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…
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 5321–5328 of 4270 results
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Grant Recipient
Prison and Neighborhood Arts-Education Project
The Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP) began educational programming at Stateville Men's Prison in 2011 and in 2022 began running programming at Logan Women's Prison. Our programming bridges offering educational curriculum inside with community advocacy efforts on the outside and aims to build relationships of reciprocity that bring artists, scholars, and writers together with incarcerated. PNAP is seeking support to fund expenses related to our programming at Logan Women's Prison which is expanding from one to two sessions this fall '24 session. Logan participants are openly LGBTQIA identified and hold crucial lived experiences as incarcerated individuals that must be a greater part of the narrative on incarceration. Programming at Logan began as monthly reading groups and zine making workshops attended by as many as 100 individuals. As gatherings progressed, some individuals eventually organized their own groups and zine making sessions. This is significant in that our facilitators aim to encourage input and initiatives into Logan programming that are directly led by participants. We are seeking funding to cover programming expenses for work executed by our current part-time Logan Program Coordinator and an incoming part-time facilitator. This year, we will grow from one monthly session to two monthly sessions. One session will be information based while the other will be creative based. Students will decide what sort of curriculum they want and the facilitator will build out the structure for the session with the Logan participants and seek the necessary supplies. The session will begin this fall '24 quarter and continue through spring '25. Our Logan programming has a strong partner in the Women's Justice Institute among many other volunteers that uplift women and those incarcerated in women's prisons. The long term vision for these initial sessions is to prepare students for the possibility of exploring academic programming in 2-3 years tentatively with the University of Illinois-Springfield. An official degree program is more likely in the next five years, however, our current programming will focus on building up related skills in critical thinking and writing in preparation for academic coursework. Our Logan programming is growing quickly but will be limited if run solely by part - time staff. Our goal is to secure funding for a full time staff position by FY26 and increase funding for class supplies.
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Grant Recipient
BLACK ALPHABET NFP
The Culturally Responsive Therapy (CRT) program offered by Black Alphabet is a pioneering initiative aimed at addressing the mental health disparities within the Black LGBTQ+ community. The program is designed to provide culturally competent mental health services, including one-on-one therapy sessions, group art therapy counseling, and community-based art workshops that are sensitive to the intersectional experiences of race, gender, and sexual orientation. By offering tailored mental health support, the CRT program seeks to enhance the well-being, resilience, and overall quality of life for its participants. With this $40,000 grant request from the Chicago Community Trust, if granted, we will be able to continue supporting the sustainability of this program for our participants and interested community members, further providing ongoing access to equitable mental health resources administered by licensed clinicians.
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Grant Recipient
Association of Latino Men for Action
ALMA Chicago has been a vital advocate and supporter of the Latinx LGBTQ+ community for over 35 years. Since its founding in 1989, ALMA has played a pioneering role in promoting the visibility, rights, and well-being of this often overlooked and marginalized population. Historically, ALMA made significant strides by being the first Latinx LGBTQ+ organization to march in both the Chicago Mexican and Puerto Rican parades, marking a pivotal moment for LGBTQ+ visibility in public Latinx events. Additionally, ALMA was inducted into the Chicago Gay and Lesbian Hall of Fame in 2000, recognizing its longstanding contributions to the LGBTQ+ community. Also, as a leading organization in the fight for marriage equality in Illinois, ALMA ensured that the Illinois Latino Caucus voted unanimously in support of the law. Making marriage equality in Illinois a reality. Securing LGBTQ Fund funding is crucial for ALMA to continue its mission of building power, advocating for justice, and supporting the well-being of all Latinx LGBTQ+ communities. This funding will allow ALMA to expand its reach, enhance its programs, and address the growing needs of the community, ensuring that ALMA remains a vital resource for the Latinx LGBTQ+ community in Chicago and beyond.
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Grant Recipient
Links Hall Incorporated
Links Hall has a long-standing practice of supporting and showcasing LGBTQ artists, reflecting its alignment with the LGBTQ Fund’s 2024 focus on arts investment. For nearly fifty years, it has served as a crucial incubator for dance and performance, offering a nurturing, queer and trans-affirming space where artists can develop and present their work. The organization’s subsidized rentals program provides affordable rehearsal and production space while its Co-MISSION residencies offer financial support, studio space, mentorship, and full production assistance. Additionally, Links Hall collaborates with queer and trans artists to co-present productions each season, making it a vital part of Chicago’s performance ecosystem and a launchpad for both emerging and established LGBTQ artists. As a cultural cornerstone in Chicago, Links Hall is committed to inclusivity and intersectionality, evidenced by its support for BIPOC queer and trans artists and commitment to DEI. The organization’s majority queer staff and trans Executive Director foster a supportive and celebratory environment essential for artistic vulnerability and risk-taking. By addressing the financial and accessibility challenges faced by LGBTQ artists and prioritizing racial justice and accessibility, Links Hall enriches Chicago’s cultural landscape and supports the vitality of its diverse artistic community.
