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.
-
Grant Recipient
North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic
North Suburban Legal Aid Clinic (NSLAC) is a charitable 501(c)3 with a mission to provide accessible, quality, equitable, free legal services in the areas of domestic violence, housing, and immigration to give low-income, at-risk community members access to justice and the opportunity to live productive and secure lives. NSLAC was founded in 2015 in response to a Highland Park Human Needs report that found a lack of affordable civil legal services in the area. Originally only serving the Highland Park/Highwood area, outreach from constituents in neighboring communities quickly indicated a larger need for services. NSLAC expanded in 2018 to include northern Cook County and all of Lake County. Services are provided at no cost to clients, all revenue supporting programs is derived from charitable resources including grants, contributions, and special events. To be eligible for services, clients must live at or below 250% of the federal poverty level. In 2024, this equates to a household income of $78,000 for a family of four. There are no income restrictions, however, for survivors of domestic violence, as a client in crisis may not have access to familial assets. NSLAC has grown tremendously, especially in the past few years. In its inaugural year, NSLAC opened 84 cases, conducted services with a part time Executive Director, a shoestring budget and a few volunteer (pro bono) attorneys. Today, NSAC delivers services with a team of more than 40 full-time staff, including more than 20 licensed attorneys and now has social workers in each practice area. In 2023, NSLAC opened 2,438 cases, a 60+% increase from 2022, and nearly double the number of cases opened in 2021. The most significant expansion has occurred in the Immigration Practice, which opened more than 1,600 cases in 2023 alone. Funding from this program will be put towards the Immigration Practice’s current programs supporting recent arrivals from the southern border, many of whom are seeking asylum relief. The Immigration Practice is a full-scale, DOJ accredited, immigration law practice providing services which include family-based petitions, adjustment of status, Temporary Protected Status, U- and T-nonimmigrant status, Violence Against Women Act petitions, and asylum cases. The Immigration Practice delivers services with a staff of 17, including 10 licensed attorneys, 2 DOJ-accredited representatives, a resource coordinator and community outreach coordinator. Additionally, NSLAC intentionally does not pursue funding from Legal Services Corporation (LSC), which is a major funder of many legal aid organizations. LSC funding can include restrictions regarding client eligibility based on immigration status. For this reason, NSLAC is one of the few (and sometimes the only) legal services program in the service area that provides free immigration services to low-income undocumented immigrants. Since January 1, 2023, the Immigration Practice has completed intakes for 272 asylum seekers, 84% of whom (224) arrived via the southern border. Many of these clients were transported (bussed / flown) to the Chicago area from border states with little resources and no advanced communication to local leaders. NSLAC joined a list of social service agencies mobilizing to support these families in need. One of the main activities the Immigration Practice has been doing is leading offsite screening clinics at shelters that have been set up for them. The typical format for these clinics includes a 45-minue Know Your Rights presentation with a question and answer session, helping asylum seekers understand their rights in the United States. The educational session is followed by each attendee receiving a 30–45-minute legal screening with a licensed attorney. NSLAC’s Immigration Practice speaks 8 languages in addition to English and has multiple fluent Spanish speakers within the practice to assist with these clinics. Also, all three of NSLAC’ S intake specialists are fluent in English and Spanish, as are many other team members throughout the clinic. With NSLAC’s in-house legal and linguistic capabilities, the team is uniquely prepared to conduct successful, large offsite screenings, often connecting with more than 50 clients in a single day. Regarding the asylum cases for these clients, asylum is one of the most complex forms of immigration relief. It can take years for the application to be processed and can require over 100 hours of staff time. Additionally, there is a high burden of proof required to be granted asylum – generalized country violence and economic instability do not automatically qualify someone for this form of immigration relief. Beyond the possibility of asylum, NSLAC attorneys’ complete comprehensive screenings for all types of immigration relief. Of the 224 asylum cases opened for people who arrived via the southern border, 124 have gone beyond counsel and advice, meaning they their claim for asylum was determined to have potential based on the initial screening. Of