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
GREATER WEST TOWN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PROJECT
Greater West Town Project (GWTP) seeks to continue our partnership with Chicago Community Trust to help close the racial and ethnic wealth gap at the household and community levels in Chicago. GWTP has been committed to this work for over 35 years through educational and economic empowerment in disinvested communities in Chicago, particularly on the West Side (East and West Garfield Park, North Lawndale, Humboldt Park, Austin, and Belmont Cragin). With funding from Chicago Community Trust, GWTP will seek to enhance our Occupational Skills Training (OST) and Career Pathways (CP) programs. GWTP’s programs are strategically designed to respond to poverty, unemployment, and lack of educational attainment by creating access to economic opportunities for multi-barriered and historically disinvested community residents. GWTP’s OST program offers two certified tracks in the high-growth industries of Shipping & Receiving (12 weeks) and Woodworking & Solid Surface Manufacturing (15 weeks). These programs fully incorporate technical skills with basic skills remediation, wraparound services, and 12 months of post-program support, including job readiness and job placement. Both trainings are approved by the Illinois Board of Higher Education and nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges. Two employer partner Program Advisory Committees (PACs) composed of local employers meet regularly to advise GWTP on curricula and industry best practices. In addition to OST, GWTP is proposing additional programming for participants who need immediate employment through our Career Pathways (CP) program. CP provides career services that include case planning and management, Individual Education and Employment Planning (IEEP), job readiness training, job placement, and follow-up services. With funding from CCT, GWTP proposes: - GWTP will recruit and enroll 90 participants in state-approved, certification-granting Occupational Skills Training programs. 72 out of the 90 participants will complete training and earn an occupational skills certificate, and 63 of those will be placed in living-wage employment with an average wage of $18/hr. - GWTP will recruit and enroll 40 participants in the Career Pathways program. These participants will receive job readiness training, job placement, and ongoing support. 30 out of the 40 participants served via the Career Pathways program will be placed into employment and earn an average wage of $16/hour.
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Grant Recipient
Chicago Community and Workers Rights
Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights (referred to in this application as Chicago Community) houses a worker-owned cooperative incubator (EJE - Economic Justice and Equity for Collective Development), which includes providing outreach and education surrounding general cooperative concepts, and provides alternative business models that empower workers to create collective wealth and opportunities for their communities. There is a lack of equity and justice that leads to the poverty rates in the community we serve; the types of jobs offered to workers provide no unions, unsafe working conditions, lack of a liveable wage, and no opportunities for growth. We believe in economic justice, and are working to support low-income workers and Latinx communities by helping them access more opportunities to set their own business goals, work standards, and create their own wealth through cooperatives, collectives, or family businesses. Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights will continue to provide outreach and education on Worker Cooperatives to Latinx immigrant communities on the Southwest Side of Chicago. The organization’s goal is to provide outreach and education on worker cooperatives, and ensure that the community we serve familiarizes itself with the concept of worker-owned cooperatives, and how beneficial they are to both the community and workers. Not only will we continue to find workers who want to participate in our cooperative incubator and successfully create a cooperative, but our organization will work to encourage community support for emerging and existing cooperatives. Worker-owned cooperatives benefit the community because they give back the neighborhoods, and our organization hopes to conduct outreach to help those we serve understand how important it is for them to support these businesses. Chicago Community and Workers’ Rights will continue working to create an ecosystem that supports each other, and towards expanding equity, social justice, and workers rights. Our organization will also continue to work with Raise The Floor to advance pro-worker laws, as well as the Illinois Worker Cooperative Alliance to promote economic equity and support for worker cooperatives in communities of color. We will continue to work and collaborate on initiatives, projects, and campaigns with many organizations across the state to defend the rights of workers, fight racial inequity, and advocate for laws and policies to promote and advance the living conditions of workers of color and their families.
