Paving the Path to Homeownership for Housing Choice Voucher Holders
Since the mid-20th century, homeownership has been one of the most important vehicles for building wealth in the United States. According to research from the…
Grants
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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.
Explore Our Discretionary Grants
Showing 5111–5118 of 4389 results
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Foundation/Elevated Chicago
Elevated Chicago is a coalition of organizations advancing Equitable Transit-Oriented Development [ETOD] to unlock the potential of transit hubs to connect people and attract development that is racially equitable in terms of climate resilience, health and cultural indicators. In partnership with local community-based organizations, Elevated Chicago seeks to transform the 1/2-mile radius around CTA, Metra, and Pace hubs and corridors into community-focused centers of commerce and culture by 1) removing barriers that hinder innovation near station areas; 2) equipping residents with resources to make these areas a community and civic priority; and 3) aligning, cultivating, and deploying capital for development near transit stations, to become areas where the built environment and programming converge to create nodes of connection and opportunity.
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Grant Recipient
Covenant House Illinois Inc
For 50 years, the broader Covenant House International network has served youth experiencing homelessness. Covenant House Illinois (CHIL) opened in 2017, offering services through our Drop-In Center. The following year we opened our Interim Housing Program and Covenant Works Program. In 2019, we purchased a three-story building in the East Garfield Park Neighborhood on Chicago’s west side. This location was chosen intentionally, responding to a dearth of homeless providers serving youth on the west side of Chicago. Since 2019, CHIL has completely redeveloped all three floors, housing our administrative offices, Drop-In Center, our 37-bed Interim Housing Program, and our newly launched 19-bed Transitional Housing Program called Rites of Passage. We have been working with community partners, elected officials, and the broader East Garfield Park community to plan our new campus since 2019. 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. We are respectfully requesting $150,000 in general operating support for our Interim Shelter Program and our Rights of Passage (ROP) Transitional Housing Program, along with the programs that provide wraparound services such as our Drop-In, Street Outreach, and Employment programs. 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 wraparound services, including physical and mental healthcare, employment counseling, legal services, and life-skills workshops. Through our core programs, we serve approximately 500 youth per year.
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Grant Recipient
McKinley Park Development Council
We published the South Branch Connectivity Project Framework Plan (attached) in June 2024 and are now taking the first steps toward implementation. These steps include continued detailed planning, community engagement, advocacy efforts, negotiations with landowners, and holistic action on concerns like transportation and housing affordability in surrounding areas. Many details are laid out in the plan’s recommendations (p53) and implementation matrix (p 80).
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Grant Recipient
SMALL BUSINESS MAJORITY FOUNDATION INC
Small Business Majority [SBM] requests support to continue Pathways to Entrepreneurial Growth, offered in partnership with Rogers Park Business Alliance [RPBA] and New Covenant Community Development Center [NCCDC]. Pathways increases access to business support, financial management training and capital for entrepreneurs of color by linking together RPBA’s GROW/PROGRESANDO program, NCCDC’s Financial Dashboard program and SBM’s “Ready for Capital” capstone workshop. Partners monitor outcomes and feedback from multi-program participants and identify adaptable best practices aimed at boosting cultural competence and humility in service delivery—key to increasing effective, fair service delivery for entrepreneurs disproportionately harmed by structural discrimination, public disinvestment and the pandemic.
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Grant Recipient
Elevate Energy
Elevate, in partnership with Business Services Collective (BSC) and Sustainable Options for Urban Living (S.O.U.L.), provides a tailored approach to assist a range of contractors and construction firms looking to strengthen their participation in the growing clean energy industry in Chicago and Illinois, which includes enhanced support in project preparedness and financial well-being.
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Grant Recipient
Revolution Institute
RI is committed to bridging the racial wealth gap through an innovative strategy: acquiring and converting businesses into worker cooperatives as well as helping to prepare the workfoce of the future. When our organization originally launched, RI concentrated on launching a startup cooperative business. However, recognizing the untapped potential of existing businesses, RI strategically shifted its approach to a social acquisition model. This shift underscores RI's commitment to derisking our efforts while maximizing our resources and moving with a sense of urgency. The funding requested from The CCT will predominantly support RI's Partnership Pathway initiative, a collaborative effort involving multiple organizations such as MTEC, IMAN, and others. This initiative offers comprehensive workforce development training designed to equip individuals from underserved communities with the skills, mindset, and capacity necessary for success in democratic workplaces and other professional settings in the manufacturing and adjacent sectors. By building a pathway of supports that spans multiple organizations, RI ensures participants receive holistic training that addresses various aspects of their personal, professional, and communal development. Central to the Partnership Pathway is RI's Cooperative Leadership Training, which integrates social and human development modules on wellness, business ownership, cooperative leadership, conflict resolution, collective decision making, and economic democracy. Through this comprehensive training, participants not only gain technical skills but also develop critical leadership abilities, social and human development (e.g. cultural education, environmental education, financial literacy, health and wellness, critical thinking, digital literacy and academic supports) essential for cooperative ownership, worker agency, and leadership roles within their communities.
