Grants

Grant Recipient

Garfield Park Community Council

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $50,000

Grant Recipient

Logan Square Neighborhood Association

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $50,000

Grant Recipient

Brave Space Alliance

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $30,000

The Dignity Project is an upstream community safety program addressing social, economic, and structural violence against BIPOC transgender people in Chicago by facilitating resource redistribution and access to services.

Grant Recipient

Chapin Hall Center for Children

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $50,000

Chapin Hall is dedicated to the idea that evidence should drive decisions. Working with public system leaders, practitioners, and communities across the nation, Chapin Hall develops and implements innovative solutions to promote the well-being of children, youth, and families. Over 35+ years, our work has led to significant improvements in public system approaches, but centuries of racially biased laws, policies, and practices continue to create inequitable treatment and perpetuate ongoing trauma in communities of color. Chapin Hall’s vision is to bring about A New Era of Equity by leading with Equity First. As one of just two Black leaders of the forty-seven nonprofit independent research and policy centers in the United States like Chapin Hall, Executive Director Bryan Samuels is committed to driving systems toward policy changes that protect and promote the interests of people of color. To strengthen our ability to transform systems, equity must be explicit in every action we take. To achieve these aims, Chapin Hall seeks to become the premier destination for scholars and policy experts of color, including those with a focus on program evaluation and translational skills, who bring experience and perspective on racial equity, child- and family well-being, system change, and elevating community leadership. We kindly request a $50,000 general operating grant from Chicago Community Trust to help us build our Equity First initiative. There are three key levers of change within the Equity First initiative: 1) guide and support early-career scholars of color to pursue evidence-based policymaking; 2) recruit and retain experts of color at Chapin Hall; and 3) elevate the voices and work of experts of color. Specifically, the grant from the Trust will support the development of the first lever of change. It will underwrite a qualitative study to deepen our understanding of the unique perspectives, experiences, and challenges of doctoral recipients of color within the social and health sciences. This study will be an essential guide as we build out our Equity Summer Associates and Equity Post-Docs programs. The grant from the Trust will support the planning and design of these programs. The Equity Summer Associates program will be a summer program for Black and Latina/o scholars currently enrolled in graduate programs who have an interest in applied research, program evaluation, and other methods focused on system change. The summer cohort experience will include mentoring along with a broad exposure to system change work and career exploration. The Equity Post-Docs program will focus on early-career Black and Latina/o scholars who have recently completed a doctoral program and who have experience in a range of methodological innovation. The structured 2-3-year program will include mentoring, professional development, and education loan assistance. The grant from the Trust will support the planning process which includes analysis of the data collected in the qualitative study; an exploration of best practices and lessons learned from similar programs aimed at supporting scholars of color; design of recruitment strategy and materials; and building the program models with embedded learning activities and community of practice opportunities.

Grant Recipient

Latin United Community Housing Association (LUCHA)

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $11,100

Grant Recipient

Foundation for Homan Square

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $50,000

Grant Recipient

University of Chicago’s Arts and Public Life

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $11,100

Grant Recipient

Emerald South Economic Development Collaborative

Awarded: July 2023 Awarded Amount: $50,000