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Grant Recipient
Trust For Public Land
Trust for Public Land (TPL) requests support from Chicago Community Trust for two distinct but interrelated activities in the Riverdale Community Area of Chicago. The first activity is to serve as a third-party coordinator for the various projects and investments underway or forthcoming that are centered around 130th Street at the north end of Altgeld Gardens. The second is to support the development of a park and walkway on the south side of 130th Street, between approximately Ellis and Eberhart Avenues. With leadership from People for Community Recovery (PCR) and under a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development (DPD), TPL will coordinate the work of DPD and its sister departments and agencies and community organizations that will ultimately lead to the development of the Hazel Johnson Memorial and Environmental Justice Walkway (the Walkway) along 130th Street at the northern edge of Altgeld Gardens in Chicago. These are separate efforts, with the latter being heavily reliant on the former: whether and how the Walkway is developed and integrated into the other ongoing projects is dependent on the success of the coordination effort. Serving in a coordinator role concurrent with helping establish the Walkway, TPL will communicate with various local leaders seeking to build additional place-based economic development initiatives and create conditions for advancing a high quality of life for residents of the Riverdale Community. Some of these initiatives include: * Carver Park & Altgeld Gardens Open Space Network Planning - CHA (Chicago Housing Authority) recently launched a planning effort to revitalize Carver Park and guide new open space network connections within Altgeld Gardens. *Red Line Extension (RLE) - with a new CTA red line station at 130th Street *130th Street Streetscape – Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) will be starting Phase I of a streetscape study for 130th Street that includes a “side path” for cyclists and pedestrians that will connect with Major Taylor Trail via Indiana Avenue and 127th Street * Ton Farm - remediation of city-owned parcels along and adjacent to the Little Calumet River for future farming sites * Improvements at Beaubien Woods - Forest Preserves of Cook County (FPCC) shoreline reconstruction to include a new shelter and accessible canoe and kayak launch * Other potential developments - including a grocery store on 130th Street and rehabilitation of the C Building as an environmental justice center. Some of these projects (i.e., RLE and 130th Street Streetscape) could directly impact the Walkway because they will be in the same general area, while others will not. Regardless, these projects should be coordinated as much as possible for their own benefit and the benefit of the community. No other organization is taking on the role of coordinator, and this role is important for maximizing the Greenway’s potential to catalyze further economic opportunity in the Riverdale Community area.
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Grant Recipient
Marwen Foundation
Marwen seeks to enhance access to arts learning and cultivate a greater sense of belonging primarily for youth from Chicago’s low income communities, which are predominantly communities of Color. Moreover, Marwen strives to offer equitable employment opportunities for Chicago’s young, emerging, and established artists. On an organizational level, Marwen is in the process of establishing concrete goals and strategies to stabilize and strengthen our internal capacity and fundraising.
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Grant Recipient
CARA PROGRAM
Cara Collective seeks to build a more inclusive economy, one where we bridge the racial wealth gap and cultivate opportunities for gainful employment. Our project, Comprehensive Workforce Development Supports and Compensation, provides cash stipends to aid and incentivize job seekers’ ability to complete the Cara program, which leads to a greater chance of securing and sustaining a quality job. The project takes a three-pronged approach that builds on our core program model and includes training and job placement support, resource support, and cash support. Thanks to funders like the Chicago Community Trust, we piloted the introduction of cash support during FY23 to incentivize participants at critical milestones throughout the participant journey toward employment and in recognition of job seekers’ need for access to income during their training. Through this grant, we will continue to implement this pilot with the goal to assess the model by understanding the level of incentive that promotes program completion (thus preparing participants for jobs) and at what milestones, while also ensuring the financially stability of this program long term.
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Grant Recipient
National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities
Building on the successful partnership of the Contextualizing the Migrant Narrative webinar series, Alianza Americas, along with the Latino Policy Forum, the Resurrection Project, and the Center for Immigrant Progress are planning to lead an educational delegation of decision-makers and stakeholders from the Chicago area to Mexico City, Mexico, and Bogota, Colombia, to understand firsthand the complexities of migration in these two countries and to define further how stakeholders in the U.S. can more sustainably and empathetically respond to the needs of all migrants with a transnational lens. Alianza Americas has been leading delegations to the region for 20 years and is well-known for its transnational approach to policies that impact Latin American and Caribbean immigrants. Participants will engage with civil society leaders in Mexico and Colombia to deepen their understanding of the various factors that force many to leave their homes, with an emphasis on Venezuela and Venezuelan migration; understand firsthand how sending, transit, and receiving countries like Mexico and Colombia can improve their policies and practices, and finally strengthen existing collaborations with allied organizations and build on new relationships with civil society actors to strengthen advocacy efforts across borders.