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Grant Recipient
VIETNAMESE ASSOCIATION OF ILLINOIS
VAI's Youth Program is entering an exciting phase, as our team has expanded over the last year, to include a full-time program manager and two program coordinators. The additional staffing of two more program coordinators will position Youth Program to meet the growing needs of the community even more effectively, allowing us to shrink what is usually a long class waitlist, and admit more students into our year-round, out-of-school-time program. We also recognize that our Youth Program fills a much needed gap in culturally relevant, social-behaviorial skill-building resources available within the Uptown neighborhood, and want to equip our team with the training and professional support needed to develop successful curriculum. While VAI’s extra-curricular programming has historically focused on encouraging a sense of belonging among participants, mostly from Vietnamese-immigrant background, what we’ve seen over the years is growing diversity in the Uptown community of Black, Brown, immigrant, and native-born youth. We recognize the importance of creating transformative relationships among the group of students and the families we work with. Given the pace at which young people are connecting to social justice issues, their relationships to each other and their community have never been more important. A $25,000 grant from Asian Giving Circle would bolster our efforts to reach even more young people in the Uptown neighborhood.
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Grant Recipient
KAN-WIN
KAN-WIN’s mission is to eliminate gender-based violence by providing comprehensive, survivor-centered services, education, and outreach to Asian American communities and beyond. Following the success of the AGC’s first FY24 grant, we are respectfully requesting support from the Asian Giving Circle (AGC) to further strengthen our Economic Empowerment Program (EEP) for survivors of gender-based violence. This program is designed to and will continue to empower survivors by promoting financial literacy, removing barriers to stability, and building a foundation for sustainable career growth and economic independence. Through the EEP, survivors are guided in making informed financial decisions and receive support in their native languages. As a result, many have opened their first U.S. bank accounts and started building credit through microloans. With AGC’s FY24 grant, several survivors completed the financial literacy program and savings match program (emergency fund building). Furthermore, KAN-WIN's EEP has launched a Career Foundation Program with AGC’s FY24 funding which was a new development for EEP. This program was intentionally developed to reinforce survivors' core strengths and create a direct pipeline to workforce resources. In this way, the EEP helps survivors build a strong foundation for achieving long-term financial stability and safety. With the FY25 AGC grant, EEP will continue to incorporate culturally sensitive components into each financial literacy and career foundation program for the Korean, Mongolian, and Chinese communities of survivors.
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Grant Recipient
Heart Women & Girls Project
The nonprofit industrial complex (NPIC) is rooted in white supremacy and capitalism. In order to successfully advance one’s mission, often nonprofits participate in the NPIC, resulting in competition, a scarcity mindset, the tokenization of Black and brown staff, and toxic workplaces that replicate the same harm internally as they are trying to disrupt in the communities they serve. These challenges are further compounded by anti-blackness and white supremacy that is pervasive in AAPI communities and AAPI led organizations, often resulting in pitting Black and AAPI folks against each other and leveraging the model minority mindset to align with law enforcement to cultivate a false sense of security. Finally, the anti-blackness and internalized white supremacy within AAPI led organizations creates a toxic workplace and harmful practices, resulting in overworked, underpaid staff and frequent turnover. HEART is a national nonprofit headquartered in Chicago led by AAPI Muslim women that has been working to incorporate a racial justice lens to their internal work culture as well as its external programming for the last few years. The purpose of this request is to request $15,000 to document the ways in which the organization has to disrupted anti-blackness and white supremacy within its organization. The funding will support the development of a toolkit and training for AAPI-led organizations that are interested in strengthening their commitment to disrupting anti-blackness and white supremacy in their internal and external programming.
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Grant Recipient
SpaceShift Collective
Devon Night Market is the next phase of SpaceShift Collective’s five-year-long immersive creative placemaking project in Chicago’s South Asian neighborhood on Devon Avenue. Conceived and produced by SpaceShift Collective, Devon Night Market will bring together community members, artists, creatives, and local businesses in a public celebration of the neighborhood and as a way to connect and share resources. Devon Night Market will take place monthly between May 2025 - October 2025.