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
Forefront
Forefront, Illinois’ statewide association representing both grantmakers and nonprofits, as well as their advisors and allies, is respectfully submitting a request for funding in the amount of $150,000 from The Chicago Community Trust. The request includes $50,000 in funding for the Mission Sustainability Initiative, or MSI, $50,000 for our policy and advocacy work, $30,000 in Forefront Grantmaker Member dues, $15,000 in support of Forefront’s 2024 Annual Summit and 50th anniversary via sponsorship, and $5,000 to cover the cost of six Trust staff members to participate in Forefront’s 2024 Grantmakers Institute. The proposal will provide information about Forefront as an organization, and then will primarily focus on the MSI and policy and advocacy work, with topline information provided about the Grantmakers Institute.
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Grant Recipient
Forefront
Forefront respectfully requests a renewal grant of $250,000 to build on and expand the work of the Equitable Access & Capacity Initiative (EACI), a partnership between Forefront, BDO, and IFF. With support from the Chicago Community Trust, we will offer four clinic series to up to 32 organizations that are preparing for or managing government grants. We will also provide one-on-one support to up to 8 organizations through a mix of coaching and technical assistance. Clinics will include a short series of workshops focused on a specific topic identified as a challenge by EACI grant applicants, such as purchasing or time-tracking policies and procedures. Clinics will include a mix of instruction, hands-on opportunities, and open forums for questions with peer organizations. The goals for clinic engagement include both learning and the development of a needed product such as a policy or written procedure. Each clinic series will be open to up to 8 organizations (up to 32 organizations total) with multiple participants attending from each organization.
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Grant Recipient
Scholarship America, Inc.
This grant application is for the administration of the William J Cook Scholarship Program. Scholarship America provides full scholarship services including application design, evaluation, selection, notification and payment for the students selected as recipients for the program. In addition to the new scholarship recipients, Scholarship America also collects and reviews academic information from renewal students who are continuing in the program. This academic year the program is projected to award 55 new recipients and approximately 100 renewal students.
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Grant Recipient
The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
The proposed research project aims to better understand the transfer experience of undergraduate students at UIC. Focusing on transfers from Harold Washington College to UIC, the research team will analyze institutional data and conduct interviews with students and staff to better understand the needs, experiences, and strengths of transfer students. This study will enable us to identify the factors that promote and impede success at UIC, programs and services that improve the transfer experience, and what UIC and other institutions can do better to promote success for all students.
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Grant Recipient
Contextos NFP
ConTextos requests an $80,000 grant to address critical gaps in our capacity to secure, manage and thrive by leveraging the current influx in public funding opportunities designed to impact community healing, violence prevention and public safety at a moment of unprecedented urgency in Chicago.
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Grant Recipient
Angelic Organics Learning Center Inc
Farmers Rising is implementing a regenerative livestock incubator program which will launch in 2024 and will be the experiential focal point of a combined farmer training and farm-based community education program. We will offer direct access to farmland, production training and resources, market development and technical assistance to farmers interested in regenerative livestock farming approaches and management, and will be wholly focused on working with BIPOC and historically marginalized farmer groups (refugee, LGBTQIA+, veteran). While the program will be livestock focused, diversified production which integrates livestock and other agricultural products will also be supported. Secondarily, this project will also provide program participants access to a vibrant community space where they can learn from and interact directly with farmers, perhaps becoming inspired to take up farming in the future themselves. Ultimately, we aspire to develop the next generation of regenerative agriculture leaders who are resilient to climate change and representative of our many diverse communities in Northern Illinois and Southern Wisconsin. Key to our ability to support our incubator farmers, as well as the broader network of farmers we serve through the Farm Beginnings program and CRAFT farmer network, are our focused, outcome-driven work and strong partnerships. We will continue to strengthen relationships within the Routes to Farm Alliance in order to reduce duplication in services and broaden our reach to ensure divested communities have access to our programs and services. The end result is an increase in the number of economically viable farm businesses, a more sustainable agricultural ecosystem, increased access to local foods, and a vibrant community centered around regenerative farming and local food.
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Grant Recipient
Entrepreneurs Academy
Entrepreneurs Academy is seeking a capacity-building grant from the Chicago Community Trust to increase our ability to manage local, state and federal funding sources in an effort to serve socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in Chicago, including low-income Communities of Color, veterans, LGBTQ+ individuals, and those reintegrating into society after incarceration. This grant will enable us to significantly increase our ability to collect and report impact data, accurately collect and analyze financial data, manage expenditures and allocations to appropriate line items and funding sources. This grant will help us be audit ready and position our administrative house to be attractive to other funders and program advocates. Our request focuses on four key initiatives: strengthening our operational processes, enhancing data management, upskill grant management staff, and increase full time administrative staff. Enhanced Grant Management: The addition of a dedicated part-time grant coordinator will meticulously track complex grant income, and its associated bookkeeping, and reporting. This ensures compliance and frees up valuable time for our staff to focus on serving socially and economically disadvantaged participants. Streamlined Operations: Transitioning our part-time executive administrator to a full-time role will create a central hub for administrative support. This streamlines the tracking of program and accounting records, fostering better communication and data collection and communication between grant monitors, stakeholders and auditors.. Dedicated Development Expertise: Entrepreneurs Academy aims to expand the capacity of the organization by extending our current contract for a professional development consultant/grant writer to help us manage current funding sources and secure additional funding, especially through state, federal, and private grants. Increased Professional Development: A key aspect of building organizational capacity is investing in the continuous professional growth of our staff. This grant will allow us to allocate resources towards comprehensive training programs to enhance skills relevant to our work such as grant management best practices, fundraising strategies, project/budget development, database training, bookkeeping, and compliance, executive education and training on public-private partnership development. All of these initiatives will enable the CEO to focus more on strategic business growth and partnership development, while accelerating our ability to mange the grant facilitation process more accurately and timely. By strengthening our operational foundation, acquiring dedicated grant expertise, establishing efficient grant management processes, and providing professional development funds, this grant will position Entrepreneurs Academy for sustained compliance and impact . It also provides an important bridge needed to build alternate sources of income so that we will be better equipped to attain sustainability to serve low-income Communities of Color and the re-entry population, ultimately fulfilling our mission of empowering individuals and fostering economic mobility.
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Grant Recipient
Center for Neighborhood Technology