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
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
AIDS Foundation of Chicago
Support from The Chicago Community Trust will support AIDS Foundation Chicago’s (AFC) work to protect and advance access to high-quality health care for people living with or vulnerable to HIV and other chronic conditions, particularly centering Black and Latinx communities who are disproportionately impacted by chronic conditions. AFC staff will: 1) monitor and respond to threats to health reform and access to care; 2) advocate for a state budget that ensures sufficient and equitable resources for HIV; 3) monitor discriminatory practices among health insurance plans and advocate as needed; and 4) advocate for policies within the Illinois Healthcare Feasibility Study that increase affordability and accessibility for AFC’s focus populations.
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Grant Recipient
Illinois Partners for Human Service
Illinois Partner’s current priorities are to: - Advocate for robust, sustainable, and equitable state funding of human services; - Advance systems that center equity in policy making and funding, and secure access for service providers and clients with lived experience to decision making forums; - Address systemic racism within our sector and empower our coalition to challenge established policies that perpetuate white supremacy. Our priorities are rooted in community informed initiatives built through engagement with our coalition partners. This year, we will add a new Grassroots Partnership Director who will focus on our Chicago area partners and amplify the work of grassroots leaders in Black and Latinx communities.
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Grant Recipient
FINANCIAL HEALTH NETWORK INC
In support of participation in the Color of Wealth Advisory Committee.
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Grant Recipient
Alliance to End Homelessness in Suburban Cook County
The Alliance leads a network of stakeholders dedicated to preventing and ending homelessness in suburban Cook County. We operate a housing system that provides a coordinated continuum of interventions for people experiencing housing instability. Interventions include preventing homelessness when possible, providing crisis housing when needed, and prioritizing permanent housing. Each of these housing interventions is informed by our systemwide approach that is rooted in cross-sector collaboration, data-driven decision making, and removing structural barriers to housing. The Alliance provides the infrastructure to advance systems and policy change to connect people experiencing homelessness with the housing and services that meet their needs.
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Grant Recipient
LATINO POLICY FORUM
Working with our very broad range of more than 150 multi-sectoral membership relationships, partnerships, and coalitions, we will apply our core skills of analysis, advocacy, leadership, and collaboration to the goals of ensuring that governmental policies are fully responsive to the needs of Latinos, that the underlying systems and practices that affect policies are shifted toward greater responsiveness and inclusivity, and that an increased capacity to effect policy and systems change is developed within Latino-serving nonprofits. We plan to address systemic inequality that has been exacerbated by COVID for Latinos and immigrants in the areas of housing, social services, and economic redevelopment.
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Grant Recipient
Metropolitan Tenants Organization
The Metropolitan Tenants Organization (MTO) and UChicago Medicine (UCM) system will collaborate to advance housing policies aimed at high utilizers of Emergency Health Service (EMS). Unstable housing is a key social determinant of health that causes homelessness and a reliance on EMS for health care. The project will uplift that community members' voices in making recommendations and creating policies that makes greater positive impact for the entire community. In particular, the project will pilot intervention models that promote housing stability for high users of EMS and advance policies aimed at mitigating sudden displacement of renters such as just cause eviction, right to counsel in evictions and proactive rental inspections.
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Grant Recipient
Ageoptions Inc
Avisery by AgeOptions helps older adults and adults with disabilities access affordable healthcare and effectively utilize their health benefits by leveraging its 1,795-member network of health insurance counseling professionals to advocate for a responsive health benefits delivery system. With Chicago Community Trust funding, Avisery will expand its advocacy work so older adults and those with disabilities can access benefits that reduce health and wealth disparities. Avisery will use its network of professional benefits counselors, coalition partners, and relationships with insurance plans, and state and federal agencies to advocate for beneficiaries on an individual level and to address systemic barriers to access and affordability.
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Grant Recipient
The Chicago Community Trust
To support community engagement activities of New America.