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 Auburn Gresham Development Corporation
The Greater Auburn Gresham Development Corporation (GAGDC) is seeking support for the Auburn Gresham Health & Wellness Campus Expansion project and related programmatic activities. This initiative aims to enhance community health outcomes, create workforce development opportunities, and contribute to Auburn Gresham's economic revitalization. The support will fund key project activities such as community engagement, architectural planning, and project management, ensuring that the expansion meets the evolving needs of the neighborhood. By investing in this project, we will provide vital health and wellness services while empowering residents and driving long-term economic mobility in the community.
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Grant Recipient
Little Village Chamber of Commerce
The Little Village - 26th Street Area Chamber of Commerce DBA: the Little Village Chamber of Commerce (“LVCC”) is pleased to offer this proposal to the Chicago Community Trust Neighborhood Development Champions funding opportunity. LVCC is focused on and committed to continuing to drive the effort to foster economic opportunities that will lead Latinos in Little Village and surrounding communities to build and achieve lasting generational wealth. LVCC’s proposed work is designed to unleash the entrepreneurial spirit and drive that has long defined the community in a focused, targeted approach. The Little Village Chamber of Commerce affirms that sustainable business growth and success is the most immediate, accessible pathway and opportunity for the residents of Little Village and nearby communities to truly build generational wealth. LVCC’s focus and targeted approach described in this proposal is consistent with the broader vision that the Little Village community has articulated in its most recent Quality of Life Plan (QLP.) The vision for economic development in the Little Village QLP is defined as “a thriving economic ecosystem grounded in principles of community wealth building, entrepreneurship, collaboration, and intergenerational knowledge. We envision an equitable and prosperous neighborhood with an inclusive and sustainable economy that fosters innovation, education, use of technology, and preserves cultural values. The plan includes clear, tangible goals to “Support Local Businesses, Entrepreneurs, and Emerging Entrepreneurs…” and “Increase Access to Capital and Opportunities.” The Little Village Quality of Life Plan is available here: https://issuu.com/littlevillageqlp/docs/qlp_full_document_issuu?fr=xKAE9_zU1NQ LVCC stands ready to serve as a Neighborhood Development Champion for Little Village and surrounding communities. LVCC’s confidence is grounded in its decades-long work engaging and earning the trust of the local small business owner community; launching sustainable initiatives that continue to draw visitors (and customers) to the Little Village commercial area; building community support for, deploying and managing effective mechanisms (Special Service Area #25 ) to ensure the cleanliness and ongoing beautification of 26th Street and, delivering direct, effective business technical assistance and support services to small business owners and entrepreneurs. LVCC’s closeness to the small business community defines it as the on-the-ground steward of a needed, vital element of a comprehensive community development strategy. LVCC draws strength from and is inspired by the community of small business owners and entrepreneurs that it represents and it serves. The very same community of individuals who are and will continue to be at the core of the effort to build generational wealth.
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Grant Recipient
Inner-City Muslim Action Network
This grant will provide critical capacity-building funds to the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, supporting the organization's equitable community and economic development activities between Chicago Lawn and Englewood, building a health and wellness corridor along 63rd Street.
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Grant Recipient
North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council
The North Lawndale Community Coordinating Council (NLCCC) is a planning, organizing, and community and economic development body for North Lawndale led by and for residents and deep stakeholders. We have created a comprehensive Quality-of-Life Plan that we are now implementing – catalyzing neighborhood investment in support of the programs, projects, and capital developments as planned by and for residents. Funds requested here would support operations, ongoing expansion of NLCCC, convenings, and organizing efforts to advance community and economic development in North Lawndale.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Trust/Flexible Housing Fund
This request of $200,000 for FY25 will contribute to the sustainability of the Chicago Cook County Flexible Housing Pool (FHP) intervention and with it the ongoing data collection, data linking, record retention, and outcomes tracking for the program. The FHP represents a dynamic community of high-need individuals and families that are of great interest to policy makers, practitioners, and public and private funders. The groups at the center of the FHP include youth at-risk for community violence, individuals with high rates of public system involvement, and individuals discharged from state correctional facilities. This grant, aligned with previous contributions from the Trust, provides a vital foundation for groundbreaking and ongoing research analyses including of return on investment, changes in healthcare utilization, population-specific housing outcomes, and qualitative factors. It is only through research and evaluation that the FHP has had the ability to sustain and be positioned for future growth. The Chicago Community Trust created the Flexible Housing Fund in 2021 and has entered into an agreement with the City of Chicago, to become a formal partner to the Chicago Cook County Flexible Housing Pool (FHP). The Flexible Housing Fund at the Trust is a conduit for funds to go to the City-held escrow account that funds the FHP. The FHP pays for direct client-level interventions for supportive housing and services to break the cycle of homelessness and housing instability, exacerbated by incarceration, community violence, poorly managed behavioral health, and emergency healthcare in the City of Chicago and Cook County, Illinois. The FHP, managed by the Center for Housing and Health, underwrites the administrative costs such as data management, reporting, and facilitation of records and documents for research participation. Since the launch of the FHP in 2019, it has raised $64 million to support the services, rental assistance, outreach and engagement, pre-tenancy supports, tenancy supports, and administration. Of this amount, the Trust facilitated $17,875,000 in contributions via its Flexible Housing Fund mechanism to the City-held escrow account. If it were not for the Trust and its Fund, these contributions would not have been made to support and expand the FHP over the past