the 124 cases which have moved forward beyond a screening, two have received an administrative decision (approval), while the remaining 122 are still active cases. In the active cases, NSLAC attorneys are working with clients to gather more details to determine eligibility, or are working with clients to gather evidence and prepare their application. For 100 cases closed as counsel and advice (non-qualifying clients), NSLAC spends significant time educating on their rights, their children’s rights, and providing referrals to other supportive agencies. In addition to direct legal services, the Immigration Practice also employs a full-time Resource Coordinator to provide clients with relevant referrals for wraparound non-legal needs. The Resource Coordinator works individually with clients to identify their needs outside of what NSLAC can assist with, and works with the client to secure them. This requires building and maintaining relationships with other social service providers and agencies in the area in order to create an expansive referral network. These needs can be anything from culturally specific organizations to childcare, healthcare, or mental health services. In response to the influx of asylum seekers, NSLAC has seen increases in state and local funding to assist with the increase demand for services. The government funding, however, involves short term grant programs (6-12 months), with much uncertainty about the renewability of the program. Despite the short term funding sources, cases which move forward beyond counsel and advice can take months or years to complete. As NSLAC does not charge any fees from clients, the volume of cases taken on is directly determined by NSLAC’s confidence in funding needed to manage a case from screening to the final approval. Support from private organizations, such as Nuestro Futoro, can provide NSLAC the resources needed to withstand fluctuations in government funding, and ultimately reach more clients in need. Program Goals: NSLAC monitors many indicators of success across each practice area. Three standard key performance indicators include 1.) Cases Opened, 2.) Outreach Activities / Clinics Logged, 3.) Client Satisfaction Survey. 1.) Cases Opened – NSLAC anticipates a consistent high volume of cases opened in 2024, including the immigration practice. Based on steady staff and funding levels, the Immigration Practice expects to open 1,600 cases in 2024. 2.) Outreach Activities – In 2023, the Immigration Practice averaged more than 2 offsite outreach activities per month (immigration specific), in addition to participation in the general outreach activities conducted for the clinic as a whole. In 2023, the clinic logged more than 140 outreach activities across all practice areas. NSLAC expects to maintain a similar level of outreach in 2024. 3.) Client Experience Survey – Upon closure of a case, clients are sent a digital survey asking questions about their experience with NSLAC’s services. A key question is ‘do you have a better understanding of your legal options after meeting with NSLAC staff?’. The goals are for 7.5% of clients to respond and 90% of respondents indicate they have a better understanding. In 2023, NSLAC achieved the 90% benchmark, but had a lower response rate of 3.6%. The team is working on different tactics to increase the response rate in 2024.
-
Grant Recipient
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council (BPNC) is requesting $20,000 in general operating funding from the Nuestro Futuro program to support our mission of improving the quality of life for our majority Latine, immigrant community. This funding will be used to support the implementation and management of BPNC’s immigrant serving case management programs, the Illinois Welcoming Center (IWC) and the Success and Stability Program (SSP). Additionally, funding will be used to provide direct supplies to address the immediate needs of immigrant families in crisis.
-
Grant Recipient
Centro De Trabajadores Unidos United Workers Center
CTU is seeking Nuestro Futuro funding to boost capacity for delivering essential immigration services in Chicago’s southeast and south suburbs communities. This includes workshops, citizenship classes, legal assistance, deportation defense referrals, policy advocacy, and our worker cooperative program. With Nuestro Futuro funding, CTU aims to expand its team, enabling us to more effectively address the growing demand for immigration services in our communities.
-
Grant Recipient
PODER
PODER is an immigrant integration center on Chicago's Southwest Side, empowering Spanish-speaking adults to seize opportunities in Chicago through the PODER Integrated Skills Pathway. This includes free Integrated English, workforce training, digital skills, civic engagement, 1:1 advisement, and connections to critical services through a network of community partners. PODER is focused on building capacity to improve service delivery and increase quality of life and racial equity among community members, while also ensuring sustainable growth as a replicable model of an immigrant integration center.
