY SERVICE & MENTAL HEALTH CENTER OF CICERO

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $10,000

    For over a century, Family Service and Mental Health Center of Cicero (“Family Service”) has provided supportive, affordable, and accessible services, primarily to Spanish-speaking clients in Western Cook County, a large number of whom are immigrants. Journeying Together was created as our response to the alarming rates of unaddressed mental health problems experienced by Spanish-speaking migrants in the Chicago area. Using an efficient, cost-effective model that accesses migrants through area congregations already serving them (for food, housing, legal, and other needs), we address the trauma and related diagnoses they live with. The requested $20,000 will be allocated entirely to cover clinical staffing for the program.

  • Grant Recipient

    FOX VALLEY UNITED WAY

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $10,000

    Requested funds will enable Fox Valley United Way to provide more Aurora children from marginalized populations with equal access to exemplary early childhood care and education. SPARK serves Aurora, Illinois’ second largest city. Children under 5 are 10% of the total population, which is higher than average. More than 44% (8,400) of these children live at or below 200% of the federal poverty level, and there are 12,000 young children with all available parents in the workforce. Although some affordable early childhood education/care programs are available, such as Early/Head Start, Preschool for All, and Prevention Initiative, the 2,400 slots in these programs falls far short of the need. Accessing such opportunities is also difficult for parents from marginalized groups. For example, Aurora has the state's second largest population of refugees, immigrants, and asylees; 42% of the population is Hispanic/Latine; and 6,214 children under five live in households isolated by language (primarily Spanish-speaking households). Requested funds will help SPARK fill these gaps and facilitate access to resources by • Ensuring families are aware of the importance of early learning and connecting them with programs and services; • Coordinating efforts among the school districts’ early childhood programs, Head Start, child care providers, and other early learning programs to maximize impact/efficiency; and • Supporting quality improvement in early childhood education/care programs and expansion of formal and informal early learning opportunities. Specific initiatives will include the following: • Gateway to Early Childhood Programs (Gateway): A single point of entry where Aurora families can go to help them navigate the complexities of learning about and enrolling in early childhood programs and resources; • Bright Beginnings: A prenatal to age 3 initiative in partnership with local hospitals; • Family Resource Center: Resources and hands-on support for early learning offered by SPARK staff to parents and children at the Northern Lights Youth and Community Center on the east side of Aurora. • Bright by Text: A text service for parents with information, resources, and opportunities to support healthy child development; • Playgroups: Parent-child activities offered at housing sites to support early learning/development for families served by the Aurora Housing Authority and World Relief. • Developmental Screenings: Free screening in overall development, speech/language, motor skills, hearing, and health and connection to resources, as needed. During FY25 (7/1/24-6/30/25), SPARK expects that it will increase the number of parents reached to 8,192 and the number of children reached to 4,193. This will include connecting at least 30 new families to early childhood resources through the Bright Beginnings program and adding 10 new playgroups. SPARK anticipates that 80% of survey respondents/focus group participants will report increased knowledge and confidence in supporting their child’s learning; engagement in developmentally appropriate learning activities with their child at home; and increased awareness of early childhood and family services and resources. In addition, 75% of families who complete a Gateway interview will be referred to early childhood programs/services and 80% of children will participate in their first developmental screening.

  • Grant Recipient

    Partners for Our Communities (POC)

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $10,000

    POC provides culturally competent services for Immigration relief and wrap-around services for immigrant individuals and families, which is vital to the growth and success of our local economy in the wake of increased newcomers to the suburbs. More importantly, North Suburban Cook County has been home to thousands of immigrants over the last 20 years who still need legal services to become citizens, including DACA, U-VISA, Temporary Protected Status, guardianships, and more. With your general operating support, POC will pilot a legal clinic that provides pathways to self-sufficiency by adding this much-needed service that gets to the root cause of immigrants’ lives in poverty. POC will also provide community workshops and events to help newcomers acclimate to IL, know their rights, TPS, renter’s rights, etc. POC has provided these services for over 30 years and prides itself on giving a voice to this unique population through immigration relief, leadership development, skill building, mental health support, and providing access to basic needs. POC has built relationships with networks across Illinois that focus on immigrant rights, advocating for better laws and policies so clients and affected staff have equitable opportunities to live a healthy life, contributing positively to the greater community.

  • Grant Recipient

    Spanish Community Center

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $10,000

    Spanish Community Center is seeking $20,000 to support our legal and immigration programming. Funding will be used to partially cover the salary of our Directing Attorney, and will enable us to offer a wide range of legal and immigration services to new arrivals, asylum-seekers, and individuals seeking citizenship in the United States.

  • Grant Recipient

    Latino Policy Forum

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $15,000

    The Latino Policy Forum will continue to convene and lead the Welcome to Illinois Coalition of more than 100 organizations serving the new arrivals and leading advocacy for full opportunities for those immigrants, and all immigrants. Welcome to Illinois, which was co-founded by the Latino Policy Forum, provides services and leads advocacy for appropriate funding and effective administrative practices for new arrivals and other immigrants in areas that include mental health, housing, employment opportunity, financial and legal services, case management, and access to other services. One crucial aspect of this work that will receive close attention in the coming months is to support the long-term integration and inclusion of immigrants by collaborating with state and local legislators, business leaders, and community-based organizations to advocate that the federal government grant work permits to new migrants and long-term undocumented contributors.

  • Grant Recipient

    El Valor Corp.

    Awarded: Awarded Amount: $10,000

    El Valor seeks funding for our early childhood programs, providing vital services to over 3,000 children ages 0-5 and their families annually. Programming is provided in English and Spanish, inclusive of children of all abilities, and supports the social, emotional, and cognitive development of our children. Funding will also help us invest in our families to provide workshops and educational opportunities to become strong advocates for their children's development and overall wellness.