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.
Explore Our Discretionary Grants
Showing 5121–5128 of 4389 results
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Jobs Council
A good job should be within reach for everyone, regardless of where they start or where they’ve been. But it’s not that simple. For generations, the systems and policies intended to serve us — including workforce, education, housing, and criminal justice — have created an inherent set of disadvantages for people of color. That’s why Chicago Jobs Council (CJC) works with lawmakers and community leaders to redesign policies that rectify the historical and intergenerational way in which multiple systems, including not only the workforce but also education, housing, criminal justice and others, have created an inherent set of disadvantages for people of color. We aim to improve workforce services and skill-building programs, eliminate systemic barriers to employment, and foster employment access that benefits those who need it the most. We work with our member organizations and advocacy partners to advance policies that increase access to family-sustaining jobs and remove structural barriers to employment that disproportionately affect people of color. This grant would support CJC to convene the Illinois Skills for Good Jobs Agenda table and partner with the Fines & Fees Coalition (previously the Transit Table). We will integrate our anti-racist workforce development framework into our policy initiatives. This framework envisions a workforce development system that prioritizes every worker's future financial stability, career pathway, and economic security. Our anti-racist approach to policy development and design seeks to address past harms and failures by redesigning policies with a racially equitable and just lens. It honors the humanity of all people and centers those most impacted by systemic racial injustice. We will build transformative relationships between people and systems, providing quality jobs, and removing funding obstacles that inhibit progress. We share information with partners to energize and help expand partnerships. Ultimately, we look to build partnerships with organizations that also work to eliminate wealth inequality and racial disparities that exist in the labor market. According to the Advancing Workforce Equity in Chicago report, “the Chicagoland regional GDP could have been about $136 billion larger” in 2018 “if racial gaps in employment and wages were eliminated.” And while Illinois’s clean energy workforce grew by 5% in 2021, that workforce is still only 7.7% Black in a state with a population that is 14.7% Black. The 2024 Color of Wealth in Chicago report from the Institute on Race, Power and Political Economy at The New School revealed numerous disparities between city residents of different races. “White families in Chicago have drastically better wealth outcomes than all others with over five times the amount of wealth as Mexican American families, the group with the next highest level of wealth,” the report states. “Black families have a net worth (or wealth) of $0, which means that at the median, Black families’ debts cancel out their assets.” While there are a variety of factors that contribute to these disparities, we believe that increasing employment and economic outcomes with a focus on racial justice is a key to creating a more just and equitable future. CJC envisions a workforce development system where racism has no place, where opportunities are equally accessible, and where every person can flourish professionally and personally.
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Grant Recipient
FOLDED MAP PROJECT
The purpose of this application is to secure funding to use Tonika Johnson/Folded Map’s existing projects to create at least 4 Englewood community-based events and activations as well as forge or strengthen at least two partnerships with Chicago-based cultural institutions, thus laying the foundation for building a long-standing Arts and Culture Hub in the Englewood neighborhood. We seek to help re-shape the story about Englewood so that it includes being a destination for innovative and meaningful resident-lead arts and cultural experiences.
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Grant Recipient
Hope Chicago
Through a unique two-generation approach, Hope Chicago provides the resources and support for families to access and complete postsecondary education and workforce development opportunities, increasing family income, building household wealth, and addressing economic disparities. This project centers on Hope Chicago’s support for both student and parent Scholars.
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Grant Recipient
NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF CHICAGO INC
The 3C Developer Alliance is a group of BIPOC and mission-focused developers collaborating to leverage financial resources and explore utilizing complex capital structures to support the acquisition of 100 city-owned vacant lots in the geographic areas of East Garfield Park and Humboldt Park in Chicago as well as the development newly constructed residential homes on those parcels. The Chicago 3C Initiative seeks to revitalize these once historically disinvested, but now gentrifying neighborhoods and counteract the displacement of its long-time residents by creating a housing ecosystem that supports the construction and sustainable ownership of affordable, new homes in these areas. This application requests funding to assist these mission-focused and BIPOC developers in the 3C Developer Alliance with funding that strengthens their balance sheet and that they may use to either secure competitive construction financing or use to fund developer cost gaps enabling them to build at scale to reach their collective goal of 25 homes for the 3C Initiative.
