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
DISABILITY LEAD
The ongoing, generous support from The Chicago Community Trust has helped Disability Lead establish itself as the nation’s first and only leadership program for people with disabilities and expand our impact. Disability Lead has forged a vibrant Network of more than 200 emerging and experienced leaders with disabilities. This community provides mentoring and friendship, networking opportunities, and a platform for these leaders to drive transformative change across various sectors. This Network, underpinned by cultivated relationships and shared experiences, promotes sustained growth and advancement for our Members. Disability Lead's work underscores the profound truth that leadership isn't a solitary pursuit; it thrives within a community of understanding, empathy, and shared purpose. Through its multifaceted programs, Disability Lead ensures that individuals with disabilities not only gain the skills to lead but are additionally connected with opportunities to lead with power. Throughout, our Members receive support from a network of peers who advise, inspire and uplift. Continued support from the Trust will allow Disability Lead to further maintain and scale its programs and impact in the Chicago region while continuing our strategies to further long-term growth and sustainability.
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Grant Recipient
Carole Robertson Center for Learning
The Carole Robertson Center’s Grow Your Own, GYO, apprenticeship model allows us to recruit, train, and provide educational and credentialing opportunities to individuals from the communities we serve, addressing both a need for qualified employees within the early childhood sector, and a need for employment and education opportunities for Chicago residents. By addressing the needs of families and the workforce in tandem, the Carole Robertson Center promotes socioeconomic mobility across multiple generations within our communities, while also providing our youngest learners with high-quality, culturally responsive teachers and support staff.
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Grant Recipient
United States Curling Association
We are seeking this grant from the Chicago Community Trust to provide support to the Windy City Curling Club as it prepares to host the 2025 and 2026 Wheelchair Mixed Doubles Nationals, to support our Ice Breakers program and other diversity efforts, and help aging facilities improve infrastructure to allow for continued access to our sport among all ages and backgrounds.
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Grant Recipient
LIFT INC
LIFT-Chicago's mission is to break the cycle of poverty by investing in parents. We do this by partnering with parents to achieve economic stability and mobility through our holistic, two-generation coaching model with wraparound supports, including financial capabilities workshops and quarterly cash infusions. With the support of Bridges to Brighter Futures, LIFT-Chicago will: (1) Engage 75 student-parents in LIFT’s coaching program to provide cash assistance and help young parents enroll and persist towards their education goals (2) Expand our capacity to track members’ education outcomes so that data can be leveraged to support policy and advocacy centered on the experiences and needs of student-parents.
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Grant Recipient
Inner-City Computer Stars Foundation
The Inner-City Computer Stars Foundation (i.c.stars) is requesting $150,000 from Bridges to Brighter Futures to fund our Chicago programming with a focus on supporting the following areas: 1) Our hybrid technology job skills training, which results in living wage jobs in technology 2) Career advancement through ongoing support for graduates and 3) Educational partnerships discovery to enhance our curriculum, skills assessments and credentialing. i.c.stars works to activate a technology community of change agents to power social and economic freedom. Working with low-income young adults, i.c.stars runs a four-month project-based training program followed by a 20-month case-management supported residency that prepares them for a career in tech. Further, i.c.stars works to build networks between rising talent and tech professionals through quarterly events and networking activities. By doing so, i.c.stars transforms not only the lives of young adults but also their communities and workspaces.
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Grant Recipient
Metropolis Strategies NFP
Illinois Justice Project is the recipient. Organization profile shows association with other name (Metropolis Strategies NFP)
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Grant Recipient
Illinois Stewardship Alliance
Illinois Stewardship Alliance will engage members, supporters, and allies in regional listening sessions to reflect on progress made in the Alliance's first 50 years and solicit grassroots input from directly-impacted farmers and eaters to establish a policy platform for a just transition to local regenerative ag in Illinois for the next 50 years. The platform will guide our organizing and advocacy to create a more favorable policy environment for local food and regenerative farm business.
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Grant Recipient
YEAR UP INC
Year Up respectfully requests $150,000 from Bridges to Brighter Futures to support Year Up’s workforce development program, which removes systemic barriers to opportunity in the tech field and moves young adults toward financial security and economic mobility. The program combines job skills training and education in Information Technology and Data Analytics, work-based experiences with local employers, and wraparound student support. In just one year, without accruing any student debt, graduates obtain jobs in major companies where there are vast possibilities for career advancement and increased earning potential. As a result, more young people from under-represented, low-income communities are finding viable employment pathways in high-growth fields. During the grant period, Year Up Chicago aims to train 96 young adults for careers in the tech sector.