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Grant Recipient
Womens Business Development Center (WBDC)
Over the last four years, the Women's Business Development Center (WBDC) has built solid working relationships with our Fund for Equitable Business Growth peers. As part of our projects and Fund convenings, we increased the frequency and intensity of our interactions. For Year Five of the Business Service Organization (BSO) Collective Impact Initiative, we will leverage our connections and commitment to build greater coordination of the educational resources that help diverse entrepreneurs access capital. As the Chicago Community Trust highlights, capital is crucial for diverse entrepreneurs to advance their businesses and grow their assets. While it's clear that capital is critical, accessing it can be complicated. BSOs throughout the City have programs to educate entrepreneurs on preparatory steps and capital options. For this year's project, our goal is to begin mapping the offerings of a handful of organizations. We plan to work with the same fantastic group of BSOs and add additional partners. When we understand which BSOs offer financial and economic literacy programs and how those programs differ from one another, we can construct a capital education pathway – a "Capital College" for small business owners. By mapping the various financial education programs offered by local BSOs and defining the typical personas of clients on this pathway, we can better discern which programs fit which business owners at the specific stages of their business, creating a logical cadence of learning progression. This order makes pursuing financial and economic literacy more achievable and allows entrepreneurs to access financial capital more successfully.
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Grant Recipient
Network for Young Adult Success
UtmostU is a comprehensive, tech-based, and data-driven program designed to empower young adults from marginalized communities in Chicago who have been negatively impacted by systemic inequities. Our primary objective is to support these individuals in achieving their post-secondary education and career aspirations, ultimately working towards closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap in Chicago. Understanding the unique challenges faced by these young adults (fellows), UtmostU is fully committed to providing them with the necessary support and guidance for success. Through our extensive network of coaches in schools and community-based organizations, we offer a wide range of tools, partnerships, knowledge, resources, and efficiencies that strengthen community capacity and help students earn the credentials they need to reach their goals. SUPPORT FOR FELLOWS At UtmostU, we prioritize ongoing engagement between fellows and coaches, who play a crucial role in propelling them forward as they transition into the post-secondary space. To ensure their success, UtmostU leverages technology and data to revolutionize the educational landscape. We streamline a comprehensive system that equips post-secondary coaches with the necessary tools, training, and engagement tactics to quickly identify and assist college students, including: • Monthly fellow survey analysis to identify their needs in real time • Structured one-on-one, long-term coaching • Emergency persistence funding • Monthly social-emotional assessments with referrals to mental health counseling • Professional experience access and career support • Free T-Mobile data plan to stay in contact with their coach and family SUPPORT FOR COACHES For coaches, UtmostU has created a learning community to build their capacity and knowledge, welcoming coaches from all types of schools and community-based organizations. UtmostU brings the best partners to the network, so coaches do not need to search for essential resources. Coaches also gain a community to work with a team of supportive peer coaches and organizations committed to post-secondary success through the UtmostU network, eliminating the need to work in isolation. Coaches can expand their knowledge by accessing training and professional development that builds skills and knowledge to confidently guide young adults. UtmostU grows coaching talent to meet the challenges young adults face on their journeys. Coaches also have access to: • A customized Salesforce database to record interactions and case notes • Monthly professional development sessions • College and career pathway guides connected to fellow journeys • Monthly student surveys to prioritize urgent fellow needs • Ready-made dashboards and reports to monitor impact • Coordinated communication tools, including texting and newsletters for students • Mental health support including 6 one-hour free counseling sessions with a trusted Chicago-area based counselor. With these tools and benefits, coaches can effectively support young adults on their path to post-secondary education and career success.