years or support critical research and evaluation reports used to inform future services. Programmatic Achievements include: -Increased housing placements to a total of 1,504 participants in 866 households. FHP enrollment increased by 96 households between January-June 2024. -Sustained a 90% housing retention rate for all participants since January 2019-June 2024. -Expanded the FHP model to the Reentry population resulted in all 50 individuals referred by the Illinois Department of Corrections being placed into permanent housing directly from state correctional facilities. -Improved program workflows, data monitoring and Quality Improvement measures. -Assisted over 600 FHP clients apply to alternative housing subsidies. -Reengaged previous funders with the Chicago Housing Authority returnings as a funder investing $500,000 in 2024. This past year, FHP reached a critical juncture. There were a number of factors that pushed the average cost of the intervention from $25,000 to $32,000 per household per year, causing spending at a faster pace than contributions were covering. Late 2023-early 2024 was the first review of the true cost of the intervention since the implementation began. The factors below were not built into the original cost model and as a result spending began to outpace flat-rate contributions: -Adjustments for rental inflation, which pushed up by 20% since 2019 -Larger sized households in the Youth cohort – over half of youth households have dependent children requiring larger, more expensive apartments -Commitment to higher base salary for all FHP staff of $50,000 -New cost model accounts for annual inflation moving forward As a result of the financial pressures, the FHP Governance Council approved an increase to the cost model from $25,000 to $32,000 per household. All new funders will be asked to contribute at the new rate, and existing funders are being asked to renew funds at the new rate to ensure that people are not discharged back into homelessness in the coming years. The current projection is that the FHP will exhaust its funding in March 2027. Ambitious yet achievable fundraising goals have been set for each sector involved in the FHP - Public, Healthcare, and Philanthropy. In total, the FHP hopes to sustain current levels of contribution and increase revenue by $45 million between 2024-2028. Of this amount, the goal for philanthropic contributions is $2 million. The Trust's FY2025 grant will help make progress toward that goal. The FHP has a Sustainability Work Group that meets monthly to benchmark progress in meeting funding goals. Representatives of the Governance Council comprise the Sustainability Work Group and include City of Chicago, Cook County Health, CountyCare, and the consultant to the Trust (on behalf of the Flexible Housing Fund). In addition to the Sustainability Work Group, there are four additional Work Groups: -Racial Equity: Ensures the FHP operates equitability meaning there are no differences in project outcomes or performance based on race or ethnicity. --Current priorities are employment (culturally specific opportunities) and housing stability (legal aid, unit location, tenant education); making recommendations to Governance Council on the Dashboard -Evaluation: Identifies priorities and additional research questions. Current priorities are sharing the current evaluation/data collection underway across various partners, planning formal research evaluation updates, and identifying/prioritizing additional research questions to position for funding -Healthcare Engagement: Engages and educates healthcare funding partners. -Lived Experience Advisory Council: Provides feedback and guidance on FHP operations and utilizes first hand expertise to inform recommendations. Current priorities are informing tenant-facing documents, advocacy, creating a tenant satisfaction survey.
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Grant Recipient
LATINOS PROGRESANDO
Latinos Progresando (LP) is requesting renewed support from the Chicago Community Trust to further equitable community development in the Marshall Square community, home to a largely Mexican, immigrant population located on the southwest side of Chicago. LP’s approach centers on developing Marshall Square’ commercial corridors, the intersecting Cermak and California Avenues that form the neighborhood’s commercial core, with development activities organized around a cluster of community assets: the locally owned small businesses that make up the heart of neighborhood commerce; the Latinos Progresando Community Center, a redevelopment of a long-vacant Chicago public library branch; and the CTA Pink Line California station. LP uses a number of tools to activate this work: equitable transit oriented development, public green space/green infrastructure design, placemaking, and robust community engagement. By driving economic development through investments in commercial corridor improvements, and facilitating opportunities for the small, immigrant-owned, entrepreneurial businesses that are the economic engine of Marshall Square to sustain and grow, LP envisions increasing community wealth in a neighborhood with historic disinvestment. Our broader vision also includes collaboration with the neighboring community of North Lawndale under the One Lawndale umbrella, leveraging investments across neighborhoods.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Foundation/Chicagoland Workforce Funder Alliance
This is the funding request for the collaborative Fund: The Human Service Workforce Initiative
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Grant Recipient
Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council
For 85 years, the Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council (BYNC) has been committed to community-driven economic development by the people and for the people. We represent a neighborhood of 44,000 people on Chicago’s Southwest side, 61% of whom identify as Hispanic or Latine. The stockyards used to be a huge economic driving force in the neighborhood, but now after decades of business closures and systematic disinvestment, our community is once again on the rise with new developments and a strong entrepreneurial spirit. BYNC is excited to be leading this community-driven economic development, but we need support to do so. The Neighborhood Development Champions grant will allow BYNC to focus on these five high-priority initiatives that move economic development plans forward, increase public participation, and ensure inclusive economic growth: 1. Make significant progress on large-scale economic development projects (4630 S. Ashland and United Yards) 2. Develop and maintain partnerships with neighborhood small businesses that drive economic opportunity and wealth creation 3. Implement priorities of the Economic Inclusion Agenda, including Quality of Life improvements 4. Invest in staff capacity to deliver on economic development priorities 5. Manage community engagement efforts to ensure equitable and sustainable economic development BYNC looks forward to partnering with the Chicago Community Trust to foster economic opportunity, build community wealth, and continue to transform the Back of the Yards neighborhood.