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Grant Recipient
Jane Addams Resource Corporation
The Jane Addams Resource Corporation (JARC) was established in 1985. Over the last 38 years, JARC has collaborated with stakeholders across various sectors to assess the needs of the community and the clients we serve. We promote economic development by training low-income adults in the skills they need to earn a living wage. We do this through a combination of technical manufacturing training and wraparound supportive services. We believe that everyone who works has the right to a living wage; that training leads to better paying jobs; and that the key to long term, substantive change for people is a focus on careers. We promote economic empowerment through training low-income adults in the skills they need to secure entry into a manufacturing career pathway. We do this by integrating our manufacturing job training and bundled supportive services, including financial literacy and one-on-one long-term financial coaching. We offer free technical training in welding, computerized machining, and assembly at our two Chicagoland locations. We focus on these occupations because they offer career path employment with family sustaining wages, and full benefits. All trainees in our programs also receive one-on-one coaching, case management, transportation assistance, and access to supportive service funds. We screen trainees for additional needs such as accessing health insurance, housing, food, childcare, mental health support, substance abuse counseling, and domestic violence assistance. All these supports continue when our clients start working to help them advance along a career path and continue to reach their long-term goals. All our training programs offer industry recognized credentials and job placement assistance. Last calendar year, we served 135 clients overall through our Careers in Manufacturing Programs. We provided direct financial counseling to 52 clients (which includes both new trainees and graduates). We had 51 new trainees start in training, and 56 trainees earn 79 industry credentials. During this same time, we placed 35 clients in fulltime jobs at an average starting wage of $20.19. In addition to funding for our training programs and wrap-around supportive services, we are also seeking support for our expansion into an additional training facility on the west side. This will allow us to expand our commitment to west side communities and further build upon the strengths in those neighborhoods. JARC is working with other West Side partners to renovate the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation in the Austin community. Construction is scheduled to be completed in November 2024, with JARC then beginning to operate in the space in early 2025. JARC will be moving our CNC program to this new location which will allow us to expand our welding program in our current west side location within Freedman Seating. Over the next year, JARC is also expanding our impact through offering a Spanish language training option. In an effort to be responsive to the needs of Spanish speaking New Arrivals, JARC is piloting a Spanish language Mechanical Assembly training program in April of 2024. The program will be 10-12 weeks long and offer technical training and job placement to participants. We have already received great interest from New Arrivals in the program, so we anticipate adding additional cohorts after the pilot session. Social inclusion is a key initiative of our agency strategic plan. We are committed to actively and continuously working to dismantle systemic barriers. Our goal is that neither race, gender, nor LGBTQ+ identity will be predictors of our clients’ outcomes and success.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Scholars Foundation
Chicago Scholars offers a transformative 7-year, holistic program where we begin working with students the summer after their junior year of high school and support them through critical transitions to and through college, and into careers. The program goes beyond college achievement. It provides Scholars with the resources, skills, and networks to become the next leaders of Chicago and drive economic growth. Our Scholars receive guidance from mentors and individualized college counseling, attend professional development workshops, design and launch social justice projects, and gain essential work experience through internships. Unlike other college access organizations, Chicago Scholars focuses on under-resourced students who excel academically but do not have the resources to develop strong social networks to propel them into purposefully and financially fulfilling careers. Chicago Scholars candidates are academically ambitious, motivated, and committed students as evidenced by strong academic performance. The average Scholar’s GPA is 3.6, and they actively participate in extra curriculars and take on leadership roles. Even though these students have exceptional grades and potential, too often, their economic and social standing prevent them from excelling economically and becoming leaders in their community. Our new Young Men of Color initiative is called 'A Space for Us'. 'A Space for Us' was born out of the success and lessons learned of the young men of color pilot initiatives deployed across the entire CS organization. Data gathered from those experiences supports our programming focusing on sense of belonging and leadership development – we are establishing a community for the males of color across the organization and city to deepen their connection with each other through open dialogue each month along with other intentional engagement activities.