The Chicago Community Trust is seeking letters of interest for a program entitled “Advancing Innovative Homeownership Financing Solutions” to address the wealth gap is by advancing homeownership in communities of color.
Donor Name: The Chicago Community Trust
State: Illinois
County:
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 05/26/2023
Size of the Grant: $280,000
Details:
The Protecting & Advancing Equitable Homeownership strategy at the Trust has four goals:
- Increase and sustain the rate of homeowners of color in Chicago.
- Increase financial support for homeowners.
- Contribute to the knowledge base and build the public will to address the homeownership gap.
- Advocate for structural change.
Priorities
This funding program calls for collaborative proposals that involve the work of three organizations working to increase access to safe and affordable financing for homebuyers and homeowners. The collaborative partnership should be comprised of a lender and housing counseling organizations so that the work of matching buyers to capital is ensured. Each partner must demonstrate specific skill sets that help to build financial solutions and wrap-around services.
Financial solutions should target LMI:
- Renters (prospective homebuyers)
- New homeowners
- Existing homeowners
Grants awarded will cover the planning and design of the financial solution. Grant funding may be used to support the organization’s capacity to develop and implement programs that creatively increase visibility and access to products and programs. The types of programs supported may be:
- first-time homebuyer programs;
- products that advance flexible underwriting and saleable tactics;
- programs that build upon shared equity homeownership models;
- and programs that increase home equity line of credit products.
Priority Strategies and Activities
Organizations invited to submit a full application will be evaluated based on the organization’s and project’s experience with and connection to the second goal of the homeownership strategy: to increase financial support for homeowners. Successful applicants will describe a deliverable that does one of the following:
- Leverages an existing financial product to extend the scale and/or flexibility to increase access to a wider targeted population.
- Develops a new financial product that extends access to a wider targeted population.
Goals and Outcomes
This funding program advances the Trust’s 10-year goal to increase the growth of wealth of Black and Latinx households relative to white households. It also advances the Growing Household Wealth goals to:
- Outcome: Expand Partnership Opportunities
- Changes in relationships that lead to new investments or economic opportunities.
- Outcome: Increase Investment Opportunities
- Changes in access to types of capital (debt, credit financing)
- Outcome: Improve Overall Financial Health
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- Changes in clients’ ability to access loans and other financial products.
Funding Information
If a collaborative partnership is awarded, each partnership will receive a $280,000 grant in total requiring $110,000 to be distributed to the lead CDFI/Credit Union and $85,000 to be distributed to Housing Counseling Agency partners each.
Eligibility Criteria
To be eligible for a grant award, an applicant must be:
- A nonprofit organization with evidence that it (a) has been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as an organization described in Section 501(c)(3) of the Code; (b) is fiscally sponsored by a Section 501(c)(3) organization; (c) or is a governmental unit within the meaning of Section 170(c)(1) of the Code;
- Described in Section 170(b)(1)(A) of the Code, other than a “disqualified supporting organization” within the meaning of Section 4966(d)(4) of the Code; and
- Located within and/or primarily serving residents of Cook County, Illinois.
For more information, visit The Chicago Community Trust.