-
Grant Recipient
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
The Institute for Housing Studies (IHS) at DePaul University will support the Chicago Community Trust by developing applied research resources and providing high-quality data-focused technical assistance to inform progress toward the Chicago Community Trust’s programmatic goal of increasing homeownership and home equity for Black and Latine residents and its overarching strategic goal to close the racial and ethnic wealth gap.
-
Grant Recipient
Onward Neighborhood House
The primary recipients of Onward House’s social services have always been immigrants, a fact that has been reinforced since we opened an Illinois Welcoming Center (IWC) in 2020 to aid new arrivals as they settle in Chicago. Our expanding staff has been meeting demand from the consistent growth in Chicago’s migrant population since 2022, providing access to comprehensive settlement services—from health care through legal services to education—either within the IWC, through in-house referrals to our wraparound services, or through referrals to other agencies. Situated within the Chicago Community Area with the largest Latine population, as a Latine-led and staffed organization rooted in the Northwest Side, Onward House is well equipped to deliver culturally fluent resources to individuals whose difficult migrations have created multifaceted needs.
-
Grant Recipient
LATINOS PROGRESANDO
Latinos Progresando’s (LP) immigration legal services program provides a full spectrum of family-based immigration legal services, as well as an initiative that meets the unique needs of immigrants experiencing domestic violence. LP is recognized by the Department of Justice (DOJ) and its program is staffed by DOJ-accredited representatives. LP’s program distinguishes itself by its 25 years of expertise in the field, as well as by its accessibility. The program also remains the only legal services program on Chicago’s southwest side offering completely free, full-service support to immigrant victims of domestic violence. All clients receive a thorough one-on-one legal consultation by a DOJ-accredited representative that includes a personalized, step-by-step case analysis and an explanation of rights and eligibility. If a client is eligible and LP takes the case, LP prepares the case files, submits to United States Citizenship & Immigration Services (USCIS), and serves as legal representative through the duration of the case, often years. If a case exceeds LP’s capacity, the client is fully informed on the case, LP completes any work that does not need to be completed by the attorney (FBI background check, for example), and makes a warm referral to a trusted attorney within Latinos Progresando’s network. As a leader in the field, LP also provides operations training and technical assistance to community-based legal service providers. For decades, LP has been a model for emerging and expanding organizations and has shared best practices to improve services for immigrant communities in and beyond the Chicago metropolitan area. On an ongoing basis, and in response to policy changes, LP provides immigration-focused informational presentations to community residents and organizations outside the legal field but working with immigrant families. These sessions offer accurate, high-quality information to prevent and combat fraud, allow community residents to ask experts questions, and increase reputable service providers’ accessibility. Especially in light of the ongoing targeting of immigrants, families in LP’s community rely on the organization for culturally relevant, accurate information, and to go above and beyond to provide resources for both basic and aspirational needs.
-
Grant Recipient
Educare of West Dupage
Educare West DuPage is requesting funding for general operating support to help offset the expenses associated with maintaining the highest quality standards for the most at-need children and families within our community. The United States underfunds early childhood education, which directly impacts schools like Educare West DuPage's ability to continue offering access to quality opportunities. The Educare model provides a stable and supportive environment through high-quality early education programming. The quality aspects that are prioritized through this model have a positive impact on children's success in school and life. The Educare model, while providing best practice approaches, as supported by the multitude of assessments and data collection efforts throughout each school year, also carries a higher cost per child than our funding partners fund through our state and federal grants. In fiscal year 2022, the average cost per child for Educare West DuPage was approximately $35,000 for the Birth to Three program which serves 80 children and their families along with 10 pregnant moms and roughly $25,000 per child for the Preschool program, serving 102 children ages 3-5 years old. In comparison, our state and federal funding partners that provide funding based on a cost per child equation provide roughly $23,000 per child, leaving a substantial deficit that is made up for with other funding sources, such as the Child Care Assistance Program. By obtaining additional funding that specifically supports general operating expenses Educare West DuPage is able to utilize more of the state and federal funding to support programmatic expenses. Educare West DuPage is better able to continue elevating the importance of the impact that early childhood education has on society.