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Grant Recipient
NEW MOMS, INC.
New Moms’ Housing program maintains the scope of Housing services available within Chicagoland, housing ~78 young moms and their ~90 children annually, via two center-based programs. New Moms’ services are customized to meet the unique needs of young moms and their children. Our Housing program represents over 80% of beds in Chicagoland dedicated to this unique population, offering stays longer than 4 months. Services are delivered using a culturally-competent, Housing First philosophy. While enrolled in the Housing program, young moms are encouraged to engage in home-based parent coaching, child health & development monitoring, doula services supporting healthy pregnancies, weekly prenatal/parent support groups, in-house mental health services, college success coaching, and job-readiness training, paid transitional jobs, & permanent employment placement. We make extensive referrals to ensure the needs of young families are addressed, so they can work toward lifelong housing stability, economic mobility, and family well-being. Over the past 5 years, 83% of young moms have exited to permanent housing; and 78% have retained housing for 12+ months.
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Grant Recipient
Common Ground Foundation, Inc.
During our program year, mentees are introduced and participate in one of the six disciplines listed below: Dance: Mentees will be exposed to a wide range of dance styles, such as Contemporary, Hip Hop, Jazz, Lyrical, Modern, and more. Hip Hop / Spoken Word: Mentees will participate in lessons that will include rap, poetry, and production. Sessions will highlight free writing and interpreting lyrics which will provide participants with a better understanding of how creative writing (rap/poetry) can have a variety of purposes as well as be beneficial to your emotional wellness. Music / Vocals: Mentees will explore the world of vocal music, singing various genres of music, discussing the value of being an original composer and songwriter, as well as the importance of joining a performance rights organization to ensure that each songwriter's rights are safe and secure. Photography: Mentees will learn about photography and how it connects with the world around them. Mentees will also explore the power of "use what you have" by learning how to take pictures using their cell phone devices. Video Production: Mentees will learn the fundamentals that go into making videos as well as entrepreneurship in film. Using a cellphone, participants will learn the skills needed to capture, direct, and edit videos. Visual Arts: Mentees will learn to use art as a way to express different ranges of emotions and feelings. Participants will also be exposed to different artistic techniques as well as learn about the fundamentals of art. The activities and instructions are the building blocks of the year-end celebration’s final performances for each group, where students will present their talents to peers, parents, and partners during our End of Year Celebration next summer 2025.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Commons
Chicago Commons’ Family Hub promotes racial and social equity and economic mobility by addressing families’ multi-faceted needs, not just through asset development, but by providing a supportive, holistic environment and resources that enable success. Family Hub reaches participants from underserved neighborhoods on Chicago’s South and West sides. Participant recruitment and program implementation occurs predominantly within our four early childhood education (ECE) centers. Programmatic components include financial literacy and empowerment, entrepreneurship, job success skill development, degree/accreditation attainment services, health and wellness services, and self-advocacy.
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Grant Recipient
NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSING SERVICES OF CHICAGO INC
In recognition of each partner’s own individual success in the field of housing, and our shared interest in addressing lending inequity and racially based disinvestment, Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago (NHS), the Chicago Urban League, and Self-Help Federal Credit Union have joined together to continue work started in the first year of our partnership, and continue advancing our strategies to implement innovative loan products and outreach programs that reach Black and Brown potential homebuyers to help them obtain a fairly-priced home loan. This year, we are joined by the Woodstock Institute, and Self Help’s policy affiliate, the Center for Responsible Lending. Affordable homeownership is still the main driver of household and generational wealth, and is a driver of mixed-income, sustainable neighborhoods. Through the support of the Chicago Community Trust’s 2024 Home Lending Partnership Program opportunity, this collaborative partnership will work towards opening equitable CDFI lending to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac secondary markets, fundamentally changing the accessibility and availability of such lending, not only in the Chicago area, but nationally. To this end, we will convene a Council with the goal of discussing how we can combine private and government resources to create a pilot loan program, fundraise for its loan pool, and develop multi-year performance data to act as qualified evidence to support systematic change at the federal level.