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
Featured
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.
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Grant Recipient
Greenwood Archer Capital, Inc.
The Empower 2022 planning grant will be used to review, assess, modify and plan for 2022-23 _Assess Empower 2021 internally as a team _ Review loan performance of the Empower 1.0 portfolio _Stretch loan monitoring and service support through 2022 tax season _Continue helping participants apply for capital (those who did not apply by Dec 2021) _Create Empower 2.0 model as a modified version of Empower 1.0 _Begin planning for GreenWISE mega partnership, bringing EMPOWER and Lightbulb models together
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Grant Recipient
Institute for Community Empowerment
The Institute for Community Empowerment, working with its partner organization, the Coalition to Save Our Mental Health Centers, seeks to engage and train volunteer leaders to create three new Expanded Mental Health Services Programs (EMHSPs) in 2022 and 2023 in three broad and diverse Chicago communities with 440,000 residents on the South and West Sides. To be successful, residents will first learn the skills to educate their neighbors about the importance of mental health services, then win a binding referendum to raise their property taxes to pay for them, and finally steer and oversee their new mental health center. Through their efforts, they will build collective power to take ownership of vital services tailored to local needs.
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Grant Recipient
Southland Development Authority NFP
SDA’s Business Growth Services and Capital (previously known as the Stimulus Program), works to provide targeted, industry-specific technical and financial assistance to businesses owned by people of color to address the immediate effects of the COVID-19 pandemic while planning for equitable recovery and sustained growth. Through a network of collaborators, Business Growth Services conducts outreach to entrepreneurs and small business owners and delivers specialized consulting services and tailored financial assistance. Expanding upon the program’s success, two complementary funds—Equity Capital and Debt Capital—will support longer-term growth. Together, these initiatives create wealth for communities of color in the regional economy.
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Grant Recipient
CITY COLLEGES OF CHICAGO FOUNDATION
The City Colleges of Chicago Foundation Student Technology Equity Program will empower students across the city with tech tools (laptops and connectivity), student supports, and capabilities to thrive in learning environments and workplaces that require a mastery of technology to be successful. The program will create more equitable access to technology and skill building to prepare Chicagoans to enroll, complete a college credential (certificate or degree), launch or advance their careers, and contribute to an inclusive Chicago economy.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Food Policy Advisory Council NFP
This funding will support the ongoing efforts of the 2021 project and planning efforts for developing a grant renewal during the next FEBG 2022 grant cycle. This grant will build upon our work in the last round of FEBG funding in 2021 to support the continued development of food and farm businesses on Chicago’s south side as we implement our Spring programming while also providing capacity for our partners to address additional challenges and opportunities that we observed over the past grant period.
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Grant Recipient
Womens Business Development Center (WBDC)
The WBDC is seeking a bridge grant to develop and refine an enhanced model for delivery of EMBA. The goal of EMBA is to advance a stronger and more connected small business field of practice among Chicago BSOs as it relates to contracting and procurement opportunities for their minority business clients. This ensures a greater number of minority business owners have the exposure acumen, resources and tools needed to consider and be successful with higher-margin opportunities in this marketplace. The WBDC will draw upon our recent successful experiences with the Hub and Spoke delivery model. For EMBA, it is anticipated the WBDC will serve as the Hub, the Chicago Minority Supplier Development Council (CMSDC) as a Subject Matter Expert and select hyper-local, community-based Business Service Organizations as the Spokes. The Bridge grant will enable the WBDC to customize and refine the model, ascertain interest, form deeper relationships with targeted BSOs, and enlist participation and involvement from Corporate Partners who engage with Advocacy organizations on an ongoing basis for Supplier Diversity activities.
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Grant Recipient
Northwestern University
Continued support of the Chicago Biomedical Consortium.
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Grant Recipient
SMALL BUSINESS MAJORITY FOUNDATION INC
Small Business Majority requests support of our ongoing partnership with Rogers Park Business Alliance and New Covenant Community Development Corporation (CDC), aimed at increasing entrepreneurs’ ability to access and manage capital—key proficiencies as they pivot their operations in Illinois’ pandemic recovery. We will use this planning grant to continue a limited set of project activities and test potential data collection systems to support collective information sharing among partners. We also will explore opportunities to adapt a toolkit that assesses critical soft skills for business service providers’ use with entrepreneurs, as well as share best practices and lessons learned widely with appropriate ecosystem stakeholders.