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
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. Today, that means confronting the racial and ethnic wealth gap.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Community Foundation
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Grant Recipient
P.A.S.O.- West Suburban Action Project
PASO seeks funding to: 1. Continue rebuilding our legal immigration services clinic in order to provide services to the immigrant community in the west suburbs. 2. Support asylum seekers and recent arrival individuals and families. 3. Develop 30 community leaders to address issues of health and housing within their communities.
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Grant Recipient
Covenant House Illinois Inc
In 2017, Covenant House Illinois (CHIL) opened in the River North neighborhood of Chicago as an independently operated non-profit connected to the broader Covenant House International network. Our first location consisted of a 12-bed Interim Housing Program and a Youth Development Center (Drop-In). In 2019, to expand services and better serve the Chicago community, CHIL purchased a three-story, 24,000 square foot building in the East Garfield Park neighborhood on Chicago’s west side. CHIL operates an array of comprehensive support services and residential programs for homeless and trafficked young people. Our mission is to provide youth (ages 18-24) experiencing homelessness with shelter and safety, trust and community, and a better tomorrow. At CHIL, our active purpose is to empower young people to find hope and progress by strengthening their resilience through unwavering support and engagement. As one of only a few residential youth shelters in Chicago, young people depend on us for 24/7 emergency crisis care, case management, counseling, safe and secure housing, educational support, physical and mental health care, and employment services. Late-stage adolescence, and in particular the 18–24-year-old demographic CHIL serves, is characterized by unique biological, social, psychological, and cognitive processes. The delivery of developmentally appropriate interventions is dependent upon the unique factors that influence late-stage adolescence, such as increased independence, the establishment of moral, sexual, and vocational identities, and the transition to adulthood. Exposure to violence, sexual assault, poverty, and significant trauma are hallmarks for youth experiencing homelessness within this age range. These experiences can lead to protracted homelessness and an unhealthy delay in the transition to adulthood. In Chicago, homelessness overwhelmingly affects youth in this critical developmental stage. In fact, according to the National Alliance to End Homelessness, youth ages 18-24, make up 90 percent of all youth experiencing homelessness nation-wide. CHIL intentionally chose East Garfield Park as our Chicago campus location, and the 18-24 age range, as our intended population, because youth within this age range are overrepresented in violence and homicide statistics, mental health challenges, involvement in the criminal justice system, rates of chronic disease, unemployment, and premature death. This is not happenstance. It is the legacy of years of disinvestment, racist housing policy, and disregard for entire communities on the south and west sides of Chicago. We are respectfully requesting $50,000 in general operating support for our Youth Development Center (Drop-In), Interim Housing Program, Street Outreach & Aftercare Program (SOAP), and Covenant Works Program. CHIL partners with youth to offer comprehensive support services and residential programs for homeless and trafficked young people. At CHIL, we provide access to necessities such as shelter, food, clothing, and trauma-sensitive wrap-around services, including physical and mental health care, employment counseling, legal services, and life-skills workshops. Through our core programs, we serve approximately 200 youth per year. To date, in FY23, however, we have served 334 youth due to our expanded Chicago campus on Chicago’s west side community of East Garfield Park.
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Grant Recipient
Friends of the Highwood Public Library
The Highwood Library & Community Center’s Early Childhood Literacy programming provides children aged 0-6 with the social, emotional, cognitive and linguistic support they need to enter school ready to succeed. The program provides the foundation needed to foster a level of comfort with structured learning and prepares children to succeed in the school learning environment. This interactive programming with parents and children familiarizes children with elements of their early education, getting them excited about learning. The program also helps parents and caregivers to obtain valuable tools and strategies to help nurture their child's early development. Parents of children ages 0-6 are provided with parent engagement support and education on the skills, knowledge, and resources necessary to support their children’s academic success. Educational parent workshops provide guidance on the important role a parent plays in the academic success of their child, how to prepare children for kindergarten, and increase awareness of the resources available to address barriers. Our multi-pronged approach is designed to help Spanish-speaking immigrant parents to increase confidence in their role as their child’s first teacher, and support Latinx children to be more prepared for a structured learning environment, and gain confidence in the developmental skills necessary for Kindergarten preparedness.
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Grant Recipient
Latino Policy Forum
The Latino Policy Forum is the only organization in the Chicago area that facilitates the involvement of Latinos at all levels of public decision-making. Acting through our collaborative model which engages more than 150 community-based organizations, groups, and coalitions, we address the broad spectrum of Latinos’ needs and opportunities through engaging, advocating, informing, collaborating, and leading. We propose to use that collaborative approach to address a broad range of immigration issues through community engagement, advocacy, and education.
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Grant Recipient
Partners for Our Communities (POC)
Immigration relief and wrap-around services for immigrant families are vital to the growth and success of our local economy. With your general operating support, POC will improve program effectiveness and help more immigrants become self-sufficient by improving agency infrastructure. POC has provided these services for over 30 years and prides itself on giving a voice to this unique population through immigration relief assistance, leadership, skill building, mental health support, and assisting with basic needs. POC has built relationships with networks across Illinois that focus on immigrant rights and success for clients and staff to learn and gain better employment.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Trust
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Grant Recipient
Expanded Mental Health Services of Chicago NFP
The Kedzie Center/EMHS seeks to address the needs of our community through parent-child programs for children of ages 0-6 and clinical services for uninsured immigrants who present with trauma, depression, anxiety and chronic stress. These funds will support a bilingual evidence-based early childhood development program, Abriendo Puertas, as well as bilingual clinical services for uninsured immigrants who might otherwise not receive care, including recent arrivals.