The Lohengrin Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of Thriving Youth, Stronger Communities, a youth and community center capital investment initiative.
Donor Name: Lohengrin Foundation
State: Illinois
City: Chicago
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 12/06/2024
Size of the Grant: More than $1 million
Grant Duration: Grant Duration Not Mentioned
Details:
In designing Thriving Youth, Stronger Communities, the Lohengrin Foundation utilized a community-centered and data-informed approach to guide the development and implementation of all aspects of the initiative.
The design of the initiative:
- Incorporates feedback from listening and learning sessions with over 40 community and youth leaders, grantee partners, peer funders, and organizational collaborators.
- Utilizes data from youth specific research findings and quality-of-life/community plans across Chicago, highlighting the needs of youth and the community at large.
- Embeds a robust due diligence process to ensure the guidelines and request for proposal process is equitable and accessible to applicants.
- Brings together an Advisory Council composed of community leaders, funders, youth leaders, and developers who will advise the Foundation’s Staff and make recommendations on the application review and selection process.
- Engages an experienced network of nonprofit leaders with direct experience leading youth and community center development projects to serve as a peer network for applicants. All champions have successfully led projects from concept and fundraising to construction and occupancy.
Funding Information
- The Foundation anticipates awarding one grant, totaling up to $15M, to support the grantee partner throughout the pre-development, construction, and occupancy phases of their project.
- The grant award amount will be based on the full scope and size of the final project, including the number of youths to be served and potential community impact.
- Funds are expected to be disbursed in five installments, aligned to various project phases, including:
- Pre-development.
- At the beginning of construction.
- At an agreed-to funding milestone during construction.
- At occupancy.
- At post-occupancy to support the center operations.
Eligibility Criteria
- Who is eligible to apply?
- 501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations.
- Who is not eligible to apply?
- For-profit organizations.
- Individuals.
- Schools, though schools may apply in collaboration with a nonprofit partner.
- Project eligibility requirements:
- Project sites must be in Chicago. Special consideration will be provided to proposed sites in communities with high youth density populations and limited or no existing comprehensive youth and community centers or equivalent sites.
- Projects should be able to be realized in 3–5 years.
- Projects must focus on a new construction youth and community center or the conversion of an existing building into a youth and community center. The Foundation does not seek out or encourage naming rights on behalf of the Foundation, its board, staff, or predecessors.
- The Foundation will consider projects ranging from stand-alone youth and community centers to centers that are part of a larger economic or community development strategy or capital projects such as a housing or health center. The Foundation will only allocate funding to the youth and community center aspect of any larger strategy.
- While they seek out partners who propose projects that meet the specific needs of their communities, projects that exclude potential participants or limits engagement of community members in programming or use of the facility because of their ethnicity, religion, gender, spiritual beliefs, sexual orientation, veteran status, disability, or immigration status will not be considered.
For more information, visit Lohengrin Foundation.
